More Posts More Often

At the risk of repeating an internet cliche, I think there is a good chance that I'll be posting more often to this blog and my other one. I don't offer excuses, as I was doing real life things and I hope most people realize that the real world encroaching on internet time is not a bad thing and that the reverse is. In any case, the last few months have not seen a decline in my library use so I should have some things to post about. Hopefully this blog can do a little to inspire you to use the library where ever you are. Don't spend all you time in front of a computer. I've also started using call numbers and linking directly to the CPL entries for each item. That way you don't even have to use the search function (but please use the search function, its a very useful tool).

Anyway, here is a post:
The LA Drivers Union Por Por Group – Por Por: Honk Horn Music of Ghana (Smithsonian Folkways, 2007) CD Q GHA LAO
For most people (in North America at least) when they think of union music they might think of strikers singing Solidarity Forever or We Shall Overcome, Pete Seeger or Woody Guthrie, perhaps the songs of Joe Hill and the I.W.W. . Steven Feld and the folks at Smithsonian Folkways introduce us here to a very different sounding union music, The Por Por of the LA Drivers Union in Ghana.

Por Por is played on Honk Horns, metal horns with squeeze balls that drivers originally honked in traffic. The horns accompany singing, along with frame drums, bells and other percussive elements. The excellent liner notes tell us of the influence on Por Por of many forms of African Music, including Highlife, as well as American Jazz records of the 40-50s such as Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie. Steven Feld notes similarities between Por Por and the New Orleans jazz funeral tradition. Until recently Por Por was exclusively performed at Union funerals. Luckily for us, it has been performed publicly in the last few years and reached the ears of Steven Feld who recorded this.

The booklet is 40 pages and provides a lot of excellent context for this cd but I won't detail it here. Rather I recommend you listen to this yourself and read the notes. Despite the influences noted above Por Por music is unique, existing only in Ghana, mostly in the capital Accra. It is a very interesting music form, because it is so intimately connected to the working conditions for the drivers who play it. At times it reminds me of knocks, the music form sung by weavers in rhythm to the shuttles sliding back and forth on the looms, although Por Por is not strictly speaking work music (that is, it isn't played while working). Sometimes it sounds like some kind of minimalist Highlife or other dance music. The powers gone off but the band is still rocking. Other times it reminds me of nothing I've ever heard.

This is an amazing cd and I encourage you to give it a listen.

Some related cds you could also check out:
Pete Seeger - If I Had a Hammer: Songs of Hope & Struggle (Smithsonian Folkways, 1998) CD PA SEE
Woody Guthrie - Struggle (Smithsonian Folkways, 1990)
CD PA GUT
Don't mourn, organize!: songs of labor songwriter Joe Hill (Smithsonian Folkways, 1990) CD PA HIL