tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post2409895487616264928..comments2024-03-27T15:44:43.564-08:00Comments on What Do I Know?: Rachmaninov Comes Out of the Gramophone ArchiveStevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10498066938213558757noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30897652.post-58021177492553653772009-02-17T12:04:00.000-09:002009-02-17T12:04:00.000-09:00Between about 1928 and 1934, the fidelity of 78rpm...Between about 1928 and 1934, the fidelity of 78rpm recordings and affordability of playback equipment improved markedly. Rachmaninov notes that. What he fails to note, though, is an important aspect of why radio broadcasting of music during the same time period was very important.<BR/><BR/>In the USA, during that same time, programs like Duke Ellington's Cotton Club not only spread the most popular American music of the period 1930-1950 - Jazz - but helped prepare the way for integration and civil rights.<BR/><BR/>Politicians, the police, religious and "civic" leaders could keep the races segregated in the concert hall. They could also categorize and stereotype the races through recorded music and film.<BR/><BR/>But they were unable to keep black people from inviting whites into their living room, or whites from inviting blacks into their living rooms, when it came to radio programming. Through radio, Duke Ellington was able to enter over a million white homes each week, without being kicked out, arrested, beaten up, or lynched.Philip Mungerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.com