[Harp-L] Re: Mama Thornton

[Steve Baker <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I can understand some of the less favorable comments posted here  
about the harmonica playing in this video but would like to put it in  
a historical perspective. We're talking about 1965 here, when  
segregation was a fact of life in the USA (listen to J.B. Lenoir's  
songs on the subject) and Afro-American blues musicians were not  
generally being asked to appear on TV. It's only thanks to Horst  
Lippmann, the initiator of the AFBF and the man who brought the blues  
to Europe, that these artists were given the chance to do so. In many  
cases these German TV recordings are the only existing film material  
showing them in their prime rather than much later in life and offer  
invaluable insight into their music.

From the musicans' viewpoint: When the nice man (who has brought you  
to Europe, put you up in a series of comfortable hotels and paid you  
a handsome fee to perform your music to respectful and enthusiastic  
audiences) then even manages to arrange a TV appearance, you'd  
probably go along with the producer when he says "I've got this great  
idea, why don't you all play harp and take turns at the mic ....".

Personally I'm immensely grateful to Horst Lippmann und the German TV  
station SWF for giving us the opportunity to see some of the seminal  
artists of the blues in action, even if it's staged in this dated and  
artificial manner and then took 40 years to emerge from the vaults.  
Is there any comparable American footage of these artists from the  
same era?

Steve Baker
www.stevebaker.de
www.bluesculture.com