Regional Music of Western New York now on CD

So, here we are, after the holiday rush, and time to get caught up on things that have been piling up on my desk while I tended to business processing orders over the Christmas season for A Web of Fine Music (www.finemusic.ca). The season may be slower now, but there are always things to discover in the world of music, as is the case this week.

I recently came across a copy of the community newspaper from Amherst, New York, brought into work by a colleague of mine who lives down in that area of New York state. I have always loved looking at newspapers from any far-flung place people have been to, as you never know what you're going to find. In the lifestyles section of the Amherst Bee recently was an article on a newly-released CD of 19th-century regional music from New York state. Quoting from the article, the artist Dave Ruch, who lives in Amherst, says "People talk a lot about eating locally these days, about consuming food from within 100 miles of where you live. Well, this is music from within 100 miles of where you live".

When you stop and think about it, he's right. Back in the 19th century, before people were more mobile and able to travel more, and television and radio were still a gleam in some inventor's eye, what did we do for entertainment? Parlour games, to be sure, and letter writing would have been popular. But to entertain family and friends at gatherings and such, music would often be very local in nature, and this "heirloom music", as Ruch calls it, is made up of old folk songs, dance tunes and such people grew up with years ago, and would have been handed down for generations.

I have to think other areas, rich in their own regional history, would have similar songs of a local nature we likely have not heard for generations. I can only imagine the music that would have come out of the Niagara Region with the native population in the Fort Erie area, for example, or the early Irish settlers in St. Catharines who help to build the early Welland Canal system. Will we ever hear any of that music? Likely not, but you never know. Perhaps some enterprising musician from this area might find the time and desire to research our local musical heritage and see what can be unearthed. Off the top of my head, I can think of two classical or light-classical works with local connections: former Niagara Symphony conductor Milton Barnes wrote a piece called Maid of the Mist years ago, and I know people have not heard that in a long time save for a performance with the Niagara Symphony a couple of seasons back; and the American composer William Henry Fry, a 19th century champion of local music in his own right, wrote a Niagara Symphony, which only received its World Premiere performance and recording a few years ago on a collection of his works on the Naxos label. I featured the disc on the Mike's Picks page of my website (www.finemusic.ca) over the holiday season, as it has the only recording of the Santa Claus Symphony on it as well.

But, getting back to Dave Ruch, his disc is titled "The Oldest Was Born First", and is available now through his website, www.daveruch.com. Or write to me at music@vaxxine.com and I will see if I can track it down for you. I have not heard the disc yet, but it sounds quite interesting, and my hat is off to Dave for bringing this little-known music to light after all these years.

January 10th, 2009.