Archive for April 27th, 2010
There was a term that was used to describe a certain type of music in the early part of the twentieth century, that forgotten name was Skiffle. A good way to describe this music is, take popular music with influence from different genres of music like jazz, folk, blues, and country, and throw in instruments that are home made.
The origin of this music while obscure is thought to have come from New Orleans. The instruments used were mostly home made, I’m sure you have seen an old movie where they show these musicians usually on a farm in the Bayou playing washboards, musical saws, jugs, and cigar-box fiddles. These instruments were accompanied by other instruments such as banjos and acoustic guitars.
Skiffle music had all but left the United States during the 1940′s. The 1950′s saw the resurrection of skiffle music by a musician called Lonnie Donegan in the United Kingdom. For those of you that are not familiar with Lonnie Donegan look up a song by the name of “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor (On The Bedpost Over Night).
He was the leading recording artist in Britain until The Beatles, and is also the reason guitar sales went way up, mainly because he was the reason for 30-50,000 skiffle groups in the UK.