Origin: Colored Aristocracy

Subject: RE: Colored Aristocracy?
From: curmudgeon
Date: 25 Jun 09 - 02:59 PM

Barry, I wasn't referring to you. The song you just mentioned sounds like "Jubilo, aka "The Kingdom Comin," by Henry Clay Work.

Say, darkeys, hab you seen de massa,
Wid de muff-stash on his face,
Go long the road some time dis mornin'
Like he gwine to leab de place?
He seen a smoke, 'way up the ribber
Whar the Linkum gunboats lay;
He took his hat an' lef' berry sudden
An' I spec he's run away!

cho: De massa run? Ha ha!
De darkeys stay? Ho ho!
It mus' be now de kingdom comin'
An' de year ob Jubilo!

Subject: RE: Colored Aristocracy?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 25 Jun 09 - 03:19 PM

The origin of the current fiddle tune is obscure, as suggested in the excerpt from the Fiddler's Companion posted above.

The information there about the origin of the term "colored aristocracy," however, is incomplete and out-of-date.

Subject: RE: Colored Aristocracy?
From: Barry Finn
Date: 25 Jun 09 - 03:34 PM

Yes Tom, I was thinking of Work's "Kingdom Coming" & thinking it was to the tune of "Colored Aristocracy". You can now "Spank me" instead.

Barry

Subject: RE: Colored Aristocracy?
From: Midchuck
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 10:26 AM

The second chord in the accompaniment has been variously played as both an E minor and an E major.

E minor is right in terms of music theory, but you need to play E major to give it a proper "old-timey" sound. Check the New Lost City Ramblers' recording.

Now if I could only convince my partners...

P.

Subject: RE: Colored Aristocracy?
From: PHJim
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 03:15 PM

My apologies. I was thinking of Year Of Jubilo when I talked about Howie's Cider In The Kitchen album.

Subject: RE: Colored Aristocracy?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 10:09 PM

Well, there's only so much storage space in our tiny brains! Any who wants to risk an upgrade?

Not to worry, gang, as long as we continue the conversation.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: ADD: Voodoo Queen Marie
From: RiGGy
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 11:31 PM

OK, Barry. Here's what Tommy Magee sang with our Brattle Streetband:

VOODOO QUEEN MARIE
(words by Peter Stampfel of the Holy Modal Rounders)

My mama always told me "boy, you keep away from her"
When she goes by the dogs all cry, but the cats all purr
She's a voodoo queen, she's up from New Orleans
And here she comes just lookin' like the universe is all hers

Voodoo Queen Marie, she ran the town of New Orleans
Ran since her middle teens, just like it was her favorite toy
But that was fine because, that's exactly what it was
Wasn't anybody, and there wasn't any laws made to fit Queen Marie

Well don't she have some power, and don't the men-folk stare
At her golden hoops, and shiny rings and long black shiny hair
All hangin to her hips, her cherry colored lips
Other women walk on Earth, while this one floats thru the air

Well the folks tell fabulous lies, say how the green light shines from her eyes
Say that she's a cat in disguise, say there's horns upon her head
They say she's married as well, say she wed the Devil in Hell
Turned him into a big black snake and keeps him under her bed

Watch that woman shake, she's dancin with her snake
Dancin, dancin all nite long on a moonlight, candlelit, voodoo lake
Dress up in flaming red, she's dancing with the dead
Dancin, Dancin, all nite long with a fish held over her head

Now the Voodoos know her name, they pass the tale from hand to hand
But you can go all thru this land and never hear not one word said
But if you know where to look, it's not in the telephone book
But Voodoo's knowledge makes men think old Queen Marie is not dead.


Voodoo Queen Marie

Subject: RE: Origin: Colored Aristocracy
From: GUEST,Frankimo
Date: 02 Jan 12 - 10:29 PM

From conversations with friends familiar with some of the older people of Washington DC and eastern Maryland, I would imagine that the title Colored Aristocracy refers to the old(and wealthy old monied) free Black families of Washington DC(c.1800's) who were for the most part, light complected. Unbeknown to most whites; Colored was the general term that African American society of the 19th and early 20th centuries used to differentiate fair African Americans from dark African Americans.

Subject: RE: Origin: Colored Aristocracy
From: Suzy T.
Date: 02 Jan 12 - 11:47 PM

Scroll back up, and you'll read about Charles Seeger recording Sanford Rich and his family playing that tune, in West Virginia in the early 30s. Elmer Rich played mandolin on that recording, as a young teenager. He's still playing fiddle, and will be on the faculty at Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, in Port Townsend, WA, next summer! So if you want to meet someone who was part of getting this tune into circulation as an old time tune....check out the Fiddle Tunes website: http://www.centrum.org/fiddle/

I became the Artistic Director of "Fiddle Tunes" (as it's usually called) last year and am loving the opportunity to work with folks like Elmer Rich -- they're the closest thing we have to a time machine!
Suzy Thompson

Subject: RE: Origin: Colored Aristocracy
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 03 Jan 12 - 04:13 PM

A reprint of Cyprian Clamorgan, 1858, Colored Aristocracy of St. Louis, reprint, is available from amazon.com and other sources.

A recent book on the Black "Aristocrats" is a study of the Black elite which developed after Reconstruction (following the Civil War)
Willard B. Gatewood, 1990, Aristocrats of Color, The Black Elite, 1880-1920, Univ. Arkansas Press.

Subject: RE: Origin: Colored Aristocracy
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Jan 13 - 04:57 PM

Elmer Rich, who appears in the 1936 video with Eleanor Roosevelt is the nephew of Sanford Rich who is credited for composing the tune in its present form. Elmer told me that Sanford was inspired by Ragtimers in St Louis, and chose the title to honor them. Elmer is still alive and actively fiddling in Morgantown, so you can ask him if you have any questions.

Subject: RE: Origin: Colored Aristocracy
From: Janie
Date: 19 Jan 13 - 05:38 PM

'zat you Russ?

Subject: RE: Origin: Colored Aristocracy
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 19 Jan 13 - 09:59 PM

Janie,
Not me.
But I still check out mudcat.
Not many threads these days that interest me.
Elmer shows up regularly for the fiddle contest at Vandalia.
He still loves to compete and he still loves to win.
I also still see him now and then at the October Augusta fiddlers reunion.
Russ (Permanent GUEST)

Subject: RE: Origin: Colored Aristocracy
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Nov 17 - 07:06 PM

it has to do with some aristocratic bloodline families are carrying colored blood within them..

Subject: RE: Origin: Colored Aristocracy
From: leeneia
Date: 30 Nov 17 - 03:51 PM

This is fun to play. You can find the music on abcnotation.com

Subject: RE: Origin: Colored Aristocracy
From: GUEST,Susan
Date: 29 Dec 17 - 10:42 PM

Does this song have racist roots? It's 2017 and we should be clear on this by now, after 17 years of discussion. Is this something I should avoid playing?

Subject: RE: Origin: Colored Aristocracy
From: meself
Date: 30 Dec 17 - 12:26 AM

17 years of discussion - read it and decide for yourself if the tune has 'racist roots'. And then decide if you 'should' play it or not.

Subject: RE: Origin: Colored Aristocracy
From: leeneia
Date: 30 Dec 17 - 12:03 PM

A piece of music is a set of sounds. How can sounds be racist? Lyrics might be racist, because they are the product of a human mind, but sound is merely the product of moving air.

Is the title racist? Clearly nobody knows. But old tunes often have many titles. If you like 'Colored Aristocracy' and want to play it, give it a new title.