Othar "Otha" Turner (June 2, 1907 – February 26, 2003) was an American blues musician, best known as one of Fife's leading musicians and a performer of the Fife blues and drums tradition.
Turner was born in Madison County, Mississippi, and spent his entire life in the northern part of the state, working as a farmer. In 1923, at the age of 16, he began playing fiffari made of bamboo canes here. The Rising Star Fife and Drum Band, consisting primarily of Turner's family and friends, played primarily at farm parties. Wider success was achieved only in the '90s, when the band appeared on Mississippi Delta Blues Jam in Memphis, Vol. 1 (where Napoleon Strickland and the Como drum band, other fife and drum lineups also appear) and other collections. of traditional blues. In 1998 Turner and his band released Everybody Hollerin' Goat, often well received by critics. The title refers to a tradition Turner began in the late 1950s, which he planned to host at his De La Granja picnic on May 1, during which he personally slaughtered and cooked a goat. The rest of the Rising Star Fife and Drum Band provided musical entertainment. This first album was followed by From Senegal to Senatobia in 1999, which also featured some members of Turner's family this time accompanied by professional musicians. The formation is called Afrossippi Allstars. "Shimmy she wobble" also appears in Everybody Hollerin' Goat, which appears in the Martin Scorsese film Gangs of New York. The same director, in his miniseries The Blues, interviews Otha Turner, considered one of the living witnesses at the time of the Delta and country Blues tradition, closely related to the traditional music of West Africa. The project was carried out by Corey Harris, in 2003, with the album Mississippi to Mali. The album is dedicated to Turner, who disappeared a week before the scheduled recording date. His niece, Shardé Thomas, then twelve years old, filled in for him for the recording sessions. Othar
Turner was born in Madison County, Mississippi, and spent his entire life in the northern part of the state, working as a farmer. In 1923, at the age of 16, he began playing fiffari made of bamboo canes here. The Rising Star Fife and Drum Band, consisting primarily of Turner's family and friends, played primarily at farm parties. Wider success was achieved only in the '90s, when the band appeared on Mississippi Delta Blues Jam in Memphis, Vol. 1 (where Napoleon Strickland and the Como drum band, other fife and drum lineups also appear) and other collections. of traditional blues. In 1998 Turner and his band released Everybody Hollerin' Goat, often well received by critics. The title refers to a tradition Turner began in the late 1950s, which he planned to host at his De La Granja picnic on May 1, during which he personally slaughtered and cooked a goat. The rest of the Rising Star Fife and Drum Band provided musical entertainment. This first album was followed by From Senegal to Senatobia in 1999, which also featured some members of Turner's family this time accompanied by professional musicians. The formation is called Afrossippi Allstars. "Shimmy she wobble" also appears in Everybody Hollerin' Goat, which appears in the Martin Scorsese film Gangs of New York. The same director, in his miniseries The Blues, interviews Otha Turner, considered one of the living witnesses at the time of the Delta and country Blues tradition, closely related to the traditional music of West Africa. The project was carried out by Corey Harris, in 2003, with the album Mississippi to Mali. The album is dedicated to Turner, who disappeared a week before the scheduled recording date. His niece, Shardé Thomas, then twelve years old, filled in for him for the recording sessions. Othar
Turner died in Gravel Springs, Mississippi, at the age of 95. His funeral was held on March 4, 2003 in Como, Mississippi, along with his daughter, who died the same day as his father. The procession was led by the rising star Fife and Drum Band, at the head of which Shardé Thomas played the same instrument as her grandfather.
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