Gambling and Music. By Fiona Woods.
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Tracing the roots of gambling and music takes us to the same place time and time again. That place lies deep in our minds, and is the fertile ground that gives rise to our very human need for the kind of entertainment that can move us beyond our day-to-day realities of work and routine.
For example, the high arts of Opera, Tango and Jazz music all originated in gambling houses, as casinos were called in the late 1800's. As people sought entertainment in the hot evenings of 1880's Buenos Aires, the new dance music Tango was the perfect accompaniment to the risqué diversions of roulette, baccarat and other popular casino games.
Going even further back to the 1850's, we discover that Verdi's operas were hugely popular in the bawdy, rapidly expanding San Francisco, the heart of the Gold Rush. According to author George Martin, "opera is a fragile, complex art, but it flourished extravagantly in San Francisco during the Gold Rush years, a time when daily life in the city was filled with gambling, duels, murder, and suicide. In the history of the United States there has never been a rougher town than Gold Rush San Francisco, yet there has never been a greater frenzy for opera than developed there in these exciting years."
The bridge between the classical music of the 1800's and the popular music of the 1900's was Jazz. The "New Orleans" style of jazz was primarily used as entertainment for the black working class, acting as functional music for dances, parades and funerals, and could also be heard in barrel houses, gambling joints and brothels found in the Storyville section of the city. By the 1920s, Chicago had become the new center for jazz due to the migration of a large Black population from the South looking for new job opportunities and a better lifestyle in the North.
In tracing these common threads, we can't ignore the great tradition of music and gambling entertainment in Las Vegas. Elvis Presley and many other stars, including Frank Sinatra, all made close contact with their fans during concerts in the casinos there.
The most recent example of the intertwined roots of music and gambling is the huge hit that Celine Dion is having in Las Vegas. The diva of pop music has enriched and enlivened her career with an incredible stage show and sold-out concerts, proving once more that entertainment is the rich ground where Lady Luck and the Muse of Music grow closely entwined.
Note:
The latest generation of gambling fans are rapidly going online to find more opportunities for entertainment, and one game site, called Main Street Bingo, has put together an online bingo tournament with the grand prize of a trip for two to Las Vegas to see Celine Dion. You can check it out at www.mainstreetbingo.com.
Want to keep up-to-date with the latest music hits? What Casino? posts their Top Five every week (see the bottom right hand side of our home page).
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