COMO, Miss. -- Otha Turner, one of the last surviving links to the fife-and-drum tradition of the Mississippi hill country, died Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2003, in Como, Miss., at 94. Sadly, Turner's daughter, Bernice Turner Pratcher died later that same day.
Turner was one of the final practitioners of the obscure fife-and-drum music of the Mississippi back country. This music, a mixture of early American colonial drums and West African flute, dates back to the 1800s. The fife is a hollow instrument, similar to a flute, often made from bamboo cane.
According to producer and musician David Evans, the fife-and-drum sound melded 19th Century military tradition with African sounds of syncopation and blues notes. Evans recorded Turner for the Library of College in 1969.
Turner's band, the Rising Star Fife and Drum Band, was a fixture as the opening act of the Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival in Clarksdale, Miss. He also performed at the Chicago Blues Festival and regional festivals including the King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena, Ark. Perhaps his best-known standing gig was his own annual Labor Day picnic at his Gravel Springs, Miss., home. The gathering, a tradition of half a century, featured Turner's music and barbecued goat.
Turner performed for years in relative obscurity, but similar to fellow hill-country blues men Junior Kimbrough and R. L. Burnside, he was "discovered" in recent years. His music is prominent during the opening of the Oscar-nominated film, "Gangs of New York," as a prelude to the opening fight scene. He recorded his first album, "Everybody Hollerin' Goat," in 1998. The recording was named one of the essential blues albums of the decade by Rolling Stone magazine. He released a second album, "From Senegal to Senatobia," in 2000. Both recordings, produced by Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi All Stars, appear on the Birdman Records label.
Turner also appeared on various blues anthologies and on recordings by the North Mississippi Allstars and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Ironically, he once appeared on the children's television show, "Mr. Rogers Neighborhood." The host of that show, Fred Rogers, died Thursday, Feb. 27.
According to the All Music Guide, Turner was born June 2, 1907 in Rankin County, Miss. He spent much of his life as a sharecropper in the North Mississippi hill country. He started playing the fife as a teenager in the 1920s. His Rising Star Fife and Drum Band often featured members of his family.
Turner's achievements including the National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Award, the Smithsonian Lifetime Achievement Award and the Charlie Patton Lifetime Achievement Award from the Mississippi Delta Blues and Heritage Festival. He was nominated this year of a W.C. Handy Blues Award in the category of best instrumentalist. He was filmed by Martin Scorsese for the PBS series "The Blues," which will appear later this year.
Prior to his death, Turner had been suffering from pneumonia and heart problems.
The family suffered another loss with the death later that day of Othar's daughter, Bernice. Visitation for both will be Monday, March 3 at Cistern Hill Baptist Church in Senatobia. Funeral services for both will be held at the church On Wednesday, March 5.
Condolences can be sent to the family in care of Bobbie Turner, 3339 Gravel Springs Rd., Senatobia, MS 38668.
