Description
Book SynopsisIn African American Folksong and American Cultural Politics: The Lawrence Gellert Story, scholar and musician Bruce Conforth tells the story of one of the most unusual collections of African American folk music ever amassedand the remarkable story of the man who produced it: Lawrence Gellert. Compiled between the World Wars, Gellert''s recordings were immediately adopted by the American Left as the voice of the true American proletariat, with the songslargely variants of traditional work songs or bluesdubbed by the Left as songs of protest. As both the songs and Gellert's standing itself turned into propaganda weapons of left-wing agitators, Gellert experienced a meteoric rise within the circles of left-wing organizations and the American Communist party. But such success proved ephemeral, with Gellert contributing to his own neglect by steadfastly refusing to release information about where and from whom he had collected his recordings. Later scholars, as a result, would skip over his
Trade ReviewAmong collectors of African American folksong, Lawrence Gellert is undeservedly obscure. Eccentric and controversial, he led an adventurous life, many details of which are uncertain. His family moved from Hungary to New York City in 1906. Around 1920, he relocated to North Carolina for his health. There he established special rapport with African Americans, whose music he loved. Treated as an insider, he was able, at considerable risk, to collect songs usually unheard outside the black community in that segregated era. His collecting, done in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi in the 1920s and 1930s, predated several better-known efforts. Influenced by leftists, for a while he associated with the Communist Party, which embraced his collections as proletarian songs of protest. The music was much broader in subject matter, however, and he cared little for politics. Conforth has spent decades researching Gellert's accomplishments and here provides the first comprehensive scholarly study of this complex man. Suitable for academic libraries and large public libraries, it should interest scholars in numerous fields, especially African American studies and ethnomusicology. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students and above. * CHOICE *
