Mark Burford
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- November 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190634902
- eISBN:
- 9780190634933
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190634902.003.0009
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
The CBS radio program The Mahalia Jackson Show represented yet another breakthrough for Jackson and the black gospel field. Airing over the course of twenty episodes between September 1954 and ...
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The CBS radio program The Mahalia Jackson Show represented yet another breakthrough for Jackson and the black gospel field. Airing over the course of twenty episodes between September 1954 and February 1955, the program featured Jackson singing repertory that ranged from spirituals and gospel numbers to show tunes and sentimental parlor songs, backed by pianist Mildred Falls, organist Ralph Jones, and the vocal harmony of the Jack Halloran Quartet. The show was a turning point for Jackson as an artist and as a public figure, as she negotiated ambiguous and shifting performance contexts. But the show also spoke to its historical moment, highlighting the interdependence of Cold War and civil rights discourse voiced by the performances of a gospel singer asked to broker the often conflicting meanings of black religious song for a national audience.Less
The CBS radio program The Mahalia Jackson Show represented yet another breakthrough for Jackson and the black gospel field. Airing over the course of twenty episodes between September 1954 and February 1955, the program featured Jackson singing repertory that ranged from spirituals and gospel numbers to show tunes and sentimental parlor songs, backed by pianist Mildred Falls, organist Ralph Jones, and the vocal harmony of the Jack Halloran Quartet. The show was a turning point for Jackson as an artist and as a public figure, as she negotiated ambiguous and shifting performance contexts. But the show also spoke to its historical moment, highlighting the interdependence of Cold War and civil rights discourse voiced by the performances of a gospel singer asked to broker the often conflicting meanings of black religious song for a national audience.
Andrew Grant Wood
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199892457
- eISBN:
- 9780199345496
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199892457.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Few Mexican musicians in the twentieth century achieved as much notoriety or had such an international impact as the popular singer and songwriter Agustín Lara (1897–1970). Widely known as “el flaco ...
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Few Mexican musicians in the twentieth century achieved as much notoriety or had such an international impact as the popular singer and songwriter Agustín Lara (1897–1970). Widely known as “el flaco de oro” (“the Golden Skinny”), this remarkably thin fellow was prolific across the genres of bolero, ballad, and folk. His most beloved “Granada,” a song so enduring that it has been covered by the likes of Mario Lanza, Frank Sinatra, and Placido Domingo, is today a standard in the vocal repertory. However, there exists very little biographical literature on Lara in English. This book's informed and informative placement of Lara's work in a broader cultural context presents a reading of the life of this significant musical figure. Lara's career as a media celebrity as well as musician provides an excellent window on Mexican society in the mid-twentieth century and on popular culture in Latin America. The book also delves into Lara's music itself, bringing to light how the composer's work unites a number of important currents in Latin music of his day, particularly the bolero.Less
Few Mexican musicians in the twentieth century achieved as much notoriety or had such an international impact as the popular singer and songwriter Agustín Lara (1897–1970). Widely known as “el flaco de oro” (“the Golden Skinny”), this remarkably thin fellow was prolific across the genres of bolero, ballad, and folk. His most beloved “Granada,” a song so enduring that it has been covered by the likes of Mario Lanza, Frank Sinatra, and Placido Domingo, is today a standard in the vocal repertory. However, there exists very little biographical literature on Lara in English. This book's informed and informative placement of Lara's work in a broader cultural context presents a reading of the life of this significant musical figure. Lara's career as a media celebrity as well as musician provides an excellent window on Mexican society in the mid-twentieth century and on popular culture in Latin America. The book also delves into Lara's music itself, bringing to light how the composer's work unites a number of important currents in Latin music of his day, particularly the bolero.
