The past ten years or more has seen a renewed interest in what's come to be known as roots music — in other words, the musical styles that have shaped American (North American) pop music. From the holler songs of the slaves in the field, old country versions of Scottish and Irish ballads, ragtime piano, Carolina bues, gospel, and, well... the list is as long and diverse as the people who have settled in one part of the continent or another.
By now there's pretty much a hard and fast definition of what constitutes roots music. Usually acoustic, and most often a variation on either early blues or country music, it is played on guitars, drums, banjos, and other "traditional" instruments from our rural pasts. It usually conjures up images of families gathered on the back porch playing, or old ramshackle bars in the south.
Although the harmonica was originally a German import, it was quickly adopted by both black and white musicians into their respective music as an alternative to vocals or using more complicated wind instruments in simpler songs. It was adapted from its original usage to fit the needs of the various styles of music, as it could be both a rhythm and a lead instrument.
But as seems more often the case than not when it comes to the arts, and music in particular, like the harmonica, roots music has more to its history than how we hear it played today. In pockets all over America, music has been made on instruments that have not withstood the ravages of time or the whims of popularity. Different ethnic groups would bring their instruments and their music with them, which wouldn't ever achieve the popularity of blues or country, but in their playing, would influence the musical styles of a region.
The harmonica has remained, but the same can't be said for the claviola, the cimbalom, the contra bass saxophone, or the lute guitar. But all of those instruments have been played at one time or another across North America. Now the band Hazmat Modine has recorded an album of roots music utilizing some of these, and others, forgotten instruments, and their first album, Bahamut, kicks over all our preconceptions of musical history.
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