Cylinder of the Month


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A full-throttle minstrel show from 1899, the Imperial Minstrels featuring Old Folks at Home.

The Imperial Minstrels – Old Folks at Home
 
Company Columbia Phonograph Company
Cylinder # 13010
Category Minstrels
Title The Imperial Minstrels – Old Folks at Home
Performed by Roger Harding & Steve Porter
Circa 1899
Announcement "The Imperial Minstrels, introducing their original minstrel first part, for Columbia Phonograph Company of New York and Paris."
 

Enjoy a classic example of minstrelsy as it was rendered for home entertainment in the late 19th Century.   Fitting anything resembling a minstrel show in a short wax recording was problematic to start with: this cylinder was recorded at a slower 110-RPM in order to provide a nearly 3-minute recording.   But there had to be a song - so it is amusing to hear how Stephen Foster's classic Old Folks at Home was compressed and squeezed in.

To hear The Imperial Minstrels  —

 
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