MUSIC 26AC Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: African Diaspora, Ring Shout, Music Of Africa
Afria Musi i the Aerias September 4, 7
• Ring shout and the Bomba
o Trans-Atlantic slave trade (17th-19th century)
o Musical/cultural features and practices
o Identity, migration, and diaspora
• What is idetity?
o Expression of identity outside of yourselves and how it might apply to you
o Who a person is in relation to the surrounding world
o How an individual connects to larger social and political communities and institutions (ie:
shared collective space at UC Berkeley)
o Distinction from identity and personality traits/preferences
• Question: How did the ring shout and bomba express and solidify early African American and Afro-
Puerto Rican identities?
• Trans-Atlantic slave trade
o Institution that shaped the presence of Africans in the Americas
o Economy based on the transportation of black Africans from 17-19th century
o Western coast and Central Africans were primarily transported based on geographical
reasons
o Slavery has left a large mark in the US, but only 6% made it to the US
• Migration: movement of people from one geographic location to another
o Circumstances for movement lead to debates of political/economic significance
o Forced vs. voluntary
o Enslaved Africans that brought their music with them, which have been slightly altered based
on their community
• Ring shout: percussion, song, and dance tradition developed by enslaved black people in the
southeastern US in the 17th-19th century
o Grew out of black communities in Florida, South Carolina, Georgia – isolated from the
mainland and had a higher ratio of blacks to whites
o Over 200-300 years, practices from many traditions continue to be practiced in the US =
unified, morphed practice
o Can see the earliest roots of African music in the states
• African features in music of African Diaspora
o Diaspora: satterig aout of people fro a shared ultural, ethi, or atioal group; ter
used about different groups from one single geographic region to a number of regions
o Real or imagined connections to a homeland – can be tangible or a sense of ancestry (leads
to the continued use/maintenance of this music)
o Real or imagined connections against diasporic populations
o In music
▪ Rhythmic/percussive emphasis
▪ Call and response form
▪ Dense textures/layers – different pitches, not much space in air
▪ Improvisation – room for improvisation in singing or in dance
▪ Music connected to dance – a’t hae oe ithout the other
▪ Music incorporated into daily life
o Music become localized in traditions
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