American Music: The African American Tradition

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American MusicThe African American Tradition

• Lecture 3
• September 12, 2006

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• As we begin our study of African American music,
  two questions occur immediately
• To what extent is it African?
• What evidence do we have of its African-ness

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African Contributions

• Most Slaves came to the New World from the tribes
  of Western Sub-Saharan Africa

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ModernAfrica

• Senegal/Gambia
• Ivory Coast
• Gold Coast (Ghana)
• Nigeria/Cameroon
• Angola/Congo

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• Text CD Music in Praise of a Yoruba Chief
• Describe what you hear.
• Book states Dominance of percussion, steady
  pulse, rhythmic complexity, short vocal phrases
  (repeated and varied)
• Make a Comparison to Cuban Santeria Praise Music
• Do you feel that the Cuban example is similar to
  the Yoruba one?
• Do we find such similarities in the United States?

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Q What is unique about the US musical
development when compared to other New World
Cultures? A Colonial Powers used different
methods to control slaves.

• British
• Separated nationalities and even families,
  ensuring very little retention of original
  culture
• Explicitly outlawed drumming.
• Permitted singing only of Christian religious
  themes

• Spanish/Portuguese
• Permitted slaves of similar nationality to live
  together (thereby encouraging retention of
  language, music, customs)
• Permitted slaves to play drums, and other
  African instruments

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Therefore. . .

• Whereas in Latin America, African descendants
  focused much creative energies on retaining and
  adapting their original musics, North American
  Blacks found creative ways to skirt their
  restrictions by combining European forms with
  African Aesthetics.
• For example
• Using stringed instruments in a Percussive manner
• Using the Body in a percussive manner (????)
• Ragging or syncopating melodies/tunes.
• Theres No Hi-din Place
• Syncopated followed by straight version

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Religious Folk Music The Spiritual

• What is African about these examples.
• What is European about these.
• Sheep, Sheep, Dont you Know the Road (Text CD)
  Daniel in the Lions Den
• Recorded by Alan Lomax
• St. Simons Island Georgia (1961)
• Been in the Storm so Long
• Row, Michael, Row
• White Spiritual (text CD) Wondrous Love

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• The real spiritual represents not so much an
  adaptation of the Methodist and Baptist hymns and
  formal services as it does a thoroughly African
  response to them (pg.20)

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• As we begin our study of African American music,
  two questions occur immediately
• To what extent is it African?
• What evidence do we have of its African-ness
• (Lets change the questions momentarily)

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• As we begin our study of African American music,
  two questions occur immediately
• To what extent is it African?
• To what extent is it European?

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African European Aesthetics

• Africa
• Aspects of Rhythm
• Timbre
• Dominance of Percussion
• Europe
• Instrumentation
• Form (Marches, Songs, and other genres)
• Harmony and Tonality

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West African Performances
Today we will view and compare two performances
of Senegambian Music. (one from Senegal, one from
The Gambia)
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• Lets do the same exercise for an American
  performance.
• Using Gospel Music
• First a European Aesthetic Version
• Then an African Aesthetic Version