Music of Baltimore
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Baltimore, Maryland has long been the largest city and cultural center of Maryland, and has contributed much to that state's musical heritage. Baltimore major music venues include Concordia Hall and the Lyric Opera House, which hosts the Baltimore Opera and other major performing institutions.
In the middle of the 19th century, Baltimore was a major center of sheet music publishing, home to Joseph Carr, F. D. Benteen, John Cole and George Willig, as well as the piano-building businesses of William Knabe and Charles Steiff
Most of the major musical organizations in Baltimore were founded by musicians who trained at the Peabody Institute's Conservatory of Music. These include Baltimore Choral Arts and the Baltimore Opera, as well as the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO). The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra formed in 1916 and was the only orchestra in the country to operate as a branch of the city's government. In 1942, the orchestra was reorganized as a private institutions. The Orchestra claims that Joseph Meyerhoff, President of the Orchestra beginning in 1965, and his music director, Sergiu Comissiona began the modern history of the BSO and "ensured the creation of an institution, which has become the undisputed leader of the arts community throughout the State of Maryland".
In the field of 20th century popular music, the Upton neighborhood's Pennsylvania Avenue music scene became a hotspot for jazz, also producing The Orioles, one of the most influential doo wop groups of the era. Pennsylvania Avenue (often known simply as The Avenue) was the major scene for Baltimore's black musicians, and was an early home for Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle, among others.
Baltimore's hardcore punk scene was overshadowed by DC's, but included bands like Fall River, Law & Order], Bollocks and Fear of God. Probably the most influential and first pure Baltimore hardcore band was Gut Instinct. Though lasting little beyond a handful of demos and a 7 inch in the early 1990s, the band had a tremendous impact on the local scene. They and their friends were part of what was known as the CCS (Charm City Skins) and Bmore Cautious Crew, who were made up of viciously anti-racist skinheads who sought to push Nazi-Skinheads out of the scene. Gut Instinct's influence passed down to Next Step Up, quite possibly the most famous hardcore band to come from Charm City. Today, Baltimore's hardcore and punk scenes include the groups The Slumlords, Stout NGMF, The Spark, Paper Dragons, Sick Sick Birds, The Dead End Boys, Bring It On, and Taken By Force. These bands play at local venues like The Ottobar, The Talking Head, and Charm City Art Space.
The city also saw some New Wave activity, including Alter Legion, Ebeneezer & the Bludgeons, and Null Set. Later in the 1980s, emo bands like Reptile House and Grey March had some success and recorded with Ian MacKaye in DC.
Some early Baltimore punk musicians moved onto other local bands by the end of the 1980s, resulting in local mainstays Lungfish, who became regionally prominent. The Urbanite magazine has indentified several major trends in local Baltimorean music, including the rise of psychedelic-folk singer-songwriters like Entrance and the house/hip hop dance fusion called Baltimore club, pioneered by DJs like Rod Lee. In the 1990s and more recently, Baltimore's indie rock scene has produced performers like Slot Racer, Cass McCombs, and Mary Prankster.
Experimental Music, Noise, and Improvisation also have a relatively long history in the city. Normal's Red Room, Tarantula Hill, Shattered Wig Night, the Once.Twice.Sound music festival, among many others, have all been outlets to showcase international and local acts of the genre. The community continues to be lively and productive.
[edit] References
- ↑ History. Lyric Opera House. Retrieved on September 24, 2005.
- Baltimore Symphony Orchestra History. Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Retrieved on August 26, 2005.
- Blush, Steven. American Hardcore: A Tribal History. 2001. Feral House. ISBN 0-922915-717-7
- Soundtrack to the City. The Urbanite. Retrieved on November 3, 2005.
