La_Pas_Ma_La

La Pas Ma La

La Pas Ma La

1895 composition

"La Pas Ma La" is a composition published by minstrel performer Ernest Hogan in 1895 and recognized as the first published ragtime work.[1] With his troupe, the Georgia Graduates, Hogan created a comedy dance called the "Pasmala" consisting of a walk forward with three steps back, and in 1895 composed and published a song based on this dance. The song's chorus was:

Hand upon yo' head, let your mind roll back,
Back, back back and look at the stars
Stand up rightly, dance it brightly
That's the Pas Ma La.[2][3][4]

References

  1. [1]
    Ward, Liam (20 January 2022). "Before Jazz, Ragtime gave us America's First Music Stars". Messy Nessy. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  2. [2]
    Tap Roots: The Early History of Tap Dancing by Mark Knowles, McFarland & Company, 2002, ISBN 0-7864-1267-4, pages 119-20.
  3. [3]
    Knowles, Mark (20 May 2002). Tap Roots: The Early History of Tap Dancing. McFarland. p. 119. ISBN 9780786412679 – via Internet Archive. la pas ma la.
  4. [4]
    Gushee, Lawrence. "The Nineteenth-Century Origins of Jazz." Black Music Research Journal 14, no. 1 (1994): 1-24. doi:10.2307/779456.
  • La Pas Ma La Box 141, Item 166 Lester Levy sheet music collection Johns Hopkins The Sheridan Libraries


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