20160228 (local music)

I can't help it. I go for baroque.

Attended two local musical events

Yesterday with Peggy my partner 

In protest. The first, a community

Sing honoring Pete Seeger with

Only acoustic guitars, banjos, and

An autoharp featuring folk music

From the ‘30s to the present (there

Was a rendition of Lord Randall—

Who knows how far back that goes).

We stayed for the church supper 

Offering of chili, salad, and dessert

Then decided to attend Forest Hill’s

Second annual celebration of 

African American music for the

Evening. We didn’t pick up a

Program so I won’t be able here

To identify all the songs and the 

Performers. The contrasts I experienced

At each of the programs  was

Worth noting though. The Seeger

Program was sponsored by South

Haven United Church of Christ

To benefit the church hunger effort

And a group of conservationists

Currently working to clean up

Tinkers Creek, a nearby small

Waterway and park. As a community

Sing we were urged to join in

With the individual performers.

A projection screen in the back 

Of the sanctuary displayed the 

Lyrics sometimes unevenly and

Almost always too small for me

To read (and I sat up front!)

But we managed. Peggy had 

Belonged to this church years 

Ago and many who remembered 

Her came by to say hello. 

Most of the attending were

Likely from the congregation but

A few were strangers. When the 

Time to sing began we all joined

In hesistatingly at first, more

Vigorously as it proceeded.

Many we knew without prompts—

Where have all the flowers gone,

My Darling Clementine, Blowin’

In the Wind, Down by the Riverside,

Last night I had the strangest dream,

And many others. At the African American

Concert I was not familiar with the

Music except for Bess, you is my

Woman now, from Gershwin’s

Porgy and Bess which I found odd

That they included it, although the

Performers did a magnificent job.

The program leaned heavily to

Modern jazzy style, heavy with 

Repetition and embellishment.

Peggy cautioned me to view it

As improvisational: individual

Performers riff, I answered,

Ensembles do not improvise.

The folk sing was borderline

Amateur; the celebration was

Thoroughly professional. But 

My reaction was decidedly with

The Seeger songs. Numerous times

I found myself tearing up as the

Nostalgia of the ‘60s idealism

Welled up within. Despite my

Sympathies for Black causes

I felt curiously aloof: This is

Not my music. I prefer songs

With many words and a definitive

End. The interminable repetition of

Marvin Gaye’s What’s goin’ on

Had me checking the time

Rather than clapping along.

We left about 8:40 during a 

Break between songs to get 

Peggy home and then me before

Ten. This morning I learned they

Ended at 9:30. I had a friend in

High school who pressed me to

Discover my love for jazz through

Listening to his Charlie Parker 

And Thelonius Monk albums.

I listened for hours but the love 

Failed to bud. I gave them all

Back to him, came home, and

Put on an LP of Andres Segovia 

Strumming Bach’s Jesu, joy of man’s 

Desiring just to get my thinking

Going again.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016