Spring Break
Retired professor nominated for two Grammy Awards
Folk music contributes to album
JOHN BARRETT
Issue date: 12/9/08 Section: Variety
|
But he also possesses a strong passion for folk music and has channeled that passion through his work as a field recorder - something he has been pursuing since he was in high school.
Rosenbaum's body of work in the area of field recording has brought him to a wider level of recognition. His newly released box-set compilation "Art of Field Recording Volume I: Fifty Years of Traditional American Music Documented by Art Rosenbaum" was recently nominated for Grammy Awards in two categories: "Best Historical Album" and "Best Album Liner Notes."
"[The] compilation is all field recordings that I've made personally over 50 years that includes different categories of folk music like rural, acoustic blues, string bands, mountain ballad singing, religious and church music," Rosenbaum said.
"A small portion of the material had been issued for small releases in the past, but most of it is previously unissued, and this compilation's purpose was to get it organized and put it out."
Field recording, which simply refers to any recording made outside of a studio environment, became an interest of Rosenbaum's early in his life.
"In high school, I wasn't attracted to pop music. I was attracted to folk music," he said. "I realized that there was some of this material out on record, but most of it was music that people make for themselves, in home or in church or for square dances," he said. "So I thought if I could find environments and people who have carried on these traditions, that's the best way to learn it."
Rosenbaum proceeded to seek out singers and musicians in his hometown, Indianapolis, who were attuned with folk music and the traditions associated with it and recorded their music on simple reel-to-reel tapes.
"I realized people like [musicologist] Alan Lomax were doing what I was doing, and it was called 'field recording' because they were outside of the studios; they were in people's living rooms or back porches," Rosenbaum said.
Be the first to comment on this story