Napolian Strickland
1924 - 2001
By: Greg Johnson
Article Reprint from the September 2001 BluesNotes
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Of all the traditional styles of Blues music being played today, perhaps the fife and drum bands of Northern Mississippi just may have the deepest roots. The percussive sounds are almost a direct link back to the Western Coast of Africa, where slave traders took their heaviest toll; a land where stringed gourds, woodwind instruments and drums played a major role within the communities, and the memories continued with the poor souls being brought to a new land. The fife and drum bands thrived in the Hill Country of Mississippi for many years, with standout performers such as Sid Hemphill and his granddaughter, Jesse Mae, Ed Young and Othar Turner. But, as the practitioners of this music have been passing on, the tradition appears to be dying.
Another key member of the fife and drum family departed this world on July 21, 2001, as Napolian Strickland died following a stroke. Strickland was arguably the premier fife player of the genre, having appeared at numerous festivals, on several recorded compilations and on film in the documentary, "The Land Where The Blues Began".
Napolian (this is the correct spelling, though it also appears frequently as the more common Napoleon) Strickland was born on October 6, 1924 near Como, Mississippi, where he lived most of his life. He was originally introduced to the fife by his father, but it was the great Othar Turner, nearly 20 years his senior, who taught him how to make his own instruments and how to work their magic. He also played the guitar, which he first learned through a homemade diddley-bow, and the harmonica. He was always willing to pass along the tradition of how to make the cane fifes to whomever asked; a process he accomplished by marking the finger-hole locations with spit and a pocket-knife, then burning them in with a hot poker.
Strickland was a reputed energetic performer in the region for several decades, possessing the power behind the fife to be clearly heard above the three drummers he played with. He was so beloved by the people of Como that in the early 1980s, they proclaimed an official "Napolian Strickland Day" in his honor. Later in the mid-1980s, Strickland was involved in an automobile accident, suffering injuries that forced him to retire. He soon moved into a care home in Senatobia, Mississippi, having lost partial use of his left arm. Though incapacitated in this manner, Strickland was still pleased to have visitors, occasionally requesting his caretakers to bring out his harmonica from the locked cabinet where it was kept, in order to entertain as long as his strength permitted. Napolian Strickland lived the remainder of his days in this home, but will be fondly remembered through the music of the Northern Mississippi Hill Country for years to come in the guise of the performers his percussive music influenced, most notably The North Mississippi All Stars. He was survived by his mother and son.
© 2001 Cascade Blues Association