The creation of American jazz, blues, swing, rap, and hip hop started long ago when African song and dance was combined with European styles. In the West Indies and throughout the Americas wherever slaves were kept, there was an interaction between white and black. I think of it as understudy. Two films show blacks in charge of plantation music, Gone With the Wind and Twelve Years a Slave.
Whites studied black music in the fields, in the cabins, in the big house, at churches, and on the docks and rivers. A central place for this cultural integration was New Orleans. But the minstrel show started in New York and traveled extensively through the world. It was a larger part of popular culture for a hundred years than many of us realize. Young Stephen Foster, the first full-time songwriter, was taken to black church by a bound woman.
I do appreciate the time and thoughts you put into all your works.It is truly refreshing to have you explain the actual beginnings of today’s current music .
I do believe that official history is a political tool used as such since the beginning of it around 1840. History is written by the winners. I do believe that the Afro-Americans are in reality the nativ people from America. The fact that they have black skins allowed the Union of free masons to rewrite a false narrativ, deleting their history and replacing them by false stories erasing completely their power. The Olmeques heads found in Mexico are a proof of the very old time since “african type people” are in America (South); they probably went by thmselves longtime ago or I do believe that their ar nativ completely. They are the “Indians from America”, with as many different physiological type as in Europe (A guy in Sweden doesnt look at all like a guy in Italia for ex.), People is Louisiana were not the same as the one in The North west. All the narrativ concerning the trip of little woody boats crossing the invinsible Atlantic Ocean (with all the tropical storm and deadly dangers each waves) with poor Africans too weak for defends themselves face to the terrible European powerful people, is a lie made up in books. Ok sorry for my arrogant opinion, I do hope that we can still be friends. I just show my view on the subject that I reflect for years now, checked lot of “authentical sources” (on loc, and other university library), boos on the subject. But ok, I know that it is contreversial and that the official theory is “slaves from africa, after having killed all the indians”, but it doesnt make any sense and is impossible in pratic/real life (just in books). Have a nice day Sir!
Remuse, great insights! I hope others will share about this. History is incomplete and very skewed. This site explores musical documents that demonstrate the African-American musical experience. These will be sung and played. There will be a lot of evidence to discuss from these. Many more articles are coming. Fred
Thank you for your kind and comprehensive answer. The David Rumsey site, with all the old Atlas and books (maps of course) available online are very important in order to analyses some small part of “historigraphy” and the building blocks of “academic/official history”. But the reverse side of it is that we can see that these documentations (history,atlas, maps) were also used as political tools without any reality behind some of them (census pop numbers > they invented random numbers in concordance with the message to send, the problem is that it s very difficult to proove that “something is wron”, to prove by the negative is very hard). So we have 2 choice : the believe everything, or to doubt of everything; particularly regarding of what I try to explain about the “use of history”, which is linked to a “falsification” of our past. Because who controls the past, controls the present, and control the futur.
Thank you your video and news about your works on the songs.
Have a nice Monday.