Various Artists – Black Swans: at Mid-Century – PACD 96078/9
35 tracks over two CDs, “Black Swans at Mid-Century” presents a collection of 18 fine Black singers who specialized in opera and art song, in recordings made from the late 1920s to the early 1960s. This set compliments our earlier collection, “Black Swans: Earliest African-American Classical Stars”, with similarly remarkable audio restoration and liner notes.
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Various Artists – Black Swans – PACD 96067
This CD contains the first recordings made by black classical performers, singers and instrumentalists, dating from approximately 1917-1922. Only 5 of the 25 tracks have ever been reissued before. Together they provide a demonstration of the forgotten culture of black performers in classical music from the early 20th century.

Hear the amazing transformation in the audio quality from the original 78rpm disc to this CD

First, a short excerpt of the audio as it came off the original 78. Then, the same excerpt as it appears on our CD. the excerpt is from track 11 on the CD – Clarence Cameron White: (violin) White: Cradle Song (William Leonard King, piano) Broome Special 53-B (matrix 35-4-1) (Fall 1919)

“Black Swans” featured on All Things Considered, NPR – Tuesday December 8, 2020 – NPR’s Audie Cornish talks with Saïs Kamalidiin, a Howard University professor, about the new collection showcasing 25 recordings of early Black classical musicians, called Black Swans.
The NPR page for the segment is here
Audio here:

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