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| Wednesday, 11 August 2004 |
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Europe and Africa exercise influence on: New World music by Derrick Schokman
The extraordinary phenomenon of US music is that it was developed entirely on an early transplanted culture. Emigration to the New World increased immensely from 5 million in 1800 to 23 million by 1900. There were two main streams of emigration - the willing from Europe and the unwilling from Africa. The musical harmony brought by the Europeans enjoying the fulsome glory of the Romantic Age, combined with the rhythm and melody of the Africans to form several distinctive forms of music. Spirituals There were the early spirituals sung by slaves working in the cotton fields, voicing the mood of those unjust times and the hope for a better life. The spiritual "Nobody knows the trouble I've seen" expressed the resigned depth of their bondage, and the hymn "We Shall Overcome" the summit of their hope. The Fiske Jubilee Singers, organised by George White in 1871 at the Fiske University, were a popular attraction for more than two generations, and helped to bring the spiritual into the concert hall. Ethiopian songs Then there were the songs of Stephen Foster, which embodied the plantation spirit of the agricultural south. He called them 'Ethiopian' songs, which are now taken as traditional southern tunes. 'From Oh Sussanah' in 1848 to 'Beautiful Dreamer' in 1864, Foster composed more than 200 songs, including 'Camptown Races', 'My Old Kentucky Home', 'Old Black Joe' and 'Jeanne With the Light Brown Hair' which are still sung today. Minstrel Shows (blackface entertainment) helped to bring Foster's songs before a wider public. All the Minstrel shows were comprised of white men and women in blackface, because black people were not allowed to assume the role of legitimate performers at that time. Another American composer, John Philip Sonsa, made use of the cafe chantant and the brilliant tunes of French operettas, and the music of Gilbert and Sullivan from England to compose his military marches eg. El Capitan, Semper Fidelis, Washington Post and The Stars and Stripes Forever. The spirit of national pride, which dominated the 19th century, was heard in that music. Ragtime and Jazz While Foster's songs were the music of a young America still comprised farms and country towns in a continent not yet industrialised, ragtime or the piano music of Scot Joplin and others became the music of the cities. Rag was a fresh blend of Europe and Africa, mixing the sound of brass bands, folk tunes, the wild west and the syncopations of Africa. It became the parlour music of middle class America, subsequently giving birth to jazz, along with the blues or songs expressing a yearning for a comforting touch and relief from the injustices and tribulations of life. In the years following World War I, jazz quickly established itself as the popular language of urban music. Brilliant solo artistes attracted a devoted following. Notably Louis Armstrong whose trumpet improvisations became celebrated throughout the world. The vocal origins of jazz were maintained by Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday, two outstanding interpreters of the blues. Soloists like Dizzy Gilespse and Charlie Parker heard a certain inner sound and brought forth be - bop, parent to progressive jazz. Jazz even went on to reach the concert stage, thanks to the talent of George Gershwin who, in his last work Porgy and Bess, had Jazz and art music meet and become reconciled as never before. Jazz became America's major cultural export along with the movies Musical comedy Musical comedy was an exhilarating form of light entertainment built around the songs of Irvin Berlin, Kern, Hart Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hammerstein. In South Pacific, which many people consider to be the supreme achievement of musical comedy, Rodgers and Hammerstein took the best elements of opera, operetta, revue, vaudeville and the rest to fashion their master piece. A dramatic change however was brewing. Just as jazz began replacing sentimental ballads just after World War I, so did pop - rock become a dominant force in urban music after World War II. Traditional jazz, folk music and show tunes are a long way from hard rock, punk rock and astro rock. **** Back **** |
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