I’m sure there are many other similarities between the two cultures besides the ones I mentioned - function, variety and type of instruments, ensemble organization, music specialists, cultural attitudes about music and musicians, performance practice, use of musical forms, and mutually intelligible melodic elements. But even with this brief list, there is enough common ground to communicate musically - what’s needed is time, place, and opportunity.
Last month, I talked about cultures and how they borrow from each other - hopefully stressing the musical similarities between African and European traditions. But I left out one important element - the two cultures must have the opportunity to interact, a geographical proximity for that interaction, and a place in time and over time for the cultural elements to mingle.
Bruno Nettl (Prentice Hall History of Music Series mentioned last month), identifies: “One of the truly important developments in the recent history of world music was initiated by the forced migration of great numbers of Africans, as slaves, to various parts of the Americas.” This is the one thing which set the stage for the development of Jazz, and Latin musics in the Americas.
It brought two cultures into intimate contact and what evolved from that contact: “had an impact on all strata of twentieth-century music in the West and elsewhere.”
These African elements, imported to the Americas through institutionalized Slavery, have a major responsibility for not only Jazz and Latin musics but also much of Western popular music - gospel, rock, R amp;B, Blues, etc.. These African heritages are: “major forces in everyday musical life; and their effect on composers of art music in the United States and Latin America as well as on such Europeans as Antonin Dvorak and Igor Stravinsky has been considerable”.
That such a cultural impact and such a diversity of musics - such beauty in Art - came from such a dismal and degrading practice is for me the ultimate tribute to the human spirit. It never ceases to amaze me that such music as Jazz came from such origins.
In the Americas, the African tradition spread through North, Central, and South America, and also the Caribbean. In each of these areas, the mingling of musical cultures resulted in a unique style. In brief, the differences in which European Colony and native Indian population - as well as the particular African identity imported to that region - resulted in a different musical fusion.
The common thread for this spread of African musical culture was the Slave Trade Routes of the period - and slavery was common in all of the Americas (it should be noted that the indigenous Indian population was likewise exploited).
I am going to remain true to my original intent and not sidetrack into the musics of Latin America - that is a separate though adjunct study.
It is time to focus on North America and the circumstances peculiar to this geographical region in the development of Jazz.
One of the circumstances which shaped the evolution of African music in North America has to do with the nature of slavery as practiced in this region - and where slaves were obtained. Both of these elements shaped the musical evolution toward Jazz.
First, the majority of slaves were brought to the United States from the West Indies (the Rum, Sugar, and Slave Triangle Trade). Rather than being able to live in: “closed communities in which African Tribal groups could still function, the Blacks were brought to the United States from the West Indies, where elements of African culture had already begun to change and disappear…”
Here, the African slave was first influenced by the European country controlling the particular part of the Caribbean - either French or Spanish - and the particular music of that country was the first encounter (‘Jelly Roll’ Morton’s Spanish Tinge?). The Black slave often remained in this area for months to years before relocation to the US - time enough to assimilate many European influences.
Second, the dominant religion of the region greatly effected how much of the cultural heritage the Black slave could retain: “the impact of Protestant denominations in the United States was of such a nature as to annihilate many, if not most of the West African religious practices.”
It was this difference in religious orientation which shaped some of the differences between North and South America. The Catholic colonies, for the most part, were not too concerned with the religious life of the slave. As such, they were allowed much more latitude in retaining the musical and religious culture of West Africa - also, Catholicism had a similarity to West African religions which eased assimilation into the religious practices of the Slave population. Protestant denominations actively proselytized for conversion in the United States and replaced to a much greater degree the religious culture of the Black slave. I feel that this is one reason the music of Latin America retains much more direct African elements than that of North America. Also,coupled with the closer contact between master and slave in North America, the African heritage (while certainly not disappearing) was retained less as specifics and more as a value structure.
Risking a very general “generalization”, the European countries involved in the slave trade had markedly different ways of dealing with the African. The Catholic countries of France and Spain allowed the African to function in a closed group which allowed the African to retain more of his culture. The North American area - mainly English and Protestant - did not. Here, the African was forced to assimilate to a greater degree and as a result lost more of his particular culture - and was influenced to a greater degree by the culture of the slave masters. The process also worked in the other direction - the African slave had a greater impact on the surrounding European culture. It was the closeness of the cultural contact which was so different - and that closeness extended to the musics of both cultures.
It seems to be that: “on the whole, those features of music that were most strongly developed in Africa have to some extent also been retained in Afro-American music; and, conversely, those which were not developed to any great degree of complexity or distinctiveness (such as scale) seem to have given way to traits bearing the European trademark.”
The African features retained are the emphasis on rhythm, the use of syncopation and complicated rhythmic figures, an emphasis on “beat”, adherence to strict meter and tempo, call and response patterns, love of instruments and instrumental musics, and vocal techniques, improvisatory techniques, and use of short theme variation. The European features incorporated are musical forms, harmonic structure, instruments, and scale.
These are the common musical aspects mentioned in any discussion of Jazz Origins. But, to my mind, it is not Jazz - yet. The Afro-American musical culture is more than just the idiom of Jazz. There is a rich tradition of Afro-American folksongs and other musics - they are just not as widely known. I mentioned some recorded sources last month for listening. To my ear, the Folksongs are closer to the European/American Folk Idiom than the African - with African elements present but not predominant.
Both cultures borrowed freely in this area and that of Religious musics, and Popular musics of the period - 1800’s. We still need the unique set of circumstances which produced Jazz.
The three European cultures mentioned [Spanish, French, and English] exchanged colonial possessions - some areas living under the rule of each of these in succession. In these areas, the African slave was subjugated under the different attitudes about slavery and variations of music of each colonial power.
Also, I should mention that each of these colonial powers had previous experience in Africa - Spain was occupied by the Moors [often mentioned as an influence on the unique nature of that countries music].