West African-American Slavery

Music Analysis Essay The roots of jazz and blues are tangled. It is occasionally difficult to differentiate one from the other. The purpose of this essay is through these two songs is to show you that there are differences or it is easy to see that the roots are together however I am going to proof that they have some similarities but we can also tell the differences.

They were creating new styles of music and ways of playing. From spirituals, came ragtime, and blues came jazz, and from jazz came swing. Early forms of Black music evolved from the early slave music in the 1800s. It started when whites didn't believe that black could sing or play white music. Negro spirituals were often called sorrow songs because of the fear of living as slaves.

Before the European settlers arrived in America even the Native Americans had their own slaves. Slavery was a very argumentative issue in America and, in fact, was the root cause of both the Haitian revolution and the American Civil War. The importation of slaves to Europe began when the Portuguese Crown gave up its monopoly of the slave trade in Europe leading to private ownership of slaves. This caused the European settlers, especially the Portuguese, to bring more slaves to the Americas directly from Africa. The Spanish were the first to use African slaves in the New World on islands such as Cuba and Hispaniola with the first African slaves arriving in Hispaniola in 1501.

Blues music was created by African Americans in the deep South during the 19th century. One of the main characteristics of blues music that separates the blues from other musical genres is that blues themes are more than often based on personal adversity. One popular blues theme is traveling. When the theme of traveling comes to mind, adversity may not be the first thing one thinks of; however, traveling was historically used as a tool to oppress African Americans in the United States. During the years of slavery, it was common practice to deny African Americans the right to travel or to force African Americans to travel between unfamiliar plantations.

In 1775 Equiano travelled to the Caribbean and to set up a new plantation society on the coast of Central America. Equiano did everything to create a comfortable condition of the enslaved people that was brought to work on the plantation. Because at one point Equiano was badly mistreated. A slave trader tried to enslave him, but Equiano managed to escape in a

The slave narratives told the slave’s stories. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which was one cause of the civil war since it showed what slavery was like. The Cotton Kingdom by Edward Atkinson also showed how slavery was, emphasizing how the cotton plantations expanded. John Pierpont’s book of poetry, “Airs of Palestine” was also important in showing the conditions of slavery. Slave narratives were a way for former and fugitive slaves to show everyone how slavery was.

The keys to artistic revolution and authentic expression, some intellectuals felt, would be found in the cultures of “primitive races,” and preeminent among these, in the stereotypical thinking of the day, were the cultures of sub-Saharan Africans and their descendants. Early in the 20th century, European avant-garde artists had drawn inspiration from African masks as they broke from realistic representational styles toward abstraction in painting and sculpture. The act of such experiments caused black people to look on their African heritage in a different way and in many cases with a desire to reconnect with a heritage long despised or misunderstood by both whites and blacks. That is how the harlem renaissance has helped shape African American

It has influenced the British Invasion through musical characteristics associated with blues such as the aforementioned 12 bar structure (AAB pattern), and also through styles that have developed from blues such as skiffle. Eventually rock and roll began to dominate which is clearly influenced by artists such as Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. The most surprising occurrence of the British Invasion though, is the re-exposure of blues in America. Middle class Americans were re-introduced to artists such as Muddy waters,

In the late 19th century, they could think of their lives after the emancipation of slaves and express the sorrows and the rustic life as the songs. It had deeper roots in a style of music called blues. Ragtime developed in African American communities throughout the Midwest, particularly Missouri and was popular from 1895 to 1918. Ragtime was similar to the march and combined with black songs and dances such as the cakewalk. Ragtime was the precursor of the jazz.

Trevor Price music as a social function is directly found in the speakeasies in the United States during the 1920’s and some of the 1930’s. Another difference between these two cultures is that European classical music consists of rigid form and is extremely rehearsed/structured. African traditional music contains more of a rhythm and bounce which is combined with improvisation in multiple parts of their songs. Most of jazz music contains improvisation. My favorite song containing improvisation from the jazz genre is called “Blue Train” by John Coltrane.

Unlike the Lost Generation the Harlem Renaissance was the birth of the New Negro. During the 1020’s just like The Lost Generation writers in the black community a new style of literature was born with a new set of mind. Before the Harlem renaissance black literature was mostly based on slave narratives accounts written by fugitive slaves about their lives in the south and, often, after escaping to freedom. This particular literature was used to illustrate the cruelties of life under slavery one of the most prominent Negro writer of that era was Frederick Douglas (c.1818-1895). His best-known work is his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, an American Slave.

Regla de Ocha, or Santeria, is an Afro-Cuban religion that was born from the context of colonialism and oppression through the memories and experiences of Yoruba slaves in Cuba. It is a combination of beliefs and practices from their homeland in Nigeria, of Roman Catholicism that was imposed on them from the Spanish colonists and of French spiritism from the work of Allan Kardec. In the last couple decades, Santeria has spread and gained popularity throughout South America and North America as an Afro-Cuban religion that many Cubans and African Americans abroad have embraced. Throughout the years, Santeria has also changed and has been redefined in different contexts as it has made its way across the African Diaspora and into different types

Today's society can’t even come closely to the heartache, torment, anguish, and complete misery suffered in slavery. Slaves endured this change their entire lives in mental condition as well as physical, there is no joy being there children and families, who were torn away from them and sold, never to be seen or heard from again. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs, in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl uses brief detail and clear language tone, to briefly describe what it is life to live like a slave. In the book, “Incidents in the Life of Slave Girl”, Linda Brent tell us experienced of her life in past twenty years in slavery with her master Dr. Flint, and her jealous Mistress.

Mariachi is a musical style that dates back to 19th century Western Mexico. From the 19th to 20th century, it moved from rural areas into cities such as Guadalajara and Mexico City, along with the Mexican government's cultural promotion gradually re-labeled it as Son style, mariachi becoming the word for the urban term. The name Mariachi was given to the 3 or more-piece secular music groups native to the western states of Jalisco, Colima Nayarit, Mitchoacan and Guerrero. The musicians would dress in white pants and shirts that the peasant farmers of the 18th century traditionally wore. Present day bands wear ‘charro’ suits.

Performance Analysis of “Appalachian Journey” An analysis of the documentary “Appalachian Journey” by Alan Lomax proves that the musical performances featured are examples of traditional music. The songs performed used traditional music instruments and styles. Many songs were passed down through oral tradition, and many were stories of real events. The people of the appalachian mountains used banjo’s, guitars, and fiddles while singing throughout the documentary, including hand carved instruments and sound making toys.