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Miss US 51
Otha Turner -COMO
The African American fife and drum tradition in north Mississippi stretches back to the 1800s and is often noted for its similarities to African music. Its best-known exponent, Otha (or Othar) Turner (c. 1908-2003), presided over annual fife and drum picnics and goat roasts on his property in nearby Gravel Springs and performed at numerous festivals. His music was featured in several documentaries as well as in Martin Scorsese’s film Gangs of New York.
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| Otha Turner MIss US 51 |
Black Fife and Drum Music
The fife and drum ensemble is most closely associated with military marches, but African American bands in North Mississippi have long used fifes and drums to provide entertainment at picnics and other social events. Many scholars believe that such groups formed in the wake of the Civil War, perhaps using discarded military instruments. Prior to the war slaves were largely forbidden from playing drums out of fear that they would use the instruments for secret communication, though African Americans did serve in military units as musicians, playing fifes, drums, and trumpets. North Mississippi fife and drum music are often described as sounding “African,” but it was not imported directly from Africa. Instead, it appears that African American musicians infused the Euro-American military tradition with distinctly African polyrhythms, riff structures, and call-and-response patterns. Fife and drum bands have performed spirituals, minstrel songs, instrumental pieces such as “Shimmy She Wobble,” and versions of blues hits including the Mississippi Sheiks’ “Sitting On Top of the World” and Little Walter’s “My Babe.” While the black fife and drum tradition is identified with northern Mississippi, researchers have also documented the music in other areas, including southwestern Mississippi, western Tennessee, and west central Georgia.
In 1942 multi-instrumentalist Sid Hemphill and his band made the first recordings of Mississippi fife and drum music for Library of Congress folklorist Alan Lomax. His granddaughter, blues singer-guitarist Jessie Mae Hemphill, later played drums in local fife and drum bands. Lomax also recorded fife and drum music by brothers Ed and Lonnie Young in 1959. In the 1960s and ’70s folklorists George Mitchell, David Evans, and Bill Ferris recorded groups featuring Napolian Strickland (c. 1919-2001) on fife and Otha Turner on the bass drum.
Turner, born in Rankin County around 1908—various sources suggest birth years ranging from 1903 to 1917—moved to northern Mississippi as a child together with his mother, Betty Turner. He learned to create his own fifes by using a heated metal rod to hollow out and bore a mouth hole and five finger holes into a piece of bamboo cane. Turner, who spent most of his life as a farmer, eventually became the patriarch of the regional fife and drum tradition. He recorded as leader of the Rising Star Fife and Drum Band for various American and European labels and appeared in several documentaries, including Gravel Springs Fife and Drum, Lomax’s Land Where the Blues Began, and Martin Scorsese’s Feel Like Going Home. Following his death in 2003 his granddaughter and protégé Sharde Thomas inherited leadership of his fife and drum band.
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| Captions Top Photo: Otho Turner leads his fife and drum band including RL Boyce and Abe Young, at the annual picnic at his home in Gravel Springs, northeast of Como in August 1998 Otha Turner plays guitar as his friend Mississippi Fre McDowell looks on. The photograph was taken in 1969 by folklorists David Evans during a field recording session. The band on this 1995 eP on the Sugar Ditch label included, from left, Bernice Turner Pratcher RL Boyce, Otha Turner and Aubrey Turner, Otha Turner and Pratcher, his daughter and the group's manager, tragically died on the same day, Feb 27, 2003. Otha's name was spelled Othar, other in Otbo on various recording and documents. Como native Napolian Strickland was a close musical associate of Otha Turner who played fife, drum, diddley bow harmonica and guitar. Turner made his first recording performing on drums behind Strickland's fife and vocal. fife player Ed Young and his brother Lonnie (right)were among the many local musicians, including Fred McDowell, who was first recorded by folklorist Alan Lomax. Lomax subsequently booked the Youngs as folk festivals nationwide. Drummer Abe ("Kag" or "Cag") Young the son of Lonnie Young Otha Turner looks on with pride as his granddaughter, Sharde Thomas (b Jan 8, 1990) performs at the Turner's annual picnic in Aug 1997. Sharde was accompanied on drums by her cousin Rodney Andre and Aubrey. |
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