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Stranded in the USA
Early Songs of Emigration
TRIKONT US-0326
Compiled by: Christoph Wagner
CD in Digipak with 2 detailed Booklets in german and english
Ian Anderson, fRoots - March 2005
"26 fascinating examples of recorded music available to immigrant groups in the USA before Pearl Harbor. There's stuff here from Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Ukraine, Mexico .. .most of which has never been on CD before. Wonderful notes, photos, digi-packing and, with the unfortunate slowdown of vintage ethnic reissues, an especially welcome release."
CLIVE BELL, THE WIRE
Easy to forget, in these days of asylum debates and draconian visa restrictions, but during the nineteenth century nigh on fifty million people emigrated from Europe to America. The result was a patchwork of ethnic communities, hungry for songs and stories of the old homeland - an appetite eagerly catered for by major American record companies between the World Wars. As with Annie Proulx's novel Accordion Crimes, Trikont's compilation Stranded In The USA taps an inexhaustible vein of stories from the immigrant experience. Dimitris Perdicopoulos sings of the grey-haired Greek returning home and snatching the prettiest girl in the village for his America-bound bride - from the viewpoint of the young Greek boyfriend left behind. Arthur Kylander, who farmed Christmas trees in California and was an active member of the International Workers Of The World, sings of the Finn hired to work on the railroad, whose sole words of English are, "No sir." Over a score of other tracks tell of immigrant misery or japes: Irish, Trinidadian, Portuguese, Mexican, Serbo-Croatian, German and (the most humorous) Jewish. The whole package, bulging with track notes and several essays establishing historical context, is a remarkable and thorough enterprise from UK-based German music journalist Christoph Wagner, also responsible for last year's book of early twentieth century music postcards, Ear & Eye. (02-05)
Andy Gill, THE INDEPENDENT on 10th December 04
"As ever, America's musical heritage is more lovingly cared for outside its own shores than within its brusquely defended, security-seeking "homeland". Following up its frequent forays into obscure gospel, country, jazz and blues, the German label Trikont here offers a similarly fascinating survey of early emigration songs from the wide spectrum of European, Caribbean and Central American cultures that flowed into the country throughout the last century, many culled from old 78s.
The 26 tracks constitute a collage of overlapping diaspora, from
cultures as musically disparate as Ireland (Pat White's "I'm leaving
Tipperary"), Trinidad (Wilmouth Houdini's "Poor But Ambitious"), Puerto Rico (Conjunto Tipico Ladi's "A Puerto Rican Peasant in New York"), Switzerland (Hanns in der Gand's "Song of Homesickness"), Ukraine (Pawlo Humeniuk's "Ukrainian Wedding in America") and Greece (Rita Abatzi's "America, You Ruined Me") - an extraordinary tapestry of hope, loss, anticipation, homesickness, pride and disillusion. It's a portrait of an era when America was regarded as a haven for the world's dispossessed and persecuted, rather than as a pre-eminent agent of dispossession and persecution, and deserves to be heard over there as a timely reminder of the original melting-pot principles underpinning its culture."
Emigration is a basic experience of the modern ages. Between 1800 and the first World War more than 60 million people left Europe. Ireland, Germany, Poland, Italy and Switzerland had the highest quote of emigrants, but also Bohemia, Serbia, Croatia, Finland, Norway and Greece had to complain an exodus of their population. Most of the emigrants moved to the USA. From the melange of multiple cultures of the Old World melting with new influences, emerged own American traditions. The emigrants made their very own experiences to the topics of their songs, reflecting the whole range of human emotions, from the unbounded hope to the deepest grief of homesickness. There are songs depicting the farewell as a traumatic experience, others are of exuberating optimism and cheat in a snooty way with the clumsiness of the new-comers, the "Greenhorns".
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Tracklist
 1. WHITE,PAT: I'm Leaving Tipperary [02:52]
2. SALOMAA,HISKI: Lannan Lokari(The Western Logger) [03:08]
3. BRACA KAPUDJI TAMBURITZA ORCHESTRA: Ponoc kad dodje(When Midnight Comes) [02:24]
4. ABATZI,RITA: M'ekapses Ameriki(America,You Ruined Me) [03:01]
5. BAMBOO ORCHESTRA,THE/HOUDINI,WILMOUTH: Poor But Ambitious [03:07]
6. MENANO,ANTONIO: Fado do emigrante [03:10]
7. WISNIEWSKI,GENE: Dziewczyna z Chicago(The Girl From Chicago) [02:31]
8. QUINN,FRANK: An Irish Farewell [02:51]
9. ALPERT,LARRY AND ERIV YENTIFF PLAYERS,THE: Galitziana Ball [02:54]
10. GAYTAN Y CANTO: La discrimination [02:40]
11. BOWE,HOWIE & HIS LITTLE GERMAN BAND: Little German Ball [02:15]
12. BECK,I.D. & CONGRETATION OF THE MT.OLIVET REGULAR : Poor Pilgrim Of Sorrow [04:03]
13. DIA,LEONARDO: Li fimmini cu lu lipstick(The Women With Their Lipstick) [03:18]
14. LITTLE OSCAR GANG: Ole(A Norwegian Emigrant Arrives In The USA) [03:19]
15. VERII'S,MILAN TAMBURITZA ORCHESTRA: U daljini(In The Distance) [03:07]
16. PERDICOPOULOS,DIMITRIS: O gero Amerikanos(The Old American) [03:11]
17. KYLANDER,ARTHUR: Siirtolaisen ensi vastuksia(The Immigrant's First Difficultu [03:01]
18. CONJUNTO TIPICO LADI: Un jibaro en Nueva York(A Puerto Rican Peasant In N.Y.) [03:24]
19. POLAK,WLADYSLAW: Dzieci w krateczki(Children In Squares) [03:06]
20. HUMENIUK,PAWLO: Urkainska weselia w Americzki(Ukrainian Wedding In Amerika) [03:53]
21. GOLDSTEIN,MORRIS: Die griene cusiene(The Female Greenhorn Cousin) [02:53]
22. BASCETTA,ALFREDO: Lacrime'e cunndannate(Tears Of The Condemned) [02:56]
23. KYLANDER,ARTHUR: Oi!kuinka engeliksi mielin(The Preacher And The Slave) [02:58]
24. IN DER GAND,HANS: Heimwehlied der Schweiz-Amerikaner(Song Of Homesickness) [03:07]
25. SCHASCHKO,LYDIA: Grüße an die Daheimgebliebenen(Greetings To The Loved Ones L [00:38]
26. SCHASCHKO FAMILY: Herrlich,herrlich(Glorious,Glorious) [00:45]
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Press Reviews:
Stranded in the USA: Kansai Time Out Mag.
[read more]
Stranded in the USA: The Magazine for Traditional Music Throughout the World / 7.2005
The Magazine for Traditional Music throughout the world
(July 2005)
Stranded * in the USA "Early songs of emigration"
compiled and annotated by Christoph Wagner / Trikont US-0326
Note: for convenience all titles in this review are translated versions from the tracklisting, not necessarily the originals.
In the wake of a UK general election in which the question of immigration featured prominently in some campaigning, here is a release that offers food for thought. Between the verses of "When Midnight Comes" recorded by the Kapudji Brothers' Tamburitza Orchestra in Chicago in 1942, a song rich in old world melody and harmony, we can enjoy some wonderful jazzinfluenced solos by the excellent fiddler Bela Balog. [read more]
Stranded in the USA: Songlines / 3./4.2005
SONGLINES
Issue March/April 2005
Stranded in the USA: Early Songs of Emigration
An outstanding encapsulation of the immigrant experience
Raise a glass to the obsessive compulsive, music lover. On a trip to Rockford, Illinois, archivist Christoph Wagner was led to room after room of teetering boxes, stacks and sheer mountains of old 78s. `Here in these catacombs`, he writes, `the whole ethnic underground of America was deposited.` From them came STRANDED IN THE USA, an indispensable, broad-ranging, exhaustively researched view of the immigrant experience. [read more]
Stranded in the USA: Uncut Magazine / August 2005 UK
[read more]
Stranded in the USA: Musical Traditions - UK / July 2005
[read more]
Stranded in the USA: Songlines / UK - march/april 2005
[read more]
Stranded in the USA: Letter from Lyle Kossman
"Sorry it took me so long to thank you for your fine CD. It is put well
together. At the time I didn't think the Howie Bowe was as good as the
recording - not bad! Thanks again - Lyle Kossman"
Lyle Kossman aus Chilton, Wisconsin
One of the few still living musicians from "Stranded in the USA". [read more]
Stranded in the USA: Kansai
[read more]
Stranded in the USA: The Observer
[read more]
Stranded in the USA: Andy Gill - The Independent
"As ever, America's musical heritage is more lovingly cared for outside its own shores than within its brusquely defended, security-seeking "homeland". Following up its frequent forays into obscure gospel, country, jazz and blues, the German label Trikont here offers a similarly fascinating survey of early emigration songs from the wide [read more]
Stranded in the USA: Clive Bell - The wire
Easy to forget, in these days of asylum debates and draconian visa restrictions, but during the nineteenth century nigh on fifty million people emigrated from Europe to America. The result was a patchwork of ethnic communities, hungry for songs and stories of the old homeland - an appetite eagerly catered for by major American record companies between the World Wars. [read more]
stranded in the USA: Ian Anderson - fRoots
"26 fascinating examples of recorded music available to immigrant groups in the USA before Pearl Harbor. There's stuff here from Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Ukraine, Mexico .. .most of which has never been on CD before. Wonderful notes, photos, digi-packing and, with the unfortunate slowdown of vintage ethnic reissues, an especially welcome release. [read more]
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