ニューヨーク・タイムズさんのインスタグラム写真 - (ニューヨーク・タイムズInstagram)「In the Ozarks, the pandemic is threatening a fragile musical tradition. The older fiddlers and rhythm guitar players who play in McClurg, Missouri don’t rely on sheet music, so their weekly jam sessions — now on hiatus — are critical to passing their technique to the next generation. Before the pandemic, in an abandoned general store along a nearly deserted country road in McClurg, nearly a dozen musicians, many of them older adults, played fiddle, mandolin, banjo and upright bass. The McClurg jam, as the Monday night music and potluck fest was known, has endured for decades, the last gathering of its kind in Missouri’s rural Ozark Mountains. But the coronavirus pandemic has silenced the instruments, at least temporarily. And the suspension has led to concern: What will become of this singular musical tradition? In October, Gordon McCann, 89, (first photo) quit going because he got “spooked” by the virus. Alvie Dooms, 90, (fourth photo) owns hundreds of instruments that he fixes and collects. The old-time dance music — merry and sweet, or slower and wistful — evoked the lively jigs and reels of the Scots-Irish pioneers who settled in these rugged hills generations ago. A precursor to bluegrass, their sound was unique to this particular corner of the state. Sometimes called “mountain music,” the genre has survived hundreds of years because of gatherings like the one in McClurg. “Because it’s ear music, it’s a little bit fragile,” said Howard Marshall, 76, a retired professor at the University of Missouri and a fiddler himself. “I’m not playing it exactly like the next chap will play it.” Tap the link in our bio to hear recordings from the musicians of McClurg and to read more their special genre of music. Photos by @terrafondriest」2月6日 0時34分