美国阿巴拉契亚山脉音乐节纪念移民往事

Appalachian Music Celebrates Modern Culture, Immigrant Past

“To me the difference between a violin, and a fiddle¹, is that a violin never had a beer spilled on it... That is the difference.”

Will Fanning laughs at his joke as he rocks on his chair outside his home in Mingo, West Virginia. Fanning is a musician and hotel owner born in Ireland. But now he lives deep in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States.

“The Irish nearly every day have a song and play music,” said Fanning. “So that tradition is kind of bred into me. My family, every weekend we’d play music at the house.”

Like Fanning, many in the area continue the traditions from their families’ immigrant history including a kind of music called old-time.

The oldest music from the oldest mountains

Old-time music comes from the Appalachian Mountains, a 2,400-kilometer-long system of mountains along the eastern part of the United States.

In the 18th century, many Europeans from Ireland, Scotland, and Germany arrived in the area to begin new lives.

The U.S. was now their home, but these Appalachian communities continued the European music and dance traditions they loved. Over time, the music mixed with that of African slaves and became its own. It is called old-time music.

Gerry Milnes is a musician and folklorist² from Elkins, West Virginia. He says the culture of the Appalachian people has survived throughout time because they lived far from other groups.

“The sort of earliest culture that arrived here in that period has really maintained those old traditions. It’s both dialect, and music and customs and traditions and folk ways of all kinds… have a particular Appalachian sensibility to them.”

Bringing communities together

The instruments used to make old-time music usually include guitar, banjo, fiddle, mandolin and bass³.

“Old time music -- you can hear fiddle tunes⁴ that have been played pretty much the same way for a couple hundred years,” Milnes said.

Professional musician John Lilly, of Charleston, West Virginia, plays old-time and country music. He says the earliest purpose of the music was for dancing. Life in the mountains was hard work. Music and dancing provided Appalachians a much needed break from the labors⁵ of the day.

And it brought members of different generations together. Emily Miller⁶, another local West Virginian musician, says that in small Appalachian towns in the past, there was always an old fiddler or musician in the neighborhood. Young people would study the art under him or her.

Richard Heffner, a musician from Lewisburg, West Virginia, is in the Black Mountain Bluegrass Boys Band. He says his community often enjoyed music in groups.

“A lot of the people, they would just meet at their houses, move the furniture back, and dance in the living room, and, like I say, roll up the rug… and that still goes on in our family!”

Learning by listening

High school student Silas Riley and his sister Hazel are learning to banjo. Old-time music is learned by ear, Silas said.

“It’s a lot harder than other music. There’s no written stuff, no written notes, so you have to learn it all by listening to it and trying to reproduce the sound,” Silas said

Silas adds that old-time musicians might not read music, but they can still easily put a song together.

“You can just listen to it and then play it,” he said.

A musical history record

Old-time songs are records of history. Some called “spirituals” are based in the Christian⁷ religion. Others are American civil war songs. And, many are about the life and land that surround the songwriter, says Heffner.

“Some of the words of the songs have so much to do with the area. The hills, mountains, streams, and rivers, the old log cabin, and real gruesome ones about murder and things like that,” Heffner said.

But some of the earliest songs go back to the music’s European roots.

Patrick O’Flaherty was born in Ireland, but now lives in Lewisburg, West Virginia. He owns an Irish restaurant there and plays Irish music in his band, The Poor Claires.

O’Flaherty says that when he hears old-time music, he recognizes songs that he heard growing up in Ireland.

“Lots of the tunes of the old timey music and the bluegrass, you hear the Scottish reels and Scottish jigs⁸, or the Irish reels and Irish jigs and … I can nearly tell where that came from. The root is there.”

Reels and jigs are forms of music and dance.

A family tradition

It is a sunny day at the Augusta Heritage Festival in West Virginia.

“The first thing you ever learn on the clawhammer banjo is the basic strum… And the way to hold your hand, if you've ever like, I usually tell people how they hold an axe⁹, like you're splitting wood or something, that’s how you hold your hand. After you learn that, you can just really play anything...”

Trevor Hammons is describing how to play the banjo.

The Hammons family is an important part of old-time music in West Virginia. They came from Kentucky, and settled in the area just before the Civil War. Hammonds’ family musicians wrote many of the songs that people play in West Virginia today.

Trevor is in high school, and first became interested in music after listening to an album that had a photo of his great-grandfather, Lee Hammons, on the cover. Trevor quickly learned to play the banjo. His style is often compared to that of his great-grandfather’s.

“They say my hand is just like his,” Trevor said. “People say it’s like I’m his shadow or something.”

What he likes best about the old-time music culture is its hopefulness.

“With this music, you never really meet a person with negativity,” Trevor says. “They all kind of are like a big family, a special bond you get when you sit around and jam and play.”

Continuing a history

These days, old-time music is not often heard over the radio. But it still lives on strongly in the communities where it came from.

Organizations like the Mountain Music Trail have created a record of events and places people can visit to experience this rich part of American history.

A history, that Miller says is important to the identity of the people.

“So I think that there's a real pride in what the people of Appalachia have made together… And the music specifically is just something that everyone kind of identifies with. This region has hard times, we've been going through economic transition, but this music has stuck with us through it all”

I’m Phil Dierking. And I’m Caty Weaver¹⁰.

Words in This Story

beer - n. an alcoholic¹¹ drink made from malt and flavored with hops¹²

bond - n. something (such as an idea, interest, experience, or feeling) that is shared between people or groups and forms a connection between them?

breed - v. to take care of and teach (a child who is growing up)?

maintain - v. to continue having or doing (something)?

dialect - n. a form of a language that is spoken in a particular area and that uses some of its own words, grammar, and pronunciations?

particular- adj. used to indicate that one specific person or thing is being referred to and no others?

dialect - n. a form of a language that is spoken in a particular area and that uses some of its own words, grammar, and pronunciations?

rug- n. a floor cover, usually made of cloth

gruesome - adj. causing horror or disgust?

jam - v. to play music informally together without preparation?

shadow - n. a dark shape that appears on a surface when someone or something moves between the surface and a source of light?

strum - v. to play (a guitar or similar instrument) by moving your fingers across the strings¹³?

negativity - n. an attitude in which someone considers only the bad qualities of someone or something?

specifically - adv. in a definite and exact way

region - n. a part of a country, of the world, etc., that is different or separate from other parts in some way?

transition - n. a change from one state or condition to another

1 fiddle   

n.小提琴；vi.拉提琴；不停拨弄，乱动

参考例句：

• She plays the fiddle well.她小提琴拉得好。
• Don't fiddle with the typewriter.不要摆弄那架打字机了。

2 folklorist   

民俗学研究者

参考例句：

3 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。

4 tunes   

n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• a potpourri of tunes 乐曲集锦
• When things get a bit too much, she simply tunes out temporarily. 碰到事情太棘手时，她干脆暂时撒手不管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 labors   

v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转

参考例句：

• He was tiresome in contending for the value of his own labors. 他老为他自己劳动的价值而争强斗胜，令人生厌。 来自辞典例句
• Farm labors used to hire themselves out for the summer. 农业劳动者夏季常去当雇工。 来自辞典例句

6 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

7 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

8 jigs   

n.快步舞（曲）极快地( jig的名词复数 )；夹具v.（使）上下急动( jig的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The simplest method for small volume production requires a number of jigs. 对于小规模生产，最简单方法需要几个装配架。 来自辞典例句
• So the old witch was forced to dance a jigs. 老女巫也只好跳起快步舞来。 来自辞典例句

9 axe   

n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减

参考例句：

• Be careful with that sharp axe.那把斧子很锋利，你要当心。
• The edge of this axe has turned.这把斧子卷了刃了。

10 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

11 alcoholic   

adj.（含）酒精的，由酒精引起的；n.酗酒者

参考例句：

• The alcoholic strength of brandy far exceeds that of wine.白兰地的酒精浓度远远超过葡萄酒。
• Alcoholic drinks act as a poison to a child.酒精饮料对小孩犹如毒药。

12 hops   

跳上[下]( hop的第三人称单数 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• The sparrow crossed the lawn in a series of hops. 那麻雀一蹦一跳地穿过草坪。
• It is brewed from malt and hops. 它用麦精和蛇麻草酿成。

13 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。