Obit: CaneFife Master, Othar Turner

Subject: Obit: CaneFife Master, Othar Turner
From: Tweed
Date: 27 Feb 03 - 10:51 PM

I don't like posting these things at all, but Mr. Othar is about the last of a long line of Mississippi hill country musicians. He was a friend to Mississippi Fred Macdowell and they played fishfrys and partys in the Como/Senatobia area back in the day.
He passed away in his sleep at home after a short illness. He was 94 years old.
Othar Turner

Subject: RE: Obit: CaneFife Master, Othar Turner
From: GUEST,Mary Katherine
Date: 27 Feb 03 - 11:14 PM

And with regret I add that only hours after Mr. Othar's death, his daughter Bernice lost her battle with cancer.

Subject: RE: Obit: CaneFife Master, Othar Turner
From: Tweed
Date: 28 Feb 03 - 11:44 AM

I'll do a refresh and an exerpt from gomememphis.com's obituary.

Turner was nearly cast in the film O Brother, Where Art Thou? by the Coen Brothers, who considered him for the role of the blind prophet. His music kicks off Gangs of New York as a prelude to the opening fight sequence.

He was also a subject for photographer Annie Leibovitz and is featured in the book Bill Wyman's Blues Odyssey. and appeared some years back on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

That TV show - its host, Fred Rogers, died Thursday - influenced North Mississippi Allstars' leader Luther Dickinson, who would go on to produce Turner's two albums. "That's where Luther first saw him," says musician father Jim Dickinson. "He was just a kid. I told Luther, 'That man lives right down the street.' "


Read the rest here.

Tweed

Subject: RE: Obit: CaneFife Master, Othar Turner
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 28 Feb 03 - 10:49 PM

I thought I only knew Mr. Turner's music from his work with The North Mississippi Allstars and having heard him on public radio a couple of times. I did not know that he was the leader of the Rising Star Fife and Drum Band. I saw that band at a university concert in 1975. They were great.

Rest in peace, Mr. Turner.

Bruce

Subject: RE: Obit: CaneFife Master, Othar Turner
From: pattyClink
Date: 01 Mar 03 - 08:18 PM

Strange, I just saw some documentary footage on him today, and just read about the fife-and-drum bands in The Land Where the Blues Began 2 days ago. He was shown making the fifes from cane and talking about how he got started, and shown glad that his granddaughter had become a fifer.

I was straining to remember the exact words he used to talk about how he would make a fife for a youngster for no charge as long as they would try to play it, as was done for him many decades before. Something about 'the only things that get done, get done by try-ers'. Anybody with a better memory for those words to live by?

Subject: RE: Obit: CaneFife Master, Othar Turner
From: Tweed
Date: 01 Mar 03 - 10:20 PM

Mr. Othar's granddaughter preceded him in death in a drowning accident last year. A friend of the family told me that her passing affected him greatly as he cared for her a lot and hoped she could carry on the tradition of fife and drums. It's not been a good year for the Turner's. If anyone would like to send a card or a small donation to help out, you could send it to:

Ms.Bobbie Turner
3339 Gravel Springs Road
Senatobia, Mississippi 38668

Subject: RE: Obit: CaneFife Master, Othar Turner
From: BanjoRay
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 09:30 AM

An interview with Othar was featured in a new series on the blues on Radio 4 today called Deep Blue, created by Michael Roach. I presume it was recorded before Othar's death, as there was no reference to it. He seemed very alive in the recording.
Ray

Subject: RE: Obit: CaneFife Master, Othar Turner
From: greg stephens
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 03:27 PM

That's funny (peculiar not ha-ha). I heard Othar Turner on radio 4 this lunch-time, got home this evening and put the record on, and looked at Mudcat. And saw this thread. I'm listening to him right now.
RIP A one-off.

Subject: RE: Obit: CaneFife Master, Othar Turner
From: Tweed
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 07:01 PM

Here's a couple good sites with more on Mr.Otha.
"It had Rained Most of the Day in Nashville..."
BillandOtha.Com
North Mississippi Allstars/Othar Turner Bio Page

By all accounts he was truly an amazing and very good and fine human being. From the old Nobility.

Tweed

Subject: RE: Obit: CaneFife Master, Othar Turner
From: GUEST,pattyClink
Date: 04 Mar 04 - 09:02 AM

Signs of life in the spring, the music goes on in the new generation.

http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0403/04/o01.html