This video makes my heart leap with joy.
I love it is shot in the living room. I love that all generations are having fun together. I love the shorthaired girl’s face full of joy and anticipation just before the dancing begins.
The rug is rolled up, and the chairs are put against the wall. Then Grandpa takes his fiddle from the case, and uncle Joe picks up his banjo, and off they go. Children, teenagers, and the old man from next door, everyone dances. Grandma sits on the couch and looks approvingly at the youngsters.
This is Blue Grass from the Appalachians, filmed in 1964.
The Appalachians, until the 40’s were so isolated people relied on each other for survival but also for entertainment. Everybody played an instrument and sang and danced.
This music and dance were part of a culture, outside of commercial structures. It saddens me to realize that it has disappeared, like so many others. Probably those teenagers were the last generation for whom this was a part of their life, before television swept it all away.
Folk dances in different cultures have similar elements. An example is rural Cuban music and dance. In both Blue Grass and Cuban son the music is repetitive. In both, a leader shouts a name or number, indicating the next figure for everyone to dance. In the video below it is the fat man in the orange shirt shouting.
Obviously, this is less authentic. For instance, the music is recorded, not played live. Tourists are looking on from the sidelines. Still, it is based on music and dance from the countryside called Son. It still is part of a culture and a community (maybe because Cuba was for so long because of Communism). Like Blue Grass, the music goes on and on, bringing the dancers into a trance-like state. For both, you need stamina.
You win and you lose…
We gained the ability to listen (essentially for free) to almost all music made everywhere in the world. We lost the connection it had with a particular place and time.
Another example is the music of Bach. Most of it was composed for a specific moment ( a particular Sunday or holy day in the Church calendar) and a specific place (a church, or even a specific church ). Now it is performed in concert halls. Even when St Mattew Passion is performed in a church on Good Friday, most performers and listeners are non-believers. Maybe Gospel sung in Black churches in the US is an exception to this.
Is this a bad thing? No, in life everything is a trade-off:
You gain one thing, you lose something else…