Abstract: Live recordings of a concert entitled “Black Traditions in Music, Dance, and Verse,” and a forum entitled “Black American Folklife.” The concert featured Fris Holloway, African American blues pianist and buckdancer from Durham, N.C.; John Dee Holeman (1929- ), African American blues guitarist and buckdancer from Durham, N.C.; and Horace “Spoons” Williams, African American spoons player and teller of rhymed narratives born in South Carolina, presenting older traditions of blues guitar and piano, buckdancing, rhythmic spoons, and rhymed verse. Also featured were Groove Phi Groove, a male African American social fellowship from North Carolina Central University presenting a contemporary style of unison stepping; Street Justice, an African American group from Durham, N.C., presenting break dancing; and the M.C. Power Lords, presenting rapping and scratching. The forum featured Charles Joyner, an Anglo-American historian and folklorist from the University of South Carolina speaking on “Buh Rabbit on the Slave Plantation: Folklore and History Reconsidered”; Darryl Dance, an African American folklorist from Virginia Commonwealth University, speaking on urban black and Caribbean traditions; Glenn Hinson, an Anglo- American folklorist from Durham, N.C., speaking on African American gospel performance; and Holly Matthews, an Anglo-American anthropologist from East Carolina University, speaking on ethnomedicine in the American South.
Repository: Southern Folklife Collection
Collection Highlights: The collection contains many recordings related to African American music and musicians, including:
Bull City Blues workshop recorded at the North Carolina Folk Festival held at Eno River State Park, Durham, North Carolina, in July 1976. African-American blues and gospel artists include: Arthur Lyons, John Dee Holeman, Odell Thompson, Jim Page, Elizabeth Cotten, and the Golden Echoes. [6 reels, FT1184- FT1189]
Dub of National Public Radio program “Folk Festival U.S.A.” broadcast in February 1980. Program deals with relationship between Cajun and African-American Creole music traditions in Louisiana. Hosted by Noah Adams with Nicholas Spitzer, commentator. [2 reels, FT1201-FT1202]
Recordings of Richard “Big Boy” Henry performing blues with guitar accompaniment, in Studio D of WUNC Radio (1982). [5 reels, FT1389-FT1393]Recordings of a concert held at the UNC Student Union in 1985. Concert was entitled Black Traditions in Music, Dance, and Verse. Performers include Fris Holloway, Spoons Williams, John Dee Holeman, Groove Phi Groove, MC Power Lords (rapping and mixing), and Street Justice. [5 reels, FT1655-FT1659]
Recordings of a forum on “Black American Folklife” held at the UNC Student Union in March 1985. Featured panelists include Charles Joyner, Holly Mathews, Daryl Dance, and Glenn Hinson. [5 reels, FT1660-FT1664]