MEET THE DEALERS
These
rumberos are captured on a postcard from around 1910. One musician
holds up a gourd called a “guira” or scrapper, and another plays
the ancestor of the bongo drum.
A lot of this type of music was recorded in the 1920s and 30s, and is
popular with collectors of ethnic music such as Don Hill. (Courtesy Don
Hill)
DON HILL
A
cultural anthropologist, Don Hill travelled across the country as a student
recording folk musicians. In 1970 discographer Dick Spottswood interested
him in 78s.
Hill is one of a growing group of collectors of ethnic records--non mainstream,
folk music recorded by musicians not formally trained.
The music was recorded from around 1900 to 1942 by major labels such as
Columbia, as well as by tiny companies.
New York, France, Ireland and southern Poland were the epicenters of recording,
he says, but many titles were recorded elsewhere. Chicago was a center
for Ukrainian recordings.
Although many recordings were pressed in the thousands, some small market
titles such as Finnish recordings were only issued in the low hundreds.
What’s hot at the moment? Klezmer, Cuban and West Indian, says Hill.
We had to ask. Is anyone collecting Desi Arnaz? No, says Hill, but there
are some very good Cuban musicians who performed the same music.
Hill notes that ethnic records remain very affordable. Many titles might
cost only a few dollars, and even the rarest titles might cost only $200,
as opposed to thousands of dollars for rare jazz recordings.
Hill is a professor of anthropology and Africana-Latino studies at the
State University of New York --Oneonta.
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DON and BOBBIE
GFELL
The
retired superintendent of the Berlin-Milan Ohio school district, Don Gfell
remembers that his interest in all things Edison began in 6th grade as
he grew up in Milan, Edison’s home town.
Gfell purchased his first Edison machine about 30 years ago. He collects
all sorts of Edisonia such as light bulbs and advertising signs, but among
his most treasured memorabilia are some letters that the famous inventor
wrote to friends and relatives in his home town.
A few years ago Gfell decided to manufacture wooden horns. Finding the
available grades of veneer unsatisfactory, he purchased a fallen 200 year
old oak tree from the local cemetary and quarter sawed it himself.
The veneer is steamed and put in a mold to dry, put in a jig to be precision
finished, put in another jig to be assembled, and sanded. How were the
horns manufactured originally? “I don’t have any idea,”
says Gfell. “My daughter was a researcher at the New York Public
Library and she tried for a year to find out.”
Panelled Victor and Columbia horns have been reproduced, as well as smooth
music master horns and some original designs. The old oak tree is almost
gone.The horns can be seen at the Gfells small antique shop in quaint
downtown Milan.
Gfell is also a trustee of the Edison Home in Milan, a national historic
site.
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