In the 1970s, most radio airtime of Black artists was for jazz, blues, soul, and gospel music. So, Carolyn Armenta Davis produced a series showcasing classical music written by Black composers. It aired on Chicago’s former WEFM radio, and she recorded each broadcast. I spoke to Davis about her work, which is now housed in the Northwestern University Libraries digital archive.
[Archival tape: “The ‘Black Classical Composers’ program is presented by Commonwealth Edison…And now, here is Carolyn Davis.”]
[Archival tape: “Good evening, I’m Carolyn Davis, and during the next hour, we will feature the music of Black classical composers.”]
CAROLYN ARMENTA DAVIS: I guess I’m 81 and three-fourths. When these were on the radio, I was thirty-four years old. I wasn’t thinking about archives.
[Bacarolle from ‘In the Bottoms’ fades in]
[Archival tape: “And now, pianist Natalie Hinderas plays Barcarolle and the popular Juba dance, which was named for an old African ghost, from the piano suite, ‘In the Bottoms,’ by Robert Nathaniel Dett.”]
DAVIS: At that time, there was not any radio program on a classical station dedicated to Black classical composers from South America, North America, Europe and Africa.
DAVIS: This whole thing of wanting to have a narrow perspective, I found a little disappointing for me.
DAVIS: They want me to talk about the same thing everybody else is talking about. I don’t wanna do that! Not in the same way.
DAVIS: I made an appointment with Commonwealth Edison to talk about Black composers. The gentleman thought I was talking about jazz, and when I got there, he was totally shocked that it was classical music. And fortunately, he said, ‘yes!’
For WNUR News, I’m Georgia Kerrigan.
[Bacarolle from ‘In the Bottoms’ fades out]
