Recording

Merry Christmas Tonight The Isles of Rhythm

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Listen to a sample of Winter Wonderland

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Winter Wonderland was discovered by singer Joey Nash at a neighbor’s house in Brooklyn in 1934. He sang it on his radio show and it began to catch on. Nash and Guy Lombardo were the first to record it. The Andrews Sisters and Perry Como recorded it in the 1940s which helped contribute to its popularity. Felix Bernard, who wrote the music, came from a musical family. His father was a professional violinist and Felix was once a vaudeville performer and tap dancer.

This song is played here using the beguine accompaniment for the verses and the meringue rhythm for the bridge. The meringue is a folk dance from Haiti and has been called the national Haitian form of musical expression. One of the leading exponents of the Haitian meringue was composer and violinist Arthur Duroseau, who came from a family of popular Haitian musicians. Duroseau and his brothers recorded an album for the Folkways label in 1951. (Folkways 6837).

See the notes to Mary’s Boy Child for a description of the beguine.

— Kevin Sanders, April, 2009