Music history of the United States to the Civil War: Encyclopedia II - Music history of the United States to the Civil War - African American music

Music history of the United States to the Civil War - African American music

Music history of the United States to the Civil War - Africans in Louisiana

Main article: Louisiana Creole

In Louisiana, drums remained legal well into the 19th century. There, African slaves, many from the Caribbean islands, danced in large groups, often in circle dances. As of 1817, dancing in New Orleans had been restricted to the area called Congo Square, which was a hotbed of musical fusionism, as African styles from across America and the Caribbean met. Nevertheless, by 1820, opposition from whites in New Orleans and an influx of blacks elsewhere in the U.S. caused the decline of Congo Square's prominence. The tradition of mass dances in Congo Square continued sporadically, though it came to have more in common with minstrelsy than with authentic African traditions.

Caribbean dances known to have been imported to Louisiana include the calenda, congo, counjai and bamboula. The congo had also been known earlier, mentioned as a social dance in colonial Richmond, Virginia.

Music history of the United States to the Civil War - Spirituals

Main article: Spiritual

In the 1830s, a Great Awakening of fervent Christianity began, leading to popular spiritual song traditions. During this period, the country was undergoing a religious revival that centered around outdoor worship gatherings (camp meetings), where hymns (camp songs) were sung, as well as itinerant preachers called circuit riders. The period began early in the century, with the first camp meeting occurring in July 1800 in Logan County, Kentucky. This was followed by an 1801 meeting in Cane Ridge, Kentucky which lasted for six days and attracted ten to twenty thousand people. Though originally run by Presbyterian ministers, Methodists and Baptists soon took over. Methodists brought with them hymns, written by John Wesley and his followers, which became very popular. Many songs were semi-improvised, stitched together out of wandering verses that were used in a number of different songs.

The Shakers also played a role in the Great Awakening, and their music, which included both hymns and work songs, began diversifying greatly during this period (1837-1848). The most well-known Shaker song, "Simple Gifts" (adapted by Aaron Copland in Appalachian Spring), came from this period. Most of the new hymns were called "gift songs", and were revealed to the initiate in a vision by the spirits of Mother Ann, the sect's founder, angels, other historical figures or other races, such as Native Americans. They were not written at first, but eventually the Shakers created their own form of musical notation, and composers like Issachar Bates became renowned. By the end of the 1940s, Shaker meetings were a popular entertainment for non-Shakers.

African-Americans, still mostly enslaved, were not generally allowed to participate, they watched, and were inspired to use African vocal styles and rhythms with the English hymns. These songs were called Negro spirituals. While many were songs praising God or Jesus, others contained coded messages to fellow slaves and rhetoric or symbolically demanding freedom. Spirituals like "Steal Away to Jesus" communicated an impending escape, while "Let My People Go" and "Go Down Moses" overtly concerned Biblical Hebrew slaves as a symbol for African slaves.

Musically, spirituals were a descendent of New England choral traditions mixed with African rhythms and call-and-response forms. Shape-note hymns from the First New England School spread south, and were popular there long after New England had moved on. The hymns were simplified to the extreme, until they were nothing more than a tune and some religious lyrics; interacting with African American slave songs, the result was the spiritual tradition.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "African American music", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki