Amazon.com: Even casual jazz and blues fans know those seminal American styles journeyed north from New Orleans and the Deep South, along the Mississippi River. But that tributary's penetration into the nation's heartlands, and its passage through a much broader, more diverse array of cultures, affords a richer portrait of how root musical styles have merged, diverged, recombined, or survived against the potential regimentation imposed by mass media and a more mobile, modern society. It's this latter process that provides the thread for director-producer John Junkerman's four-hour documentary, Mississippi: River of Song, originally broadcast by PBS.
Junkerman starts not in the Crescent City, from which African American musical hybrids emerged, but near one of the river's sources in northern Minnesota, winding his way through the varied populations and past a sometimes surprising melange of transplanted European, Asian, and South American musics. From Ojibwa powwows, traditional Hmong reed players, and Scandinavian fiddle groups to forceful gospel choirs, German polka bands, Mexican conjuntos, and alternative rock, Junkerman and his team capture American music beyond the glare of New York, Los Angeles, and Nashville. The pilgrimage does strike special sparks when it reaches the blues, R&B, jazz, zydeco, and Cajun strongholds further down river, yet much of the program's freshness stems from the stopovers that reveal unexpected cultural collisions.
Thrash folk singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco serves as narrator, bringing a warm enthusiasm to her connective commentary, but much of the underlying historical, cultural, and personal insight comes directly from the musicians. --Sam Sutherland
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - A matter of selecting good examples
Acorn Media has been issuing some really nice videos and one of their latest is of special value to anyone interested in American music. With the supertitle "The Mississippi, River of Song: The Grassroots of American Music," this program is divided into four tapes of about 60 minutes each. The basic idea is that we start with "Americans Old and New" at the northern source of the great river and follow the stream through the "Midwestern Crossroads," the "Southern Fusion," and wind up in "Louisiana, Where Music is King." Basically the idea is a good one. The first section starts with the ... Read More
Rating: - I loved the variety of musicians covered in this title.
What a great set. This series explores the diversity of talented musicians along the Mississippi River. I had the opportunity to learn several new styles of music.
Rating: - Real players, real music
After watching this series on PBS and buying the soundtrack, I'm hooked. Here's the premise: start at the top of the Mississippi and follow the musical heritage and current music on down the river until you end up in Louisiana. What makes this series so cool is that it is REAL music, played by folks who love music itself and aren't just out to make money and become famous (though some of them have). They talk about how music reflects the place where it was made. If you like blues, jazz or zydeco, you will love this, and if you want to learn more about music BEYOND what's on MTV, VH1 or ... Read More
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