Othar Turner

Othar "Otha" Turner (June 2, 1907 – February 26, 2003)^[1] was one of the last well-known fife players in the vanishing American fife and drum blues tradition.^[2] He was born in Madison County, Mississippi, and lived his entire life in northern Mississippi as a farmer, where in 1923, aged 16, he learned to play fifes fashioned out of rivercanes.

Turner's Rising Star Fife and Drum Band (which consisted of friends and relatives) primarily played at farm parties.^[2] They began to receive wider recognition in the 1990s. They appeared on Mississippi Blues in Memphis Vol. 1 in 1993, followed by inclusion in many other blues collections. They released their own critically acclaimed album Everybody Hollerin' Goat in 1998. This was followed by From Senegal to Senatobia in 1999, which combined bluesy fife and drum music with musicians credited as "the Afrossippi Allstars".

The title, Everybody Hollerin' Goat, refers to a tradition Turner began in the late 1950s of hosting Labor Day picnics where he would personally butcher and cook a goat in an iron kettle, and his band would provide musical entertainment. The picnics began as a neighborhood and family gathering; it grew over the years to attract musical fans, first from Memphis, Tennessee, and later from all over the world.

The song, "Shimmy She Wobble", from Everybody Hollerin' Goat was featured in the 2002 film, Gangs of New York. Martin Scorsese, the film's director, featured Turner in his 2003 PBS mini-series The Blues as a link between African rhythms and American blues. The concept was continued on the 2003 album Mississippi to Mali by Corey Harris. The album was dedicated to Turner, who died a week before he was scheduled to record for the album. His granddaughter and protégé Shardé Thomas, then 12 years old, filled in for the recording sessions.

Othar Turner died in Gravel Springs, Mississippi, aged 95, on February 26, 2003.^[1] His daughter, Bernice Turner Pratcher, who had been living in a nursing home for some time suffering from breast cancer, died the same day, aged 48. A joint funeral service was held on March 4, 2003, in Como, Mississippi. A procession leading to the cemetery was led by the Rising Star and Fife Band, with Shardé Thomas, then 13 years old, at its head playing the fife.

Films

• Gravel Springs Fife and Drum (1971). Filmed by Bill Ferris, recorded by David Evans, and edited by Judy Peiser. (Watch film: Gravel Springs Fife and Drum

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Thedeadrockstarsclub.com - accessed November 18, 2011
2. ^ ^{a b} Pearson, Barry Lee (2005). Jook right on: blues stories and blues storytellers (1st ed.). Knoxville, Tennessee, United States: University of Tennessee Press. p. 208. ISBN 1-57233-431-2. 

Further reading

• Othar Turner, Cane Fife Maker in: William R. Ferris (30 October 1986). Afro-American Folk Art and Crafts. Univ. Press of Mississippi. pp. 173–. ISBN 9781604733914. http://books.google.com/books?id=kGTqWTfN1ecC&pg=PA173. Retrieved 11 May 2011. 
• Music of Othar Turner is Worth "Hollerin'" About in: Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (28 February 1998). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc.. pp. 60–. ISSN 00062510. http://books.google.com/books?id=Eg8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA60. Retrieved 11 May 2011. 
• Othar Turner in: Vladimir Bogdanov; Chris Woodstra; Stephen Thomas Erlewine (2003). All music guide to the blues: the definitive guide to the blues. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 567–. ISBN 9780879307363. http://books.google.com/books?id=qYtz7kEHegEC&pg=PA567. Retrieved 11 May 2011. 
• Othar Turner & The Rising Star Fife and Drum Band in: CMJ Network, Inc. (June 1998). CMJ New Music Monthly. CMJ Network, Inc.. pp. 52–. ISSN 10746978. http://books.google.com/books?id=aSoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA52. Retrieved 11 May 2011. 
• Robert Nicholson (1998). Mississippi: the blues today!. Da Capo Press. pp. 94–. ISBN 9780306808838. http://books.google.com/books?id=UoMimYA088EC&pg=PA94. Retrieved 11 May 2011. 

External links

• Official website
• Otha Turner and the Afrossippi Allstars at Epitonic.com
• Otha Turner at the Internet Movie Database

Persondata
Name	Turner, Othar
Alternative names
Short description	American fife player
Date of birth	June 2, 1907
Place of birth	Madison County, Mississippi, United States
Date of death	February 26, 2003
Place of death	Gravel Springs, Mississippi, United States