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The Buddha Foxtrot: In the late 1910s era of ragtime, Vaudeville accompanist Lew Pollack composed the novelty piece “Buddha.” Several bands recorded versions of Pollack’s composition through the 1920’s; it was a moderate success.
The sheet music cover shows an imaginary scene of religious devotion, incorporating a woman in traditional Japanese dress praying to a Buddhist image.
Lyrics were added to the musical composition by Ed Rose and the work was published in 1919. The song opens with the lyrics: “In an oriental clime, seated on a mystic shrine, Buddha dwells, and dispels hate.”
The song describes a woman who prays to the Buddha, pleading for her lover to return to her. This story reflects Giacomo Puccini’s opera Madame Butterfly, first performed in America in 1906.
I wrote a short post about the song and the imagery on the cover here: https://peterromaskiewicz.com/2019/01/09/the-buddha-foxtrot-by-pollack-and-rose-visual-literacy-of-buddhism/.
The Buddhas in the West Material Archive is a digital scholarship project that catalogues artifacts depicting Buddhist material culture for Western audiences. It’s comprised of prints, photos, and an assortment of ephemera and other objects. For a brief introduction to this archive, visit the main Buddhas in the West project page.
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Nice to read/hear! Mu dad taught me ragtime which I think is named “Buddha”, but this wasn’t it. Have you heard of any other with the same name?
BR, Nils
bergendal.nils[at]gmail.com
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