Klezmer, a type of Eastern European Jewish secular music brought to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century, originally functioned as accompaniment to Jewish wedding ritual celebrations. In the late 1970s, a group of primarily Jewish musicians sought inspiration for a renewal of this early 20th century American klezmer by mining 78 rpm records for influence, and also by seeking out living klezmer musicians as mentors. Why did a group of Jewish musicians in the 1970s through 1990s want to connect with artists and recordings from the early 20th century in order to "revive" this music? What did the music "do" for them and how did it contribute to their senses of both individual and collective identity? How did these musicians perceive the relationship between klezmer, Jewish culture, and Jewish religion? Finally, how was the genesis for the klezmer revival related to the social and cultural climate of its time? I argue that Jewish folk musicians revived klezmer music in the 1970s as a manifestation of both an existential search for authenticity, carrying over from the 1960s counterculture, and a manifestation of a 1970s trend toward ethnic cultural revival. I implicitly argue that both waves of klezmer popularity in America are reflections of the long project of Jews negotiating identities as both American and Jewish—the attempt to fit in from the margins while maintaining or being ascribed certain ethnic differences—in the United States throughout the 20th century. / Master of Arts

This is a critical study of Hamish Henderson (1919-2002). It examines his work as a poet, translator, folklorist, and cultural and political commentator. Through close textual analysis, this project shows how Henderson’s various writings can be considered part of a life-long engagement with the complex relationship between politics and aesthetics. This includes the purpose of poetry and its relation to ‘the people’; the defining qualities of folk culture and its political potential; conceptions of nationalism and internationalism; and notions of Scottish history and ‘tradition’. Bemoaning a modern disconnect between the artist and society, Henderson explored the possible causes of this disjuncture and proposed various solutions. His views on these issues were tested in a series of public ‘flytings’, or opinion column debates, with the poet Hugh MacDiarmid between 1959 and 1968. Chapter One is an analysis of the form and content of these exchanges. In Chapter Two, Henderson’s poetic responses to the War, his collected Ballads of World War II (1947) and Elegies for the Dead in Cyrenaica (1948), are considered in light of his professed aim to create a poetry that ‘becomes people’. Chapter Three examines Henderson’s relationship with the life and works of the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937). Drawing from Henderson’s translation of Gramsci’s prison letters, this chapter examines how the Italian thinker both validated and undermined his approach to folk culture. Chapter Four considers Henderson’s perceived ‘turn’ away from art-poetry towards folk-song. With reference to his writings on various poets, his own poetry and song, and that of others that he admired, this chapter reflects on Henderson’s ideas about the distinctiveness of the Scottish literary tradition, and about the politics of authorship. Chapter Five interrogates Henderson’s various writings on folk culture according to his role as a ‘folk revivalist’ who seeks to reinstate folk-song as a popular mode of collective selfexpression, and as a ‘folklorist’ who documents the folk tradition. This project argues for a holistic examination of Henderson’s cultural politics, restoring his writings to their original contexts and providing an account of the constantly renegotiated relationship between art and society present throughout his work.

Through the mid-twentieth century, a significant pattern of migration occurred between Appalachia and the Pacific Northwest, with Washington’s thriving timber industry offering compelling economic opportunities. Many workers and families from western North Carolina settled in the small mountain town of Darrington, Washington, frequently accompanied by their banjos and guitars. As a group of young bluegrass enthusiasts from Seattle established relationships with Darrington’s “Tar Heel” musicians, a collaborative music community formed, laying the foundation for the region’s contemporary bluegrass scene. Drawn from a series of ethnographic interviews, this project illuminates the development of a bluegrass community in western Washington, while identifying several of its key contributors. The resultant narrative explores the musical legacy of Appalachian migration to the Pacific Northwest, culminating in its convergence with the urban folk music revival of the 1960s. This work contributes to a growing body of scholarship that challenges the traditional geo-cultural assumptions encompassing bluegrass music.

Ce travail vise à comprendre pourquoi et comment l'accordéon diatonique breton a connu une profonde transformation organologique et stylistique au cours des dernières décennies. L'évolution de l'instrument est ici le témoin des dynamiques historiques et sociales, que l'accordéon présente la particularité d'avoir intégrées dans sa forme-même du fait de sa rare plasticité, et qu'il permet d'éclairer. Statut des musiciens professionnels au sein d'une pratique restée massivement amateur, rôles et mécanismes de l'apprentissage d'un savoir traditionnel initialement basé sur l'oralité, fluctuation des attentes sociales à travers les générations successives, sont quelques-uns des aspects qui se dévoilent au fil de l'étude et qui se relient.À partir du constat d'une mutation organologique progressive, nous chercherons à comprendre les modifications profondes des fonctions sociales jouées par l'instrument. Un retour historique permettra de définir les intentions et le statut des « pionniers » du renouveau de l'accordéon diatonique breton dans les années 1970. En nous appuyant sur ce socle, nous montrerons comment l'accordéon en tant qu'outil est en interaction étroite et permanente avec le geste du musicien et avec son intention (produire des notes – et dans quelle fonction sociale), et combien le passage des générations a renouvelé le contexte d'exposition de l'accordéon et le statut des musiques bretonnes dites « à danser ». Ainsi, nous verrons que la modification progressive de l'intention a conduit à une modification de l'instrument, mais que celle-ci, en retour, fragilise l'efficacité des intentions antérieures. / This work aims to understand why and how the Breton diatonic accordion has undergone a profound organological and stylistic transformation during the last decades. The evolution of the instrument here reflects the historical and social dynamics, that the accordion has integrated into its very form because of its rare plasticity, bringing them into light. The status of professional musicians in a largely amateur context, the roles and mechanisms of learning traditional knowledge initially based on orality, the fluctuation of social expectations through successive generations, are some of the aspects that unfold over the course of the study and connect with one-another.Starting from the observation of a progressive organologic change, we will seek to understand the profound changes of the social functions played by the instrument. A historical overview will allow to define the intentions and the status of the "pioneers" of the revival of the Breton diatonic accordion in the 1970s. Based on this foundation, we will show how the accordion as a tool is in close and permanent interaction with the musician's gesture and with his intention (producing notes – and in what social function), and how much the passage of generations has renewed the context of use of the accordion and the status of Breton music said "to be danced". Thus, we will see that the progressive modification of the intention led to a modification of the instrument, but that this, in turn, weakens the effectiveness of the previous intentions.