美国国家公共电台 NPR Dom Flemons Presents A New Image Of The American Cowboy

 

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Dom Flemons has built a career on exploring the lesser-known corners of American music. A founder¹ of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, he released his second solo album, "Black Cowboys," this year and now has been nominated for a Grammy in the Best Folk Album category. Ryan Heinsius from member station KNAU in Flagstaff, Ariz., spoke² with Flemons about the album.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "KNOX COUNTRY STOMP")

RYAN HEINSIUS, BYLINE³: Dom Flemons' newest album is a collection of seldom-heard stories about the roles played by African-Americans in settling the West after the Civil War. Flemons wanted to return to his Western roots. The inspiration came on a road trip back home, where the fifth-generation Arizonan became enamored with an obscure collection of stories.

DOM FLEMONS: I came across a book called "The Negro Cowboys" that talked about how about 1 in 4 cowboys who helped settle the West were African-American cowboys, and being an African-American person that's half African-American, half Mexican-American from the Southwest, I just found that to be a fascinating story.

HEINSIUS: Many songs on "Black Cowboys" will be new to most listeners, but a handful are instantly recognizable. Flemons, however, presents a new image of the American cowboy, one that isn't exclusively white.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HOME ON THE RANGE")

FLEMONS: (Singing) Oh, give me a home where the buffalo⁴ roam, where the deer and the antelope⁵ play.

You have people coming from slavery and emancipation⁶, and then through their hard work and perseverance⁷, in spite of the obstacles they had, they were able to create a new social order that still influences us to this day.

HEINSIUS: The former slaves-turned-settlers Flemons sings about were able to transcend⁸ segregation⁹ in the western states. One was Bass¹⁰ Reeves, the first African-American deputy U.S. marshal in the West and likely the towering inspiration for "The Lone¹¹ Ranger¹²."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HE'S A LONE RANGER")

FLEMONS: (Singing) There was a man way out West, rode around this country with the snow (ph) on his breast, every white man and the Indian tribe, he was the baddest man that ever was alive. Now he's a...

HEINSIUS: Working on the album "Black Cowboys" over the course of two years became a deeply personal pursuit for Flemons. His African-American grandfather was a saw mill worker, preacher and World War II Army veteran from East Texas.

FLEMONS: I was able to see in these cowboy stories a lot of my family's history and my grandpa's history even though I had never really talked to him about it. So I found that there was just a really big piece of the history of African-American culture out West.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "STEEL PONY¹³ BLUES")

FLEMONS: (Singing) Getting far too old to follow this here herd¹⁴. Good lord, I caught the first thing smoking down the road somewhere, caught the first thing smoking down the road somewhere. Now, I caught a steel pony, and boys, I'm going to ride.

HEINSIUS: Another song, "Steel Pony Blues," chronicles Nat Love, who was born into slavery, worked on an Arizona ranch¹⁵ and then became a railroad porter. That legacy¹⁶, as Flemons says, would eventually influence the early leaders of the civil rights movement.

FLEMONS: When you think about people like A. Philip Randolph, who started the first all-black working union for Pullman Porters, he was one of the people that helped change the course of African-American history by mentoring¹⁷ people like Martin Luther King Jr.

HEINSIUS: If Flemons wins, this would be his second Grammy. The award ceremony is February 10. For NPR News, I'm Ryan Heinsius.

1 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

5 antelope   

n.羚羊；羚羊皮

参考例句：

• Choosing the antelope shows that China wants a Green Olympics.选择藏羚羊表示中国需要绿色奥运。
• The tiger was dragging the antelope across the field.老虎拖着羚羊穿过原野。

6 emancipation   

n.（从束缚、支配下）解放

参考例句：

• We must arouse them to fight for their own emancipation. 我们必须唤起他们为其自身的解放而斗争。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They rejoiced over their own emancipation. 他们为自己的解放感到欢欣鼓舞。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 perseverance   

n.坚持不懈，不屈不挠

参考例句：

• It may take some perseverance to find the right people.要找到合适的人也许需要有点锲而不舍的精神。
• Perseverance leads to success.有恒心就能胜利。

8 transcend   

vt.超出，超越(理性等)的范围

参考例句：

• We can't transcend the limitations of the ego.我们无法超越自我的局限性。
• Everyone knows that the speed of airplanes transcend that of ships.人人都知道飞机的速度快于轮船的速度。

9 segregation   

n.隔离，种族隔离

参考例句：

• Many school boards found segregation a hot potato in the early 1960s.在60年代初，许多学校部门都觉得按水平分班是一个棘手的问题。
• They were tired to death of segregation and of being kicked around.他们十分厌恶种族隔离和总是被人踢来踢去。

10 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。

11 lone   

adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的

参考例句：

• A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
• She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。

12 ranger   

n.国家公园管理员，护林员；骑兵巡逻队员

参考例句：

• He was the head ranger of the national park.他曾是国家公园的首席看守员。
• He loved working as a ranger.他喜欢做护林人。

13 pony   

adj.小型的；n.小马

参考例句：

• His father gave him a pony as a Christmas present.他父亲给了他一匹小马驹作为圣诞礼物。
• They made him pony up the money he owed.他们逼他还债。

14 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

15 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

16 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

17 mentoring   

n.mentoring是一种工作关系。mentor通常是处在比mentee更高工作职位上的有影响力的人。他/她有比‘mentee’更丰富的工作经验和知识，并用心支持mentee的职业（发展）。v.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• One of the most effective instruments for coaching and mentoring is the "role rehearsal" . 辅导和教学的最有效的手段之一是“角色排练。” 来自辞典例句
• Bell Canada called their mentoring system a buddy-buddy system. 加拿大贝尔公司称他们的训导系统是伙伴—伙伴系统。 来自互联网