New Britain herald., 1928-02-21
Through tie Static

Volume was exceedingly strong last evening and there was almost no static. We noticed considerable fading, but that might have been caused by a faulty volume control on our set. That part of the ap- paratus acted quite funny. There was plenty of local buzz early in the evening but it stopped before we were driven to distraction. There was a lot of code.
 A program of French folk songs was pleasingly rendered from WJR, Detroit The station was extremely loud and there was genuine clarity mixed up in the proceedings. A so- prano offered pretty little number entitled "Amarilla."
 While we are on the subject of folk songs. We might mention the rendition of "I.eetle Bateese," by Wilfred Glenn. we'll known bass soloist, who appeared with the Gyp sies through WEAF and WTIC. MT. Glenn's presentation of the number was wholly in sympathy with the theme of Sle story. that of an old French Canadian grandfather who warns his grandchild against chasing the chickens and cutting up capers around the place. Then the old man starts to admire the child and muses on his physical strength, saying that he'll be a strong man when he grows up. The end of the song finds the old man telling the child to chase the chickens as much as he pleases, because he's a child. and the old grandfather won't be there when | he grows up. or something to that effect. When the number is well handled it brings little catch to the throat. MT. Glenn presented the song in dialect, of course. and his offering was distinctly enjoyable. 1 The Gypsies that most excellent musical ensemble. presented va riety of numbers. one of the most unique numbers played was "Rondo-
  flute clarinet, in which ripping runs were emphasized. The ensemble pro- vided 8 substantial accompaniment. Of course you all heard Harry Burleigh. specialist in negro spirit uals, who appeared on the Family Party program. Burleigh is known far and wide for his contributions to negro music. He has done more to bring out the beauty and simple ap- peal of the negro spirituals than any other person. He possesses strong baritone voice and he has done re- markable work as soloist at St. Georges Episcopal church. New York city. He sang several of his own numbers last night, among them "Go Down. Moses" I Ain't No Ways Tired" Deep River" "Oh. Lord, What Morning" and T Stood By the River Jordan" In some of the numbers he was accompanied by the Hall Johnson Jubilee Singers. If anything. the Singers were not given enough prominence before the mike. We should have enjoyed hearing more of them.
 WTAG, Worcester. came through in good shape. offering popular mu- sic. Songs were offered, two of them being Tn My Blue Ridge Mountain Home" and Where In the World is There Someone for Me The sta- tion has been coming through with plenty of pep lately. and we wonder if there is added power at WTAG.
 WLS. Chicago, offered another of it's trick outfits in the form of The Four Welshmen who sang songs in what we presumed to be their ma tive tongue. The songs were har- monious. but they didn't mean thing to us. The melody fingers on, but the words were just so much hash as far as we were concerned.
 The Aleppo Drum corps sounded as If it were playing in great big hall somewhere. The outfit is so large that they have to keep it good distance from the mikes. or cut down the power on those little tn- struments or something, and a great deal of the melody seemed to be lost last evening. A smaller combination could do 50 much more satisfactory work over the air, to our way of