In a recent thread on the Fasola discussions group (about Sacred Harp and other shape-note styles), I wrote about the close connection between music and its place of origin.
I should have let the great Ralph Stanley do the talking. Here’s a quote from the 11/16 Newsweek, taken from Ralph’s book Man of Constant Sorrow:
We were the last generation from these mountains to live from the earth . . . It was a hard life and there was a lot of suffering. But the music we made couldn’t have come from any other place or time. The suffering was part of what made the music strong, and I reckon that’s why it’s lasted . . . What’s real doesn’t die.
He’s talking about his kind of old-time music, of course, but to me this speaks to Sacred Harp as well.
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