The Sound of Ethnic America: Prewar “Foreign-Language” Recordings & the Sonics of Us Citizenship
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THE SOUND OF ETHNIC AMERICA: PREWAR “FOREIGN-LANGUAGE” RECORDINGS & THE SONICS OF US CITIZENSHIP Mathew R. Swiatlowski A dissertation submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of American Studies in the College of Arts & Sciences Chapel Hill 2018 Approved by: Jocelyn R. Neal Sharon P. Holland Timothy Marr Michael Palm Andrea Bohlmam © 2018 Mathew R. Swiatlowski ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Mathew R. Swiatlowski: The Sound of Ethnic America: Prewar “Foreign-Language” Records and the Sonics of US Citizenship (Under the direction of Jocelyn R. Neal) This dissertation explores the juncture of sound and citizenship to consider how the boundaries of nation are maintained at both geospatial and cultural borders. Specifically, the project concerns “foreign-language” recordings made by US recording companies prior to World War II (hereafter, prewar). With the onset of war in Europe in 1914, “foreign-language” recordings were increasingly cut domestically, featuring vernacular performers of the Great Wave of immigration that brought Hungarian, Syrian, Ukrainian, Turkish, Polish, Mexican, Chinese, and Japanese peoples, alongside a host of other nationalities, to the US beginning in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Initially marketed to specific immigrant populations in the US, these recordings eventually became the province of postwar record collectors and the reissue music market by the 1970s. The narrative of the project draws much of its power by connecting their discrete moments of circulation with the political realities that shaped their audition. As such, the project examines the interplay between, what I call, the “national vernacular imaginary” and state policy in regards to immigration and citizenship. At its most basic, The Sound of Ethnic America is a media history of “foreign-language” recordings at prewar, mid-century, and bicentennial intervals. At its most critical, the project is a study of U.S. “roots music,” centered not on the iii early country and blues recordings principal to the American folk canon, but instead, on the proximal ethnic vernacular recordings of the same acoustic and early electrical recording periods. Major case studies in this dissertation include: articles, editorials, and advertisements related to the “foreign-language” market in Talking Machine World; Folkways’ Anthology of American Folk Music edited by Harry Smith; Library of Congress’ Folk Music in America edited by Richard Spottswood; and Folklyric Records’ Texas-Mexican Border Music edited by Chris Strachwitz. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The long and, at points, arduous journey to completing this dissertation was aided by numerous individuals, organizations, and institutions to which I extend my utmost gratitude. To my advisor, Jocelyn R. Neal, who took on a non-musicologist outside her home department and shepherded me through doctoral candidacy with grace and compassion, I thank you. You commended me when I deserved and desperately needed commendation, and instructed me to glue myself to a chair and finish writing when I needed to glue myself to a chair and finish writing. Without either, this dissertation would still be scattered files on random thumbdrives, dropboxes, and web-based cloud services. I am grateful to my committee, Sharon P. Holland, Timothy Marr, Michael Palm, and Andrea Bohlman, who graciously offered feedback on early drafts of this project. You each left an indelible mark on my scholarship; one that is clear in this work, but that you will also find in future endeavors. An extra debt of gratitude is owed to Timothy Marr, who not only approached my work with trademark expanse, but also, at a granular, sparing readers the trouble of navigating a sea of typos, misspellings, and missed words (relative, of course, to the pond of such errors I assume are still present). To my colleagues Elijah Gaddis, Rachel Gelfand, Elijah Heyward, Mel Lasseter, and Josh Parshall, that first cohort of American Studies doctoral students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the courses we took together are mostly distant memories at this point, but the companionship and conviviality are still with me. Additional acknowledgment is owed to v Rachel Gelfand, whom I met awkwardly in a Greenlaw elevator while both of us were trying to find our departmental orientation, and now, five academic years later, I graduate alongside. Thanks for the lunches and brunches, for splitting the cost of conference hotels including that dump in Toronto, and for being my good, dear friend. A round of thanks is owed to other individuals who influenced and supported my work along the way: to David Suisman and Charles McGovern, who pointed me in the direction of Richard Spottswood when I knew very little about “ethnic” music recordings in the US other than I wanting to know more; to Richard Spottswood, Chris Strachwitz, and Ian Nagoski, who responded charitably to my inquiries for information and clarification on their storied work collecting and reissuing the records that are the subject of this dissertation; to the American Studies department at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, especially Judith Smith and Jeffrey Melnick, who took a chance on a graduate applicant with modest GRE scores and really only okay grades, awarded me a Master’s degree, and sent me on my way to UNC; to Aimee Vandemark, whose counsel I sought far too late but found at precisely the right time. My appreciation to all the above. This project would also not have been possible without generous assistance from The Archie Green Fellowship in Occupational Folklife, The D.K. Wilgus Fellowship in Comparative Ballad & Folksong Study, a UNC Graduate School Summer Research Fellowship, an Association for Recorded Sound Collections Research Grant, the Future Faculty Fellowship Program at UNC, a UNC Graduate School Dissertation Completion Fellowship, and those two, still mysterious donors to the American Studies graduate program who offered funds to afford me and my colleagues a summer of stress-free reading in advance of our comprehensive exams. vi To my family, I thank you for the support and encouragement you provided even as I uprooted myself from you and a place I love to complete my doctoral degree. We see less of each other these days, but I have never felt more shaped by those who raised me and the place where I’m from. Finally, to my partner Meg Adams and the two feline angels you brought into my life: none of this would be possible without your love, support, and sacrifice. The little home we have made in Hillsborough has been my place of reprieve through this process. Even when it’s covered in cat hair—and it’s always covered in cat hair—and as it increasingly becomes closed in on by my records and your vintage Pyrex, it continues to be a solace to return to each night. Thank you for being there to greet me and seeing me through to the next day. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................... xii INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 The “Roots” of The Sound of Ethnic America ............................................................... 11 Chapter Summaries ........................................................................................................ 18 The Sonics of Citizenship .............................................................................................. 21 CHAPTER 1: WEAPONS OF SURPISING POWER ..................................................... 23 Introduction: 1928 ......................................................................................................... 23 The Audiopolitics of “Foreign-Language” Recordings ................................................. 29 Ethnic Sound on US Records ........................................................................................ 32 The Foreign Recordings Market .................................................................................... 35 “Foreign-Language” Recordings and Ethnonationalism in the 1920s .......................... 40 The Phonograph in Americanization ............................................................................. 47 The Retail Recordings Market in Americanization ....................................................... 54 Other Voices in Americanization and Sound Recordings ............................................. 58 The Overwhelming Whiteness of Americanization ...................................................... 62 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 66 viii CHAPTER 2: CANONS, CONSENSUS, AND COLLECTING AT MIDCENTURY ... 68 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 68 Elevating the Vernacular ............................................................................................... 72 Folkway’s Cultural Capital ............................................................................................ 75 The Material Culture of Folkways ................................................................................