Sam Floyd, Melanie Zeck, and Guthrie Ramsey
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780195307245
- eISBN:
- 9780190651305
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195307245.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
The Transformation of Black Music situates black musics within the broader cultural, political, social, and historical frameworks of the last millennium. It focuses on the dynamic musical practices ...
More
The Transformation of Black Music situates black musics within the broader cultural, political, social, and historical frameworks of the last millennium. It focuses on the dynamic musical practices that have emerged, morphed, and influenced each other in Africa and throughout the African Diaspora. The authors weave significant findings on black music with their own ethnographic and musical accounts in order to craft a narrative that (1) reflects the musical phenomena generated, in part, by forced migration and (2) addresses the longitudinal implications of these phenomena for musicological and cultural discourse. The Transformation of Black Music employs the critical lens of “Call/Response,” which was coined by Samuel A. Floyd Jr. to explain the dissemination of African musics and the return of Diasporic musics to Africa over a wide swath of time. Consequently, black musics are first viewed and interpreted against the backdrop of the Diaspora’s formation and then considered as integral components of expressive gestures and practices made by people of the Diaspora, especially since the nineteenth century. The book examines a full spectrum of black musics and covers topics, such as classical musicians of African descent, previously marginalized in mainstream musico-historical accounts. Moreover, the book presents information gathered from disparate sources that, when synthesized, highlights the interrelationship of musical practices formerly associated with specific eras and regions. By chronicling historical trajectories of black musical practices, The Transformation of Black Music showcases the value of black musics and the relevance of black music research to all musical endeavors.Less
The Transformation of Black Music situates black musics within the broader cultural, political, social, and historical frameworks of the last millennium. It focuses on the dynamic musical practices that have emerged, morphed, and influenced each other in Africa and throughout the African Diaspora. The authors weave significant findings on black music with their own ethnographic and musical accounts in order to craft a narrative that (1) reflects the musical phenomena generated, in part, by forced migration and (2) addresses the longitudinal implications of these phenomena for musicological and cultural discourse. The Transformation of Black Music employs the critical lens of “Call/Response,” which was coined by Samuel A. Floyd Jr. to explain the dissemination of African musics and the return of Diasporic musics to Africa over a wide swath of time. Consequently, black musics are first viewed and interpreted against the backdrop of the Diaspora’s formation and then considered as integral components of expressive gestures and practices made by people of the Diaspora, especially since the nineteenth century. The book examines a full spectrum of black musics and covers topics, such as classical musicians of African descent, previously marginalized in mainstream musico-historical accounts. Moreover, the book presents information gathered from disparate sources that, when synthesized, highlights the interrelationship of musical practices formerly associated with specific eras and regions. By chronicling historical trajectories of black musical practices, The Transformation of Black Music showcases the value of black musics and the relevance of black music research to all musical endeavors.
Samuel A. Floyd
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195109757
- eISBN:
- 9780199853243
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195109757.003.0011
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter applies a theory of interpretation to works of music. Most of the works discussed are works of Call-Response, Signifyin(g) symbols. They are based on or refer to the essentials of Dance, ...
More
This chapter applies a theory of interpretation to works of music. Most of the works discussed are works of Call-Response, Signifyin(g) symbols. They are based on or refer to the essentials of Dance, Drum, and Song. Undergoing various degrees of Signifyin(g) revision, these dialogical musical orations are full of semantic value, “telling effect.” Springing from African myth and ritual in whole or in part, they are informed by the cultural memory of that tradition. They are cultural transactions that express the struggle–fulfilment pattern common to human existence in general, as well as that particular to the African American experience.Less
This chapter applies a theory of interpretation to works of music. Most of the works discussed are works of Call-Response, Signifyin(g) symbols. They are based on or refer to the essentials of Dance, Drum, and Song. Undergoing various degrees of Signifyin(g) revision, these dialogical musical orations are full of semantic value, “telling effect.” Springing from African myth and ritual in whole or in part, they are informed by the cultural memory of that tradition. They are cultural transactions that express the struggle–fulfilment pattern common to human existence in general, as well as that particular to the African American experience.
Samuel A. Floyd
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195109757
- eISBN:
- 9780199853243
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195109757.003.0012
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
In tracing African American music making from its roots in traditional Africa to its manifestations in the United States, this book has focuses on the roles of myth, ritual, and the tropes of ...
More
In tracing African American music making from its roots in traditional Africa to its manifestations in the United States, this book has focuses on the roles of myth, ritual, and the tropes of Call-Response in the continuation of its character. From the African ring, through the ring shout of slave culture, the funeral parade practices of the early New Orleans jazzmen, and Esu's revisiting of the bluesmen in the 1920s and the beboppers in the 1940s, to the free jazz of the 1960s and the concert-hall works of the 1980s and 1990s, the imperatives of myth and ritual are made evident. Throughout the book, the author stresses the importance of performance in the making of African American music. Some of the music and ideas discussed should debunk several of the wrong notions about black music that have long prevailed in American society.Less
In tracing African American music making from its roots in traditional Africa to its manifestations in the United States, this book has focuses on the roles of myth, ritual, and the tropes of Call-Response in the continuation of its character. From the African ring, through the ring shout of slave culture, the funeral parade practices of the early New Orleans jazzmen, and Esu's revisiting of the bluesmen in the 1920s and the beboppers in the 1940s, to the free jazz of the 1960s and the concert-hall works of the 1980s and 1990s, the imperatives of myth and ritual are made evident. Throughout the book, the author stresses the importance of performance in the making of African American music. Some of the music and ideas discussed should debunk several of the wrong notions about black music that have long prevailed in American society.
