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Welcome to the Traditional Tune Archive     The Semantic Index of North American, British and Irish  traditional instrumental music with annotations, formerly known as                           The Fiddler's Companion. 56,309 Tunes by title

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Tommy performed in the blackface minstrel show and was one of only two known black people to perform with white minstrels before the American Civil War.

Japanese Tommy's Reel

Played by: Greg C. Adams
Source: YouTube
Image: The American minstrel performer Japanese Tommy (Library of Congress description) aka Thomas Dilward (circa 1860. Brady-Handy Photograph Collection 1840–1902).

Japanese Tommy's Reel

American, Reel. A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB.

The name of this minstrel performer was perhaps inspired by the phenomenon of The Japanese Embassy to the United States in 1860.

Primarily a trade embassy, its purpose was to ratify the new Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation, and followed on Commodore Matthew Perry's opening of Japan in 1854.

It was Japan's first diplomatic mission tho the United States. Arriving at San Francisco, the three-man Japanese delegation crossed the Isthmus of Panama by rail, and sailed for Washington D.C., where they were received at the White House by President James Buchanan.

After numerous receptions and a grand parade in New York City from up Broadway, the diplomats returned to Japan via the circumnavigation route.

...more at: Japanese Tommy's Reel - full Score(s) and Annotations

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X:1 T:Japanese Tommy’s Reel M:2/4 L:1/8 R:Buckley's New Banjo Method (1860, p. 76) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:A A,|A,C/E/ A/c/e/c/|d/f/e/c/ B/c/A/F/|z/E/ C/E/ A/c/e/c/|d/f/e/c/ A E/^D/| EF/G/ A/c/e/c/|d/B/c/A/ B/c/ A|z/E/ C/E/ A/c/e/d/|d/f/e/c/ A:| |:f/g/|a/g/a/b/ a/e/c/a/|z/c/ a/c/ e/a/c/a/|a/g/a/b/ a/e/c/a/|b/e/g/b/ z/g/ b/e/| a/g/a/e/ f/a/e/c/|d/B/c/A/ B/c/A|z/E/ C/E/ A/c/e/c/|d/f/e/c/ A:||

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