Agenda - 08-25-1997 - C2 - Laserfiche WebLink

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3 3 with Buck Turo, May 8, 1976). The dances were held for two or three months in succession, until the arrival of spring necessitated that farm work resume. "Chopping time,"when wood was cut and fed to tobacco- curing fires, represented winter's end(Lomeli interview with Joe Thompson, May 15, 1976). In the Cedar Grove community,the Black population was and interrelated and relatively stable. This stability and the fact that tunes were passed down from older musicians rendered the musical repertoire fairly limited and almost universally known within this community network. The repertoire of Cedar Grove's Black string band musicians stems from two primary sources: that of medicine and minstrel shows,and the indigenous White instrumental tradition. The medicine and minstrel shows provided entertainment in the form of music,comedy skits, short plays and story telling. Medicine shows were commonplace by 1900 and perhaps evolved from the minstrel shows which were most popular in the South between 1850 and 1870,and continued to be enjoyed until the late 1920s(Vukan 1948; Redfield as cited in Lomeli 1976,p. 36). Perhaps a more important source for many of the tunes performed by Cedar Grove Black musicians was the indigenous White instrumental tradition. This instrumental tradition originated the British Isles and remains vital in the Southern Appalachian mountains. This music was and is currently performed utilizing the stringed instruments of the fiddle,the banjo,and more recently the guitar(Davidson and Newman,as cited in Lomeli 1976, p. 39). Largely due to the relatively isolated nature of the community,the square dances were enabled to continue in Cedar Grove through the 1940s. Limited diversity of recreational activities and restricted travel during the 1930s compelled residents to support the dances as a celebratory and social activity. The dances provided entertainment as well as an opportunity for congregating with neighbors. The square dance tradition thrived until the 1950s when radios and television became relatively commonplace in the community. Additionally, residents began leaving the farms for manufacturing jobs in the nearby towns of Mebane and Hillsborough. By the early 1950s the square dances had ceased(Lomeli 1976, p. 61).