What is often overlooked is that slaves changed more than just that. "African slaves, unfamiliar with the new surroundings, were forced to change whatever they came in contact with, whether it be language, music, art or dance " (Davis AAM, 130-131). Music was a huge supporter, comforter, and security blanket for the slaves. Music was not just a passion or pastime: it was a lifesaver. In particular, gospel music was extremely important. Gospel is more of a modern take on the kinds of religious tunes that African Americans found solace in. Because slaves were "forced into a foreign culture " their music was forced to adapt and change (Davis AAM, 130). Gospel music, at its beginning stages, was definitely different than the kind of music that the African American population was used to. But, it contained the same kinds of beats and rhythms that kept their heritage alive, even in this new and unfamiliar setting.
Gospel music itself has now grown to be a very legitimate and well-celebrated genre of music. Thomas Dorsey is known by man to be the King of Gospel, but this is a big of exaggeration. While he is an extremely talented musician who certainly helped with the growth and popularity of gospel music, the art form existed far before his influence. In fact, it has been stated that any "southern plantation preacher " would have begun the actual music of gospel that we know now (David WIJ, 75). Preachers, specifically those in the south, are known, even today, for having a "fiery, bluesy delivery [that is] commonly associated with both blue and religious music " (Davis WIJ, 75). Like previously stated, the rhythms of the new sound were very reminiscent of older African chants and music, while the new, bluesy delivery updated it and made it more of a hybrid multicultural sound.
Those who were not enslaved and were of a more religious lifestyle felt themselves pitying the slaves. This caused a problem for plantation and, furthermore, slave owners.
That unique song was the African American spiritual. ... The blues is a style of music that began in America in the early 20th century. ... Some influential African American blues artists were W.C. Handy (the father of the blues), Ma Rainey, and Bessie Smith just to name a few of the early pioneers. ... People felt that the blues sound should not be mixed with religious music. ...
African American music has been called "( ) the musical Lingua Franca of the world [because] everyone listens to African American music and relates to it."... The next era of African American music was called, "Classical African American Music (1860s -1950s)." ... This new type of song was called the, "Blues," and although it had the same music fell and tone of spirituals, it differed "from spirituals because they [were] very wordily instead of religious" (Cone 99). ... Blues was the first African American style to be not only recorded but also played on national radio. ... This music did a gr...
The purpose of this report was for me to research and explore the connection between African American women and music. Since prior to the slave decades, music has been an integral part of African American society, and served as a form of social, economic, and emotional support in African American communities in the past and present. ... One of the greatest African American female blues singers was Bessie Smith. ... The twentieth century saw the development of a specific form of religious song in African American society. ... Gospel music was a way for African Americans to rejoice in the Lord. ...
Jazz music originated in the United States in the early 20th century. ... Jazz and Blues instruments came about after traditional African instruments were not allowed by the American slave owners so gradually their native songs and melodies were lost. Then later African American brought back their traditional harmonies called call and response but with Christian subjects. ... However, blues was the first solely secular form of African American based music with the birth of ragtime and jazz following closely behind ". ... "Jelly Roll Morton music was a bridge between Ragtime and early Jazz. ...
The purpose of this report was for me to research and explore the connection between African American women and music. Since prior to the slave decades, music has been an integral part of African American society, and served as a form of social, economic, and emotional support in African American communities in the past and present. ... One of the greatest African American female blues singers was Bessie Smith. ... The twentieth century saw the development of a specific form of religious song in African American society. ... Gospel music was a way for African Americans to rejoice in the Lord. ...
A horrific chapter in history had begun, and neither Africa nor America would be the same again. Approximately ten million Africans were brought across the seas to the Americas to be manipulated into slavery. ... This neo-African culture included African-American styles of dance and storytelling, work and spirituality, conversation and community. ... The earliest folk-blues were sung by nameless African-Americans living and working in the South's cotton belt in the early 1880's and 1890's- in particular, the region from the Mississippi Delta to East Texas. ... Blues music ...
After the Industrial Revolution, true folk music began to disappear, and the popular music of the Victorian era and the early 20th cent. ... Beginning with ragtime in the 1890s, black Americans had begun combining complex African rhythms with European harmonic structures, a synthesis that would eventually create jazz. ... The ability of radio broadcasting to reach rural communities aided the dissemination of new styles, notably country music, and to a lesser extent blues. ... Presley and Little Richard, soon developed as an amalgam of rhythm and blues with country music and other influences (s...
Popular music in the early forty's consisted of jazz, swing, bebop, country, honky-tonk, gospel, classical, and waltzes. ... Rhythm and blues was popular among the African-American population of America, but until the early 1950's, white people had little interest in rhythm and blues. Two men, wanting to make a profit and expand the growing music business even more, exposed rhythm and blues to white teenagers. In 1951, Allen Freed, a disc jockey in Cleveland, Ohio teamed up with Leo Mintz, one of Cleveland's largest record store owners, to introduce traditionally African Amer...
Cultural Comparisons As mentioned earlier, often Native Americans or African Americans are referred to as a single group when in fact they are comprised of hundreds of individual tribes. ... Music was a crucial part of African and later African American society. ... African American music roots, however have led to many popular music revolutions. Simple field hollers of the cotton fields of a single person singing out a changing line with others answering a repetitive answer turned into Call and Response, a very common musical element found in Blues and Jazz music. Blues and Jazz roots led int...
