What is a Broadside Ballad?

A broadside ballad is a narrative song, sung to a popular theme that addresses a specific social or political issue of that time period. The broadside ballad is intended for the masses, and to show this it was played in taverns, bars, on the streets, etc. They would be just a sheet of paper with lyrics on it that would be posted everywhere like flyers we see today. To make up an example, of what a broadside ballad could be today it could be addressing the Arizona shooting over the immigration issue, but it would be sung to the melody of America The Beautiful (a hymn everyone can recognize). Broadside ballads give us a glimpse into truth about our struggles now, and about those in our past. A broadside ballad cannot be censored, it is raw and listening to one can be just as exciting as sitting around with a bunch of Grandkids and listening to Grandpa tell a captivating story about when he was a young boy. Listening to broadside ballads allow us to recapture moments lost in time and with a simple melody, bring them back to life once more.

One such struggle was the Southern Tenant Farmers Union strike in the 1930’s.  Because of President Franklin D. Roosevelt the Agricultural Adjustment Agency (AAA) was founded to increase the price of food and help rebound the economy. In order to do this they paid farmers not to farm but the money would go to the landowners not to the farmers. Even though the landowners were expected to share the money, most did not. So the Southern Tenant Farmers Union was formed. The Almanac Singers saw this social justice was occurring and wrote a ballad called “Roll the Union On”. It was sung to a melody almost everyone knew and is actually quite catchy! Here is a link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4YeDI4R9MA

Being able to listen to a broadside ballad such as “Roll the Union On” is like being able to experience the emotion that the people were feeling during that time. It gives you an experience you cannot recreate from a history book. When people come together in song, whether a church hymn, a school alma mater, or a broadside ballad they become united and a powerful force that cannot be silenced.

“The songs of the working people have always been their sharpest statement and the one statement which cannot be destroyed.”
                                                                                                                                         --John Steinbeck

Blog #1

Hi everyone, my name is Melanie and I am doing this blog for my music class: Music of Resistance, Revolution, and Liberation. The purpose of this blog is to seek out and understand music that has been used to influence political or social change. We will look at why these pieces were so successful and what they did for the societies they wanted to change. I am taking this class because I am interested in the way that music changes other’s attitudes and can influence others to change. Music is very inspiring to me. By the end of this course I would like to have learned numerous amounts of songs that are powerful and meaningful in the past, present and future.

http://media.smithsonianfolkways.org/video/CFV10058_768k_320_n.swf

The artist I have chosen is Bernice Johnson Reagon. She has been a singer and an activist since the sixties. ” She founded SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) Freedom Singers, which was the first group of freedom singers to travel nationally. Through Freedom Singers and her own work, she became a leader in the Civil Rights Movement.

The primary social and political issues she addressed were the idea of equal rights for African Americans. She saw firsthand the effects of racism in her own life and wanted to make a change. She witnessed protests and riots that usually ended up in arrest and how after song was able to unify her community and people. During the Albany movement in Albany, Georgia she comments of the power of the music: “It was the first time that I knew the power of song to be an instrument for the articulation of our community concerns.”

http://www.bernicejohnsonreagon.com/

I chose this video because what she said about freedom really intrigued me. She says “The only freedom you have is the freedom you’re exercising.” I completely agree and those are some powerful words, they make you want to do something and to start exercising the freedom you really do have. If she can speak this way then I can only imagine how powerful and influential her music is, and that’s really exciting to me. I can’t wait to find more people and songs just like this!