Harlem of the West
Harlem of the West

Author: Elizabeth Pepin

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 9780811845489

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Harlem of the West reveals a forgotten slice of San Francisco history and the African-American experience on the West Coast: the thriving jazz scene of the Fillmore in the 1940s and 1950s. With archival photographs and oral accounts from the residents and musicians who experienced it, this vividly illustrated tour will delight jazz fans and history aficionados.

The Unity of Music and Dance in World Cultures
The Unity of Music and Dance in World Cultures

Author: David Akombo

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2016-02-09

Total Pages: 277

ISBN-13: 0786497157

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This study surveys music and dance from a global perspective, viewing them as a composite whole found in every culture. To some, music means sound and body movement. To others, dance means body movement and sound. The author examines the complementary connection between sound and movement as an element of the human experience as old as humanity itself. Music and dance from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the South Pacific are discussed.

Country & Western Dance
Country & Western Dance

Author: Ralph G. Giordano

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2010-07-20

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 0313365555

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A fun, fact-filled, and thoroughly researched journey of country and western dancing from the roots of Western Swing to Hank Williams, the Urban Cowboy two-step of John Travolta, and the nationwide sensation of country line dancing. Country & Western Dance turns the spotlight on a uniquely American form of dance, one that has been scuffing the floorboards for nearly a century but is often overlooked. Fun, lively, and thoroughly researched, this revealing volume tells the full story of country and western dance music from the days of Bob Wills and Tulsa to Oklahoma's Cain's Ballroom to John Travolta and Gilley's of Houston, Texas. Each chapter provides information on the historical roots of the most popular country and western dances as well as the pioneers of the music of a particular era, all in the context of changing cultural, social, political, and economic forces in America. The book also examines the seminal impact of radio, television, and the movies in helping spread the music, the moves, and the good times on the country dance floor.

Workin' Man Blues
Workin' Man Blues

Author: Gerald W. Haslam

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 1999-04-29

Total Pages: 393

ISBN-13: 052092262X

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California has been fertile ground for country music since the 1920s, nurturing a multitude of talents from Gene Autry to Glen Campbell, Rose Maddox to Barbara Mandrell, Buck Owens to Merle Haggard. In this affectionate homage to California's place in country music's history, Gerald Haslam surveys the Golden State's contributions to what is today the most popular music in America. At the same time he illuminates the lives of the white, working-class men and women who migrated to California from the Dust Bowl, the Hoovervilles, and all the other locales where they had been turned out, shut down, or otherwise told to move on. Haslam's roots go back to Oildale, in California's central valley, where he first discovered the passion for country music that infuses Workin' Man Blues. As he traces the Hollywood singing cowboys, Bakersfield honky-tonks, western-swing dance halls, "hillbilly" radio shows, and crossover styles from blues and folk music that also have California roots, he shows how country music offered a kind of cultural comfort to its listeners, whether they were oil field roustabouts or hash slingers. Haslam analyzes the effects on country music of population shifts, wartime prosperity, the changes in gender roles, music industry economics, and television. He also challenges the assumption that Nashville has always been country music's hometown and Grand Ole Opry its principal venue. The soul of traditional country remains romantically rural, southern, and white, he says, but it is also the anthem of the underdog, which may explain why California plays so vital a part in its heritage: California is where people reinvent themselves, just as country music has reinvented itself since the first Dust Bowl migrants arrived, bringing their songs and heartaches with them.