Okay.
Refuting the myth that Black American music/culture is "Europeanized".
- Thread starter Bawon Samedi
- Start date
The Odum of Ala Igbo
Hail Biafra!
Igbo flute players from 4:09 onwards
IllmaticDelta
Veteran
One can point to European influence on instruments used by AA's when they played blues, but then they'll have to answer to these early AA instruments bought to America by Africans. The Banjo included...
Banjo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banjo
Mouth bow
http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Musical_bow.html
Diddley bow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diddley_bow
The Quills(pan pipes)
The Quills are a early American folk panpipe, first noted in the early part of the 19th century among Afro-American slaves in the south. They are aerophones, and fall into the panpipe family. They are assumed to be of African origin, since similar instruments are found in various parts of Africa, and they were first used by 1st and 2nd generation Africans in America.
http://www.sohl.com/Quills/Quills.htm
Kazoo
http://www.kazoos.com/historye.htm
Blues Fife
http://www.academia.edu/922424/_Stu...ship_on_North_Mississippi_Blues_Fife_and_Drum
All of these instruments payed a key role in the early development of the blues...
"The Memphis Jug Band was an American musical group in the late 1920s and early to mid 1930s.The band featured harmonicas, violins, mandolins, banjos, and guitars, backed by washboards, kazoo, and jugs blown to supply the bass; they played in a variety of musical styles."
To add to that
By the way, the Diddley Bow
the mouthharp, Brazilian berimbau and diddley bow are all related
IllmaticDelta
Veteran
another rare style..
http://www.westga.edu/cph/index_12608.php
In some ways, things have changed over forty years. Singers no longer dress in their Sunday best, for instance; and some now travel a considerable distance to attend the Convention. In fact things were just beginning to change in this latter respect in 1959. The Convention which Lomax recorded was one of the earliest to be held outside of Atlanta, Georgia (where the United Sacred Harp Musical Association had been founded in 1904) and singers from several different areas of Alabama and Georgia were brought together at Fyffe for the first time. By 1999 the appeal of Shape Note singing had spread much further afield, and singers came from all over the US. It is rather pleasing to note, however, that many of the families who participated in the 56th Convention were also represented at the 96th; indeed, more than twenty individuals were present both in 1959 and 1999.
If Sacred Harp singing is going from strength to strength, unfortunately the same can not be said of the other Alabama traditions being reviewed here, as African American Seven Shapenote Singing appears to be in terminal decline. Which is not to say that there are not some fine - indeed vibrant - performances on this CD.
Now I have to confess that before I encountered this CD I was not aware that the tradition existed, and indeed I appear to have been harbouring several misconceptions regarding Shape Note music in America.I knew that the Sacred Harp songbook was but one example of a nineteenth century genre which also included such titles as Christian Harmony, Kentucky Harmony, Southern Harmony and so on. I had assumed however that by the twentieth century Sacred Harp was synonymous with Shape Note; not so! I also assumed that all Shape Note music used the fa-so-la-mi four-shape system of the Sacred Harp; wrong again. And, insofar as I had considered the matter at all, I was under the misapprehension that Shape Note was a purely white musical tradition. But when so many other American musical traditions have experienced a two-way flow between black and white communities, I should have guessed that the same would be true for Shape Note music. It turns out that there are in fact black Sacred Harp congregations in Alabama and Mississippi at least. And what we have on this CD are recordings of African-American singers performing Shape Note songs from a variety of songbooks other than the Sacred Harp, and employing seven rather than the usual four shapes.
So what are the origins of this tradition? At root they are the same as for Sacred Harp singing singing schools, established principally in the Northern States during the eighteenth century, employing the four syllables fa-so-la-mi to denote the eight notes of the major scale. William Little and William Smith’s 1801 publication, Easy Instructor, introduced four differently shaped note-heads to denote these four sounds, and thus was born Shape Note notation. The idea was that students with little or no formal musical training could more easily learn to read music, and of course this system took off and was adopted by many subsequent publications, including the Sacred Harp. By 1813 Shape Note singing schools, led by itinerant singing-school masters, had spread to the Southern States. And while in the North supporters of the ‘better school’ movement decried the use of shape notes, returning to do-re-mi solmization and the use of round note-heads, Shape Note notation continued to be popular in the South.
Even here, however, the four-shape system did not go unchallenged by progressive musical educators, and a rival seven-shape system was developed - employing the familiar do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti sounds, but with each one denoted by a different shaped note-head. The first publication to employ this new system was Jesse Aiken’s Christian Minstrel in 1846. Aiken’s system was also used by William Walker in his popular Christian Harmony (1866), and in the books of newly composed music published from 1874 onwards by the Reubusch-Kieffer Company of Dayton, Virginia. These songbooks were designed less for use in formal church services, than by special ‘singings’ and singing conventions where singers got together to try their hand at sight reading the new pieces (the majority of which would have been composed by devotees of and participants in the genre). Similar gospel songbooks were published by other Southern publishers, including Anthony Johnson Showalter and James D Vaughan, and were a great success - with black as well as white singers. Gospel quartets were often hired to popularise the songs in these new songbooks, and to sell them to rural singers and churches throughout the South. Such was the popularity of the ‘new books’ - containing roughly 75% newly composed songs and 25% older pieces - that publishers produced them annually or even twice-yearly. The books are still published today, although decreasing numbers at the black Shape Note singings mean that fewer new publications are purchased by these communities. At the same time, the vast number of books owned by the participants at these singings can pose a problem at some events officials try to limit the number of publications to eight, but the CD insert notes that these rules are usually flouted, and 'one may view songsters hauling one or even two suitcases full of songbooks'. No mean feat when most of the singers are at least 70 years old.
The first black Seven Shape Note singing convention was the Alabama-Mississippi Singing Convention established in 1887, possibly using Christian Harmony as a songbook. The five conventions featured on this CD were established between this date and 1935. In many ways the singings follow the same pattern as Sacred Harp meetings any member who wishes to can lead a song; historically at least, singers perform in a hollow square; and there is a distinct social element to the proceedings, with ‘dinner on the grounds’ an important component.There is also the same tradition - sometimes dispensed with - of ‘singing the shapes’ first time through; although because seven shape sounds are being vocalised, not just four, it does sound very different (sound clip - Getting Ready to Leave this World). (Incidentally, and bizarrely, there are some African-American Shape Note singers in Alabama and Mississippi who sing from the Sacred Harp, but transpose it from four shapes to seven - see www.arts.state.al.us/actc/1/20020331/AL_MS.html for an example).
The earliest recording on this CD is from a 1969 radio broadcast.There’s one other from 1972, and the remainder were made between 1995 and 2002. The number of singers has declined drastically since World War 2, with only older singers remaining, and no new singers swelling the ranks. But as I stated earlier, the quality of the music certainly doesn’t suggest a moribund tradition. Have a listen to the Thomas Sisters singing This World is not my Home. [sound clip]
One thing you notice immediately is that this is a black singing tradition - I’m not musicologist enough to describe how or why, but it’s unmistakeable. And you very soon notice that although the music may share common roots with white Sacred Harp traditions, it’s a rather different musical form, having more in common with gospel music.Whereas in nineteenth century Shape Note music a frequent feature is the use of fuguing passages, here you are more likely to encounter a gospel-style call and response pattern (sound clip - Each Moment of Time).The black Shape Note singers also are more inclined to add extra syncopation to the music, along with hand claps and stomping feet. And whereas the white Sacred Harp singers reviewed above are certainly not lacking in emotion, you don’t get the same sort of openly expressed enthusiasm as on some of these recordings (sound clip - Lord, Give me just a Little More Time).
Most of the tracks here are sung unaccompanied, although a couple have piano accompaniment. Apparently unaccompanied singing is the most common practice amongst black singing groups in Alabama, while historically white conventions favour the use of piano. I must say that I find the accapella numbers here far more exciting.
The Alabama Center for Traditional Culture is to be congratulated on producing a thoroughly enjoyable CD, casting light on a little known tradition. The liner notes are excellent, and if I have to find fault with the production at all, it would only be to say that the booklet’s too fat to fit easily back into the CD case once you’ve taken it out (actually this is even more of a problem with the booklet for In Sweetest Union Join). My only other complaint is that now I’ve discovered black Shape Note traditions, I’m just going to have to buy a copy of another of the Center’s CDs, featuring black Sacred Harp singing from Alabama.
http://www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/s_harp3.htm
Anglo-American style
Black American style
IllmaticDelta
Veteran
Carolinian
Okay, real quick I feel I need to touch on this. And some misconceptions & misnomers about the origins of Africans that came to America that might come up if you take the this map at face value. Keep in mind "It is estimated that over 50% of the slaves imported to North America came from areas where Islam was followed by at least a minority population. Thus, no less than 200,000 came from regions influenced by Islam."
95 percent of West African Muslims at the time inhabited the Sudanic/Sahelian/Savannah regions. This can include, BUT WAS NOT LIMITED TO THE SENEGAMBIAN REGION. For instance, just because a slave didn't come through a Senegambian port doesn't mean that the slave didn't from the Sudan or Sahel, as a Hausa slave from modern day Niger or Northern Nigeria would be more likely to come through a port from the Windward Coast or Bight of Biafra. And, as I'm about to show slave catchers had no problems venturing far into the interior of Africa to capture people for enslavement, in fact that's the way North American planters preferred it.
Famous white Natchez Mississippi planter/slaver, William Dunbar, express that Mississippi planters held a preference for Africans from the interior, stating "there are certain nations from the interior of Africa the individuals of which I have always found more civilized, at least better disposed than those from the coast, such as Bornon, Houssa, Zanfara, Zegzeg, Kapina, and Tombootoo regions". "The bornon" are those from the bornu empire, the "Houssa" are the Hausa, "Kapina" refers to those from the Katsina region of present day northern Nigeria and Southern Niger. "Zanfara" refers to the Zamfara region, another region in present day Northern Nigeria and southern Niger. Tombootoo refers to the Bambara of Mail. All of these regions had heavy islamic influenced populations. Also stating that Igbo people were not looked at favorably among the slavers.
Further examples of this include the slave narratives of people like, Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua of the Nilo-Saharan Zarma people of modern day Burkina Faso & Northern Benin who came through a port in modern day Benin, not in Senegambia.
In another instance, enslaved Fulani Abdul-Rahman, came through a Sierra Leonean port to Mississippi, not a senegambia one. But, his nation of origin Futa Jallon, was located in southern tip of the Savannah/Sahel region.
Also there was American slave Omar ibn Said from the Futa Toroo nation.
95 percent of West African Muslims at the time inhabited the Sudanic/Sahelian/Savannah regions. This can include, BUT WAS NOT LIMITED TO THE SENEGAMBIAN REGION. For instance, just because a slave didn't come through a Senegambian port doesn't mean that the slave didn't from the Sudan or Sahel, as a Hausa slave from modern day Niger or Northern Nigeria would be more likely to come through a port from the Windward Coast or Bight of Biafra. And, as I'm about to show slave catchers had no problems venturing far into the interior of Africa to capture people for enslavement, in fact that's the way North American planters preferred it.
Famous white Natchez Mississippi planter/slaver, William Dunbar, express that Mississippi planters held a preference for Africans from the interior, stating "there are certain nations from the interior of Africa the individuals of which I have always found more civilized, at least better disposed than those from the coast, such as Bornon, Houssa, Zanfara, Zegzeg, Kapina, and Tombootoo regions". "The bornon" are those from the bornu empire, the "Houssa" are the Hausa, "Kapina" refers to those from the Katsina region of present day northern Nigeria and Southern Niger. "Zanfara" refers to the Zamfara region, another region in present day Northern Nigeria and southern Niger. Tombootoo refers to the Bambara of Mail. All of these regions had heavy islamic influenced populations. Also stating that Igbo people were not looked at favorably among the slavers.
Further examples of this include the slave narratives of people like, Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua of the Nilo-Saharan Zarma people of modern day Burkina Faso & Northern Benin who came through a port in modern day Benin, not in Senegambia.
In another instance, enslaved Fulani Abdul-Rahman, came through a Sierra Leonean port to Mississippi, not a senegambia one. But, his nation of origin Futa Jallon, was located in southern tip of the Savannah/Sahel region.
Also there was American slave Omar ibn Said from the Futa Toroo nation.
IllmaticDelta
Veteran
One criticism I have of this table is that it's clearly only accounting for the slave imports on the Atlantic coast, and ignoring the large number of slave imports on the Gulf coast. I mean how can we talk about the North American slave trade and not mention Mobile Alabama, the Mississippi Delta, New Orleans(which was the 2 largest if not largest slave port in North America, neck & neck with Charleston, SC), and Texas slave ports which were the hubs of the illegal slave trade.
It's said that %40 of the slaves brought into Louisiana came from a Senegambian port alone.
IllmaticDelta
Veteran
Portraits of African born, Muslim slaves in the USA
Abdul Rahaman, 1828
Engraving of crayon drawing. A Muslim Fulbe, Rahaman was born in Timbuktu around 1762; as a child he moved to the Futa Jallon region in the present-day Republic of Guinea. Educated in Arabic and the Koran, in 1788/89, when around 26, he was captured during warfare and taken far from his homeland to the Gambia. Sold to the British, he was then taken to the Caribbean island of Dominica, where he briefly stayed, and from there to New Orleans, followed by Natchez. Enslaved for about 40 years in the U.S., mostly in Natchez, he was manumitted in 1828, and traveled to various parts of the eastern U.S. on his way back to Africa; he ultimately reached Liberia, where he died in 1829.
Omar Ibn Said (Sayyid), mid-19th cent.
A Moslem from the Futa Tora area of present-day Senegal, Omar Said was captured in warfare and shipped to Charleston, S.C. in 1806/07, just before the abolition of the slave trade. He spent about 24 years enslaved in South and North Carolina. He originally wrote his account in Arabic in 1831, at around the age of 61; an English translation appeared after his death in 1864.
Yarrow Mamout, 1819
Yarrow Mamout was born in Africa around 1736 and was a teenager when enslaved and brought to America, apparently no later than 1752. His African homeland and ethnicity are unknown, and although he was brought to the Virginia-Maryland area, little is known about his early years in America. He ultimately lived in Washington D.C. and during his old age was well known in the Georgetown area, where he was manumitted from slavery in 1797. He was known as a devout Muslim and hard worker, and was able to accumulate some property. He lived the rest of his life in Georgetown, where he died in 1823 at the age of about 88.
Job Ben Solomon, 1750
Engraved drawing. A Fulbe from the eastern region of present-day Senegal, Solomon was a Moslem and literate in Arabic. At around the age of 29, while on a trade mission (which included two slaves he was going to sell to the English), hundreds of miles from his homeland, he was captured, sold to the English, and shipped from the Gambia to Maryland. There he worked on tobacco farms for about a year, went to England, and ultimately found employment with the Royal African Company in Gambia, where he died in 1773 at the age of around 72.
Muhammad Ali ibn Said (North East Nigeria-Chadian)
Salih Bilali
Abdul Rahaman, 1828
Engraving of crayon drawing. A Muslim Fulbe, Rahaman was born in Timbuktu around 1762; as a child he moved to the Futa Jallon region in the present-day Republic of Guinea. Educated in Arabic and the Koran, in 1788/89, when around 26, he was captured during warfare and taken far from his homeland to the Gambia. Sold to the British, he was then taken to the Caribbean island of Dominica, where he briefly stayed, and from there to New Orleans, followed by Natchez. Enslaved for about 40 years in the U.S., mostly in Natchez, he was manumitted in 1828, and traveled to various parts of the eastern U.S. on his way back to Africa; he ultimately reached Liberia, where he died in 1829.
Omar Ibn Said (Sayyid), mid-19th cent.
A Moslem from the Futa Tora area of present-day Senegal, Omar Said was captured in warfare and shipped to Charleston, S.C. in 1806/07, just before the abolition of the slave trade. He spent about 24 years enslaved in South and North Carolina. He originally wrote his account in Arabic in 1831, at around the age of 61; an English translation appeared after his death in 1864.
Yarrow Mamout, 1819
Yarrow Mamout was born in Africa around 1736 and was a teenager when enslaved and brought to America, apparently no later than 1752. His African homeland and ethnicity are unknown, and although he was brought to the Virginia-Maryland area, little is known about his early years in America. He ultimately lived in Washington D.C. and during his old age was well known in the Georgetown area, where he was manumitted from slavery in 1797. He was known as a devout Muslim and hard worker, and was able to accumulate some property. He lived the rest of his life in Georgetown, where he died in 1823 at the age of about 88.
Job Ben Solomon, 1750
Engraved drawing. A Fulbe from the eastern region of present-day Senegal, Solomon was a Moslem and literate in Arabic. At around the age of 29, while on a trade mission (which included two slaves he was going to sell to the English), hundreds of miles from his homeland, he was captured, sold to the English, and shipped from the Gambia to Maryland. There he worked on tobacco farms for about a year, went to England, and ultimately found employment with the Royal African Company in Gambia, where he died in 1773 at the age of around 72.
Muhammad Ali ibn Said (North East Nigeria-Chadian)
Salih Bilali
@Supper
Do you have genetic studies saying a significant number of AA's have Sahelian ancestry? I just ask because many studies I read sometimes say they do, but others say AA's have more Yoruba/Nigerian(like the one posted in OP) and this one.
On the other hand studies like this says AA's have significant Sahelian admixture/ancestry and only those from Philly really have significant Nigerian ancestry.
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0014495
One should note Philly has slaves from Virginia/Maryland which had a significant number of Nigerian slaves!
Do you have any other genetic studies? Some argue that Latin American Spanish speakers like Dominicans, Cololmbians and I think Puerto Ricans have the highest Sahelian ancestry in the Americas.
Do you have genetic studies saying a significant number of AA's have Sahelian ancestry? I just ask because many studies I read sometimes say they do, but others say AA's have more Yoruba/Nigerian(like the one posted in OP) and this one.
On the other hand studies like this says AA's have significant Sahelian admixture/ancestry and only those from Philly really have significant Nigerian ancestry.
Source:
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0014495
One should note Philly has slaves from Virginia/Maryland which had a significant number of Nigerian slaves!
Do you have any other genetic studies? Some argue that Latin American Spanish speakers like Dominicans, Cololmbians and I think Puerto Ricans have the highest Sahelian ancestry in the Americas.
Portraits of African born, Muslim slaves in the USA
Yes, He was a Kanuri, from modern day Northern Nigeria & Niger.
Nope, but admittedly I haven't really looked at it from a genetics point of view often. Though, keep in mind people like Kanuri, Hausa, & Fulani also live in Nigeria as well. So, "Nigerian ancestry" is kind of ambiguous to me, as it could mean a whole lot of different ethnic origins.
Excellent point.