Research Catalog

Title

Didn't we ramble on, the Black marching band [videorecording] / Nommo Productions ; produced by Billy Jackson.

Publication

New York : Filmakers Library, 1989.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Jackson, Billy.

Description

1 videocassette (14 min.) : sd., col.; 1/2 in.

Summary

This documentary demonstrates how the spirit and soul of the West African people have been passed down, generation by generation, through the Black marching bands. As long as seven hundred years ago, the Yoruba people had musical processions at funerals to celebrate the passage of the spirit into the next world. By the 17th century, African musicians were seen in Turkish marching bands and their skill was admired by the monarchs of Europe. In the U.S., Black fife and drum bands played during the Revolutionary War to keep up troop morale; Black bands also played during the Civil War and the two World Wars. In modern times, the tradition of the marching band continues on the football fields of America. Dizzy Gillespie introduces the viewer to the skillfully-executed maneuvers of the Florida A & M Marching Band. He points out that this contemporary band is the direct fulfillment of a timeless ancestral idea. In New Orleans today, a jazz procession is an integral part of the funeral observance.

Subject

• Music > United States
• African Americans > Music
• Marching bands

Credits (note)

• Producer, director, Billy Jackson; editor, Frank Galvin.

Title

Didn't we ramble on, the Black marching band [videorecording] / Nommo Productions ; produced by Billy Jackson.

Imprint

New York : Filmakers Library, 1989.

Credits

Producer, director, Billy Jackson; editor, Frank Galvin.

Performer

Dizzy Gillespie.

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Request Access to Reserve Film and Video Collection Special Collections material

Added Author

Jackson, Billy.

Branch Call Number

VTH 2346 D