Prohibition: 90 Years of Temperance, Temptation & Song
Prohibition defined — and divided — America through the 1920s, ushering in an era of dizzying new freedoms even as it sought to curb some of the nation’s worst social ills. Born from the same reforming zeal that had helped end slavery and given women the vote, Prohibition fueled the rise of organized crime, corrupted civic institutions and turned millions of ordinary citizens into lawbreakers before it was eventually repealed in 1933. Beginning in the mid-19th century through the Jazz Age, popular song reflected both the scourge of alcohol abuse and the wistfulness of a people barred from partaking in one of their greatest pleasures. Cecelia Otto’s American Songline program Prohibition: 90 Years of Temperance, Temptation & Song chronicles the entire era through the songs sung by both “wets” and “drys,” from Victorian parlor songs like “Father’s a Drunkard and Mother Is Dead” to Tin Pan Alley favorites like Irving Berlin’s “See You in C-U-B-A” — and even speakeasy favorites like “The Charleston.”
August 18, 6 pm at the Roseau Four Seasons Center – Free Event
Cecelia “Cece” Otto is a classically trained singer, composer, international best-selling author and historian who has performed in venues all over the world both as a soloist and in ensemble. She graduated from Perpich Arts High School, went on to study linguistics and music at Macalester College, and later earned the first (and only) Interdepartmental Dual Master’s
Degree in Vocal Performance and Composition from the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver. In 2013, she completed her cross-country musical journey An American Songline, performing 30 concerts of historic vintage music on venues along the Lincoln Highway.
Cece then went on to create other historical programs such as The Songs of World War I, which was endorsed by the World War I Centennial Commission in Washington DC; Centennial of Suffrage, which examined the fight to secure voting rights for women; and Prohibition: 90 Years of Temperance, Temptation & Song. She has written books and recorded albums
based on her research and is an active member of several regional and national historical groups. She is currently developing programs based around the music of the Great Depression and World War II.
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund and by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.