Haddonfield Chapter, NSDAR will present Fiddle and Tradition in America: A History and Demonstration by Matthew Backes, Ph.D. on April 13 at 7 p.m. at Springdale Farms, 1638 South Springdale Road, in Cherry Hill. This program is free and open to the public. Reservations are encouraged. The program is funded by the Horizons Speakers Bureau of the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Until the early twentieth century, the fiddle was the centerpiece of American folk music and folk culture. Since then it has been the focus of a musical preservation impulse and a search for authentic folk expression, often referred to as “traditional” music. This presentation explores the dynamic role of fiddle music in American life from the eighteenth century to the present.
Historian and working musician Matthew Backes discusses the origins, styles and interrelated histories of a range of fiddle traditions while providing demonstration of technique and repertoire. The presentation begins as an interactive introduction to the fiddle and ends by raising big questions about the meaning of tradition itself and the place of music in the making, recording and understanding of cultural change.
Matthew Backes received his Ph.D. in history from Columbia University in 2005. He has taught at Princeton University, Rider University, and Union County College. He is currently revising the manuscript of his first book, a study of paternal authority and filial identities in nineteenth-century America, to be published by the University of Virginia Press. His research and teaching interests include religion, the family, gender, and nineteenth-century culture.
For more information about this event, contact Pamela Campbell at (856) 783–7965 or pscampb456@iwon.com. For more information about the Horizons Speakers Bureau please visit njch.org/programs/hsb/.
