make the case for
渋谷からもどってきました。今日は久しぶりのrecordingで口も頭も回りませんでした。
そんなことをやっている間に、Doc Watsonが亡くなったというニュースが飛び込んできました。わたしも彼のflatpickingに見せられた一人でした。
Folk musician Doc Watson dies in hospital at 89
In this April 17, 1998 photo, Doc Watson performs with kids on stage at the MerleFest in Wilkesboro, N.C. (AP Photo/The Charlotte Observer, Catherine Bauknight)
RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) -- Doc Watson, the blind Grammy-award winning folk musician whose music was embraced by generations and whose lightning-fast style of flatpicking influenced guitarists around the world, died Tuesday at a North Carolina hospital, according to a hospital spokeswoman and his manager. He was 89.
Watson died at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, where he was hospitalized recently after falling at his home in Deep Gap, in the Blue Ridge Mountains. He underwent abdominal surgery while in the hospital and had been in critical condition for several days.
Arthel "Doc" Watson's mastery of flatpicking helped make the case for the guitar as a lead instrument in the 1950s and 1960s, when it was often considered a backup for the mandolin, fiddle or banjo. His fast playing could intimidate other musicians, even his own grandson, who performed with him.
Richard Watson said in a 2000 interview with The Associated Press that his grandfather's playing had a humbling effect on other musicians. The ever-humble Doc Watson found it hard to believe.
"Everybody that's picked with you says you intimidate them, and that includes some of the best," Richard Watson told him.
Country and bluegrass singer Ricky Skaggs said Tuesday evening, "An old ancient warrior has gone home."
"He prepared all of us to carry this on," Skaggs added. "He knew he wouldn't last forever, He did his best to carry the old mountain sounds to this generation."
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/features/news/20120530p2g00m0et083000c.html
make the case for~は文脈によってさまざまな訳が必要となるイディオムです。ここでは「ギターの地位をあげた、格上げした」あたりでしょうか。今日はしばしYouTubeで彼の名曲に耳を傾けることにします。
この他、訃報を伝えるいくつかの記事をながめましたが、英国ガーディアン紙のものが秀逸でした。
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/may/30/arthel-doc-watson-dies（UG）
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kDECJysQ0E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wST3YGQD5k
