Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

RobT · 20th March 2005, 10:59 PM

Hi.
I have listened in to the forum for about two years and am deeply indebted to to the moderators and members for the knowledge gained. Due to my lack of a digital camera, my opportunities for contribution have been limited so this will be my first posting. I would like to point out the similarity between the lyrari/reraides legend that eftihis mentioned and the Mississippi delta blues legend in the US. According to the story, if a musician brings his guitar to the crossroads at midnight there will be someone waiting there (some say it's the devil but there is not complete agreement about this). The musician hands the guitar to the entity and the entity tunes up the guitar and hands it back to the musician. After that, the musician can play anything he (or presumably she) wants. The price for this service is proported to be rather high including sorrow, loss of loved ones, estrangement from the fellowship of men, madness, death, and/or loss of one's immortal soul. Considered against the typical existence of a black sharecropper in the delta however, it is arguably a good deal. It was said that the famous blues musician Robert Johnson, faced with that choice, made this bargain. The thing that I find amazing is that two dissimilar cultures, with no historical contact, could come up with such a similar legend.

20th March 2005, 10:59 PM	#21
RobT Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 456	crossroads Hi. I have listened in to the forum for about two years and am deeply indebted to to the moderators and members for the knowledge gained. Due to my lack of a digital camera, my opportunities for contribution have been limited so this will be my first posting. I would like to point out the similarity between the lyrari/reraides legend that eftihis mentioned and the Mississippi delta blues legend in the US. According to the story, if a musician brings his guitar to the crossroads at midnight there will be someone waiting there (some say it's the devil but there is not complete agreement about this). The musician hands the guitar to the entity and the entity tunes up the guitar and hands it back to the musician. After that, the musician can play anything he (or presumably she) wants. The price for this service is proported to be rather high including sorrow, loss of loved ones, estrangement from the fellowship of men, madness, death, and/or loss of one's immortal soul. Considered against the typical existence of a black sharecropper in the delta however, it is arguably a good deal. It was said that the famous blues musician Robert Johnson, faced with that choice, made this bargain. The thing that I find amazing is that two dissimilar cultures, with no historical contact, could come up with such a similar legend.