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The Journal of New York Folklore was published 1975-1999. Back issues are still available.  The New York Folklore Quarterly was published 1946-1974. Back issues are still available. New York Folklore Society P.O. Box 764 Schenectady, NY 12301 518/346-7008 Fax 518/346-6617 nyfs@nyfolklore.org |
NEW YORK FOLKLORE PUBLICATIONS | VOICES | BACK ISSUES | FOLKLORE IN ARCHIVES | FOLK ARTISTS SELF-MGT | ORDER PUBLICATIONS | SEARCH ITALIAN MUSIC IN NEW WORK As a child in my adolescence, living in the heart of New York’s Neapolitan ghetto, I never heard an Italian singing...And so later in my life when I was exposed to all the cliches of lovable Italians, singing Italians, happy-go-lucky Italians, I wondered where the hell the movie makers and story writers got all their ideas from. (Puzo 1972: 35).Even if the singing Italian was not remembered by Puzo, did he not know an Italian with a player piano, a cylinder player, or a phonograph? Like his neighbors, did he not go to the puppet theatres, the music halls, or the dance halls? Did he not attend Saint’s Day street festas and walk in procession with the brass band? Did he not drink a toast and sing a chorus; or give money to the zampagna (bagpipe) and cirarculla (reed pipe) players during the Christmas season; or listen to the Italian language radio? Fuzo’s remembrances may simply be his own selective memory, for there was a rich tradition of Italian folk music in New York. Another author, Sicilian-born Jerry Mangione, recalls that during his childhood in Rochester in the 1920s, music was an integral part of many family celebrations, and: My relatives were never at loss for finding reasons for being together. In addition to parties for birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, and Saint days, there were also parties when a child was baptized, when he was confirmed, and when he got a diploma. The arrival of another relative from Sicily or the opening of a new barrel of wine was still another pretext for another gathering of the clan. (Mangione 1978: 14-15).Italian Music Traditions Anthropologist Anna Chairetakis writes that “a powerful cultivated tradition in art, music and literature” developed early in Italy’s history: There it grew up primarily, though not entirely, in the cities of Central and Northern Italy and was exported to the South by nobles and their followers. There also grew up two distinct traditions in folk culture — that of the peasants and laborers, and that of the urban artisans. For many centuries there was a creative give and take among the three traditions. In recent times, however, the artistic cultures of the peasants and artisans (the group which primarily immigrated to this country) have been increasingly deprived of their legitimacy, dignity and functions by forces such as nationalism, mass education and media. The elite “great traditions” such as opera and chamber music have, on the other hand, received more support and promotion. (Chairetakis 1985: 5).Diego Carpitella, Alan Lomax, and other scholars collected folk music in Italy in the 1950s. In the mountains of South and Central Italy and the islands of Sicily and Sardinia they uncovered a trove of folk songs that were quite different from the standard “sophisticated” music of the North and the cities of the South. In these areas, a lower standard of living and the relative undevelopment and lack of modernization had left ancient styles relatively intact....
 BACK TO NEW YORK FOLKLORE, Vol. 14, No. 3-4 — Table of Contents.NOTE: The New York Folklore Society Newsletter and New York Folklore Journal were replaced by Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore which debuted in December, 2000. Membership in NYFS includes a subscription to Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore. HOME | ABOUT NYFS | PROGRAMS & SERVICES | MUSIC | PUBLICATIONS | RESOURCES | CALENDAR | WHAT’S FOLKLORE? | MEMBERSHIP | GALLERY | SHOP | SEARCH | CONTACT US © 2012, 2011, 2010 New York Folklore Society |
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