I reread my post and made a change. If one returns to work untested and works in a contaminated environment, one’s life is a stake and contagion will continue exponentially.
To liberate…
The Washington Post has stories and pictures that tell the unacceptable. President Trump is smiling as he encourages States to end the lockdown using the word “liberate.” “Liberate?” People may return to work because they have yet to receive money from Washington. What happened to the “stimulus” fund?
If a person has not received an income for two months, he or she may return to work at the cost of his or her life, which is scandalous. Before a person reënters the workplace, that person has to test negative and the workplace must be as safe an environment as possible.
There is enough money in the United States to keep people secure for a few more weeks. At the moment, returning to work is unsafe. Moreover, some people will have suffered emotionally and mentally. They require help.
Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard speaks to delegates during the Quebec Liberal Party convention in Montreal, Sunday, June 14, 2015. Graham Hughes / THE CANADIAN PRESS
I am posting an article by Don MacPherson of the Montreal Gazette. It is an accurate résumé of Premier Couillard’s address to delegates. Mr MacPherson’s article should be posted.
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By the way, I’m still working on my next post: nominations for the Versatile Blogger award.
Paul Robeson sings Antoine Gérin-Lajoie‘s Un Canadien errant. The first half of Mr Robeson‘s interpretation is in English. He then sings Un Canadien errant in very clear French. I have used this video before, but I feel it should be heard again.
I am forwarding the News mostly unadorned, except for the above painting of Alexandre Benois, by Ballets Russes artist Leon Bakst. Ballet was born in Italy. It moved to France. Louis XIV, the Sun-King, was a dancer. And it reached what may be its culmination in Russia: the Kirov, in St Petersburg, and the Bolshoi, in Moscow. However, Sergei Diaghilev‘s Ballets Russes, an itinerant company based in Paris, spread the love of ballet to several countries, the US, etc. and several artists contributed to its success: Leon Bakst, Alexandre Benois (set and costume designers). Its most famous choreographers were Marius Petipa (French) and Michel Fokine (Russian) and it starred the legendary Vaslav Nijinsky among other superb dancers. It provided composer Igor Stravinsky with several commissions.
There is confusion concerning the spelling of Saint-George’s name. It seems that here George does not require an ‘s’, which is how George is written in English. However, Joseph’s name is often spelled the way the French spell Georges, with a final ‘s’. Saint George was/is a location. Originally, Saint-George(s)’s name was Joseph Bologne.
Interestingly, while browsing, I somehow entered the British Museum and saw the picture featured in Le Chevalier de Saint-George: the Black Mozart. That picture is attributed to George IV himself.
I reblogged two posts. The United States has lost four fine citizens under tragic circumstances, but retaliation does not seem advisable. If at all possible, the US should never again wage war in the Near-East or the Middle-East, or elsewhere. America and people all over the world mourn the loss of these four lives and the US will cooperate with officials in the Near-East to find their assassins. Using diplomacy is the better approach. Besides, can the US afford another war? Despite its billionaires, the United States is currently rather poor.
Mr Romney and Mr Ryan may be thinking that President Obama lacks “resolve,” but I heard that word in September 2001. Where did “resolve” get the United States? More lives were lost and the cost of those wars remains to be paid. The time has come for people in the Near-East or the Middle-East to stop burning the American flag.
And yes, President Obama is the President of the United States of America. He has faced considerable obstructionism on the part of extremists in the Republican Party: Tea Party members. He must now be allowed to help the citizens of his country. Why should little me in Canada be looked after without paying atrocious amounts of money to see a doctor or buy medication? I pay my taxes.
It has become abundantly clear that the Romney-Ryan team’s main objective is to be supported by a shrinking middle-class and the poor. The very wealthy hide their money in offshore accounts and ship too many jobs abroad where products are manufactured at a lesser cost. They (the very wealthy) are saving money, but you aren’t. Arithmetic was never my best subject, but it would not surprise me to learn that the price you pay for products manufactured elsewhere is the price you would pay for products manufactured in the United States. You save on products made elsewhere when there is a sale.
The Concept of Nationhood
Rich people who want tax cuts have yet to understand the concept of nationhood. The US has not recovered from the financial difficulties created by a former administration, a Republican administration, and Republicans do not want to pay their fair share of taxes. So who will pay the debt, a Republican administration? Beware. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” Why should Americans seek a new President when it has the best it can have? The next face to grace Mount Rushmore should not be President Reagan‘s face, it should be Franklin Delano Roosevelt‘s, a gentleman who cared for the people. President Obama is walking in his footsteps.
Wikipedia has a wealth of information on this subject, but among various facts, I would like to emphasize that when Edna Ferber was “gathering material about a disappearing American entertainment venue, the river showboat,” the talented Edna found a “treasure trove of show-boat material, human, touching, true.” She spent several weeks on the James Adams Floating Palace Theater in Bath, North Carolina, United States, researching her novel. (Wikipedia)
Edna Ferber, Wollcott, Kern & Hammerstein
Jerome Kern loved the novel and asked Alexander Woollcott (January 19, 1887 – January 23, 1943) of the New Yorker and a member of the Algonquin Round Table, New York wits of the day, to introduce him to Edna Ferber.
At first, Edna resisted. She was afraid her Show Boatwould be turned into a “girlie” show. These were the roaring and frilly twenties. But Kern explained that Oscar Hammerstein would write the lyrics, which meant this was going to be a carefully crafted Broadway show based on her book. She ended up agreeing and her name was on the necessary and very fine poster: adapted from Edna Ferber… She had won a Pulitzer prize for her novel So Big (1924).
A Sturdy Perennial
Performances of Show Boat dot the entire twentieth century and had a celebrated revival in 1994. It has been a sturdy perennial and it is a tribute to Kern and Hammerstein to have written a song that has allowed Paul Robeson to express the hardship of African-Americans.
Since Kern and Hammerstein, several versions of the song have been performed. So I listened very carefully and believe the lyrics I am providing, with the help of Wikipedia, match Robeson’s rendition. However, I could not understand some of the words.
Oh Shenandoah, I long to hear you (Photo credit: Mr. Beattie)
The Melody
According to Wikipedia‘s entry on “Oh Shenandoah,” the song’s melody may be a voyageur melody.
Sea Songs and Shanties, Collected by W.B. Whall, Master Mariner (First edition in Nov 1910), states that the song probably originated from American or Canadian “voyageurs”, who were great singers. Thomas Moore drew inspiration from them in his Canadian Boat Song. The author further goes on and states that he heard it sung over fifty years prior to publishing the book, which place its origin at least a fair bit earlier than 1860. Besides sung at sea, this song figured in old public school collections. (info taken from page one in the sixth edition of the book)[i]
When I read this information, I remembered that Grace Lee Nute states, in The Voyageur,[ii] that the pièce or bale the voyageurs had to carry on their back during portage:
was made up to weigh ninety pounds, and two ears were left at the top by which the voyageur could lift it easily in the manner of a modern flour bag. Two of these pièces made an ordinary load for porraging, but emulation among the men in proof of unusual stregth or endurance caused many an engagé to carry three or four.
Grace Lee Nute then goes on to write the following:
A member of a famous Negro-Indian family of voyageurs, the Bongas, is said to have had such strength that he could carry five.
Therefore, the melody used in Oh Shenandoah could find its origin in the voyageur’s répertoire and we may know how it happened: Bongas.
The Lyrics
As for the lyrics to OhShenandoah, they differ from singer to singer. So, I’ve tried to write down the words used by Paul Robeson. There are words (2nd stanza), I could not make out, but you may.
Photo credit: picsearch
This post was published in my … “& the News” series. These posts have been modified. I listed that day’s Newspapers: English, French, German, etc. We can still have coffee.
Greetings to all of you!
Paul Robeson
This blog features singer Paul Robeson (9 April 1898 – 23 January 1976) whose voice was a glorious bass male voice. Robeson earned a Law degree from Columbia Law School while playing in the National Football League (NFL) and singing and acting in off-campus productions.” (Wikipedia).
Blacklists
Famed singer Paul Robeson was an activist and was therefore put on several “blacklists,” no pun intended, because of his ethnicity. Wikipedia tells us that he was “scrutinized during the age of McCarthyism.” Charlie Chaplin, or Sir Charles Spencer “Charlie” Chaplin, KBE [Order of the British Empire] (16 April 1889 – 25 December 1977) was also blacklisted and had to return to Britain. He never came back to the United States. There was a Hollywood blacklist. During the McCarthy era, many liberal-minded Americans were considered Communists or left-wing radicals.
McCarthyism was one episode, in a long series of episodes, during which radical conservatives referred to “progressive reforms such as child labor laws and women’s suffrage as “Communist” or “Red plots.” (Wikipedia)
Paul Robeson led a difficult life, because of prejudice against people whose ancestors were forced to go to countries where they were used as slaves. Mr Robeson stood up for their downtrodden descendants.
The song I have chosen is about Joe Hill. You may have heard that song before. Joe Hill, born Joel Emmanuel Hägglund in Gävle, Sweden, was promoting unionization among workers. He was accused of murder and executed in 1915.
Once again, I would recommend you visit the Executed Today site. It is very informative.
Paul Robeson had a beautiful voice and he was eclectic in his choice of songs, as was Marian Anderson.
