Scott Joplin Festival Brings Back Ragtime Legends

1974 was a notable year for many reasons – The Rockford Files debuted on NBC-TV, Richard Nixon resigned the Presidency of the United States amidst the “Watergate” scandal, the NFL granted a franchise to the Seattle Seahawks, and Heavyweight Boxing Champion Muhammad Ali KO’ed George Foreman in Zaire during The Rumble in the Jungle. 1974 also happened to be the year that a little film called The Sting won Best Picture at the Academy Awards and ushered in the era of the ragtime revival. This revival has now lasted more than four decades, as is indicated by this year’s 42nd Anniversary of the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival. However, before we get any further into that, let’s talk about what makes Ragtime special. Ragtime is widely regarded as America’s first original style of music, combining the oom-pah bass indicative of Sousa marches with melodies that use syncopated rhythms from Africa. The result is an infectious sound that is still inspiring young musicians to compose in its unique form. When visiting any ragtime festival, one is just as likely to hear compositions by Tom Brier, William Bolcom, or David Thomas Roberts as Scott Joplin, James Scott, or Joseph Lamb. Ragtime was the pop music of its day, and has a direct lineage to just about all forms of popular music heard today. When it’s said that Ragtime is how America’s music began, it’s exac