Music has played a role in society since the dawn of man. Said to be the beginning of communication in early civilization, music and dance have influenced how we think, act and treat members of our own society. Song and dance are used in rites of passage ceremonies such as births, weddings and funerals throughout the world. American and African people of color have contributed a brand of music that represented a struggle as well as a celebration during the civil rights movement. This Civil rights era fueled a people to stand and be accounted for and take pride in their culture and ethnicity after millenniums of oppression. The music played was the soundtrack to this movement. Soul, funk, rhythm and blues are a music born of a culture, protest and celebration. The use of this music as a reflection of cultural issues, values, and belief has been sampled by many cultures. Though some critics feel Soul music was merely a passing fad. I intend to discuss the Contribution of music on two contemporary cultures and its effect on their cultural issues, values and beliefs.
My Main focus is that of a shared music culture within the reaches of the Ebo and Yoruba Culture and the Black American culture of the United States. In the fifties, Gospel revival and doo-wop merged into soul music. Soul music was enabled by the commercial boom of "race" music in the United States that later led to the creolization of popular black music in many other societies around the world.
Soul music was born from a trend towards black and white integration, as more and more white folks accepted the idea that black culture was, simply different (African instead of European)(.2005) Soul music was indirectly, helped by rock music, precisely because ...
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...ms. The consciousness within our culture was raised and we took pride in ourselves and our situation and helped ourselves.
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Black people were disenfranchised and to make it in the industry, they turned to music.
Over the course of history, music has developed from a personal, academic pursuit to an extension of a global marketplace and an attribute of this global community. In order to better address this conversation and the surrounding idea, Feld utilizes the platform he has developed to pose the argument that music has long been cultivated as a means of communication and interaction. This relationship is developed and analyzed as a case study in this article, which happens to be in discussing a traditional lullaby first developed in the Solomon Islands, which was in turn recorded by a European pop group that sold millions of copies of a rendition of the song. Furthermore, the article goes to show the trend of music to be redistributed and developed in the sense that it is later reused by a popular jazz musician in Europe. Feld then begs the question about the nature of the redistribution of music and whether this facilitates a hybridization of music or an alienation and artistic degradation of the original work for the indigenous artists.
Soul music came up as a result of rock and roll from the African American gospel, rhythm and blues. As the century grew bands were created like the bubblegum pop band comprised of blacks who created new fusion of R&B and hip hop music that is still embraced till now. Rap music evolved from the Blues, rap music was made up of deep rhythms and autobiographical lyrics. Music nurtured the African American tradition and their struggle towards equality the same cent...
African American religious music is the foundation of all contemporary forms of so called “black music.” African American religious music has been a fundamental part of the black experience in this country. This common staple of the African American experience can be traced back to the cruel system of slavery. It then evolved into what we refer to today as gospel music. The goal of this paper is to answer three main questions. What are the origins of African American religious music? How did this musical expression develop into a secular form of music? What is the future of African American religious music? These questions will be answered through factual research of African American traditions, artists, and various other sources.
The locale where musical sub-genres have evolved is closely related to key features of the music played. The blues originated in the oppressive and destructive experiences of African Americans in the post-emancipat...
The birth of Rock and Roll Music was a mixture of popular music and African American country blues and hillbilly music. However, Rock and Roll music was influence since the 1950’s by two particular African American artists like Muddy Waters and Howlin` Wolf. Through their distinct voices, style, deliverance, and performances that helped the music in the 1950’s give rise to this new style of music genre Rock and Roll. During the World War II era, this style of music was looked at; as traditional music and, through the music people could tell their story, not just about their struggles but the real struggles going on around them, like, isolation between black and white people. Most artists were sharing their values and trying to associate through
The first similarity between the two music genres is the historical context that the music was born out of. The start of blues music can be traced back to African Americans during the time of slavery and continued on into the twentieth century where African Americans were isolated and oppres...
African music concentrated a lot on rhythm while Western European liked to hear harmonic sounds. The dissonant sounds and polyrhythms of African music was not understood by the Europeans, but jazz musicians took a great liking to it. The reason for this was because Europeans used music for listening enjoyment. In Africa, music was very functional. It was the only form of communication between tribes and a universal language of percussive instruments. The music was used to announce special events such as birth, death, marriage, and the reaching of puberty. Everybody got musically trained very young and when Africans were brought to America as slaves, they brought the music. Some of the most noticeable influences of this African music is seen in work songs, spirituals and field hollers of slaves. When slaves became free, and chose to leave their plantation, there was no work for them. Many became street musicians and sang what is known today as the Blues. European musicians were playing a march style of music known as Rag. The rise in jazz happened when the two styles of music started combining.
African-American music is a vibrant art form that describes the difficult lives of African American people. This can be proven by examining slave music, which shows its listeners how the slaves felt when they were working, and gives us insight into the problems of slavery; the blues, which expresses the significant connection with American history, discusses what the American spirit looks like and teaches a great deal from the stories it tells; and hip-hop, which started on the streets and includes topics such as misogyny, sex, and black-on-black violence to reveal the reactions to the circumstances faced by modern African Americans. First is about the effect of slave music on American history and African American music. The slave music’s
Jazz, the “purest expression of American democracy; a music built on individualism and compromise, independence and cooperation” has had a great impact on American life since the early 1900s (Burns, 2009). When jazz first emerged on the scene, it immediately made a profound impact on all individuals who experienced it. It didn’t matter who you were. This being said, jazz was especially life changing for the African American population. It opened the door of opportunity for this group of people, and they quickly grasped onto this chance before it could disappear. The development of jazz can be viewed as a reaction to American life because it worked as a form of expression, placed an emphasis on collaboration,
Africans and the African-descended played and incredibly active role in shaping their histories and on a larger scale the histories of Europe, the Caribbean, Latin America, and North America throughout the second half of the twentieth century. It is fascinating to think about how much change they instigated and how many outstanding cultural contributions they made in such a short period of time that are now considered such huge and important parts of history. It is not something often considered, but is still interesting to note how something so minor but relevant as hip hop might not exist had they not become so active. It is almost as if they were making up for lost time during those periods in which they were forced to be so passive in shaping their history and that of the world.
Soul music, which originated in the late 1950s, was popularized by African-Americans. Soul music is described as black popular music in the United States. The term “soul” embodied the way African American musicians felt about being African American in the United States, and the term soul continues to define this type of spiritual music. Soul music’s roots are a mix of traditional African American gospel music, and rhythm, blues, and jazz music. Soul music was enabled by unstoppable trends towards blacks and whites integration and discrimination. As the civil rights movement expanded so did African American pride towards their music.
Angeles, Los. (2009). African arts. Volume 28. Published by African Studies Center, University of California.
The manifestation of roots music from African immigrants developed into American musical genres such as spirituals, blues, and gospel music. As the centuries progressed, spirituals and work songs extended to comprise distinctive song genres, particularly the blues of southern blacks. Work songs and spirituals from African Americans are regarded as a window into their cultural life, their songs interconnect the optimisms, burdens, and beliefs of slavery. Music was imbedded into life, songs were hummed on front porches, chanted in churches, and caroled in the fields. Melodies were passed down from parent to child and through connotations they mirrored the changing times.
Powell, A. (2007). The Music of African Americans and its Impact on the American Culture in the 1960’s and the 1970’s. Miller African Centered Academy, 1. Retrieved from http://www.chatham.edu/pti/curriculum/units/2007/Powell.pdf