Review: Book: Music of the Alaska-Klondike

Subject: Review: Book: Music of the Alaska-Klondike
From: Rapparee
Date: 18 Sep 05 - 11:12 PM

Murray, Jean A. Music of the Alaska-Klondike Gold Rush: Songs & History (Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press [Lanternlight Library], 1999. ISBN: 1-889963-13-5, 1-889963-14-3).

If we think of the "Trail of '98" and the gold rush to the Klondike and Alaska around the turn of the 20th Century, we usually think of the works of Jack London and Robert Service. This is a collection of over 100 songs and pieces of instrumental music, almost all with the sheet music, which have been collected by the author.

The book is divided into three major sections: songs and parodies by the gold seekers, songs about the gold rush by professional musicians, and popular music recalled in diaries and other accounts of the gold rush.

Some of the entries include such all-time classics as "Wanted: My Darling Papa," Service's "When the Ice Worms Nest Again," "Rory, Bory, Alice," the "Dlondike Rag," "The Irishman's Shanty," Stephen Foster's "Some Folks," and "Two Little Girls in Blue."

There are also the music and words to more well-known works as well: "She Is More To Be Pitied Than Censured," "Only a Bird in a Gilded Cage," "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo" and others.

Vignettes of such people as Kathleen "Klondike Kate" Rockwell, Jack Hines, Rex Beach, Martha Purdy Black, and George Carmack are included.

As a glimpse at the society of Alaska and the Klondike as seen through its popular music, I thought this was an excellent book. And yes, it's illustrated.

Each of the entries has background notes, and the in addition to a rather extensive bibliography it is indexed by first lines, titles, and name and subject.

If you are interested in this era, I'd suggest that you get a copy of this work.