Now... some of you may know that I love music. I used to give rock 'n roll titles to every single one of my blogs written about my personal adventures in Japan.
Some of you may even know that I used to teach piano and clarinet and can play every brass, woodwind and keyboard instrument.
A few of you might even recall that my uncle Harold Joseph was internationally renowned as the (late) conductor of the New Delhi Symphony Orchestra in India, and made it his habit to collect folk songs from all around the sub-continent of India.
He even wrote his own music, too. Stuff that he sent to me telling me I owned the copyrights to.
In high school, I played clarinet in the orchestra, tenor sax in the band, and baritone sax for the stage band, and all in all, my group of musicians was pretty good, if I don't say so myself.
While I have not touched a keyboard in decades, I have from time to time pulled out my pearwood clarinet with the crystal mouthpiece and played a few Dixieland tunes and occasionally marching band stuff.
And then... there's this sheet of music. A lost treasure, that I found hidden within the U.S. Library of Congress.
Welcome back: The Japan Expedition Polka, by Ed Loebmann, written, or at the very least copyrighted in 1853.
I can't find any information about Mr. Loebmann - if anyone has some personal data to share, please do.
I have no idea even if Loebmann was commissioned to create this music - which I assume was to be performed as the ships sailed away from the U.S., or if it was just something he himself decided to create. I have no idea even if it was ever officially performed, and I have no idea what the complete musical score looks like.
Oh well... I'm just happy I found it again.
Somewhere, I don't want her, you can have her, she's too fat for me!
Andrew Joseph
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