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Polyrhythm
Absence of chord progression
Falsetto
Pentatonic scales
Ostinado bass patterns
The audience as participants in a performance
Syncopation
Improvisation Use of dominate chord on the tonic Use of flatted; 5th. 3rd and 7th
Self aggrandizement in thematic material
The role of the musician in African and African American society is higher ( Bach cleaned stables in addition to his musical duties)
I could go on but suffice it to say that the only reason black music today doesn’t sound like country music or blue grass is Africa. The music of Black people in The United States had an identifiable nature by the late 1700’s. The first printing of “Yankee Doodle” also contained a song called “a Negro song”
You probably won’t find a scholar within the last 100 years who will agree with you https://www.google.com/search?q=Afri...+music&spell=1
You had me until the bold part. The tonic is the first and dominant the fifth. The two cords only coencide when the tonic is played, the dominant is the fifth note but the tonic does not occur in the dominant chord. For example, the C major chord the notes are C, E and G. G is the dominant in that scale. However play the dominant chord in that scale, G major, the notes are G, B and D. D is the dominant of G and can be played in C major as a secondary dominant. Cee Lo Green's song "F you" does exactly that.
Also, flattening the 5th, 3rd and 7th just makes the major scale a minor scale. A natural minor scale and that was not invented by us. in C major the E becomes E flat, the A an A flat and the B a B flat to make it C minor. However, harmonic minors raise the 7th in a minor scale (called subdominant) a half step to make it a leading tone again just like a major scale. When playing a dominant chord in a minor scale, it's almost always made harmonic (therefore making what would be a minor chord a major chord. That's the dominant 5th.
What black musician have done is created what's called a "Blues Scale". Still based on western music theory but is made especially for jazz and blues.
It's funny you mentioned Country music. Country actually sounds like it does due to black influences also. the Banjo was invented by slaves and the way the violin is fiddled was also black influenced.
Black-Americans aren't generally known to have many direct African cultural influences like those found in Haiti,Brazil or Cuba. But didn't some degree of African influence shape the way that black-Americans do and approach certain things? Like for example blacks in America have been well known for being good dancers and innovative with music. Where does that come from? Black Americans have their own way of speaking english called "black english" by some. What influenced that?
Could Jazz music had been developed without some amount of African sensibilities? In order for James Brown to create the music he created wouldn't that have also required that it come from someone of African descent? A song like Flashlight by Parliament could have only come from African descendant musicians. Dance styles like Locking and popping(popular in the 70's-80's)could only have been by created by African descendants also.
Basically what I'm getting at is that it's true that Black-Americans don't have the more obvious African cultural influences found in a Cuba or Haiti but much of what we do in music,dance,language,worship and food does show some African sensibilities if you look a little deeper at things.
Yeah they do! Do you have a clue about the Gullah Islands? There are words which are even borrowed from the Kikongo language found in the so-called "Black English/Ebonics".
Black Americans of course use western music theory, developed in Europe to write music. However, the rhythmic patterns did not exist prior to their introduction by us Black Americans. Think of the older forms of music prior to the 19th century. All modern music genres are basically evolved blues rhythms and riffs. Rhythms that were African built on western music theory.
Now if you look at my previous posts, you'll see that I'm not one to attempt to make it look like we are very African. We are today, a western people as much as that pains some to read. However, our African roots, if they've left their mark anywhere, it's on western music.
European music with all its complexity is thousands of years old! Can complex music forms be claimed by sub-Saharan Africa? I doubt it.
Either they crossed referenced my post with another or didn't completely read or comprehend what I posted. I clearly explained using western music theory but maybe its only clear to people like you and I.
What does that even have to do with "What's "African about Black-Americans?"
It shows that the influence of American music is mostly by its european roots and even though the african influence is there in the US it is not in the European origin. So one can reason that European music is the stronger influence and predates any African influence or even that complex European music predated any African and was not influenced by it. This excludes any prehistorical forms of music which is almost impossible to trace.
It shows that the influence of American music is mostly by its european roots and even though the african influence is there in the US it is not in the European origin. So one can reason that European music is the stronger influence and predates any African influence or even that complex European music predated any African and was not influenced by it. This excludes any prehistorical forms of music which is almost impossible to trace.
If by European you mean the various classical periods and folk music, you 100% correct. However modern forms of music are a fusion of western (European) theory and African and later, Black American influences.
I use to date a Congolese guy. He came to the states around his teenage years. His first observation of us Black Americans was how 'African' most of us looked, and that many West and Central African cultural patterns remained. He recognized a lot of things in us from where he was from. Basically, the traits are still in us, and will always be in us.
I know many Africans that have made the opposite observation. African Americans generally don't look very African at all. 9 times out of 10 even I can tell the difference. I used to have a relationship with a guy from Uganda and there is no way in hell he would be mistaken for African American.
I also see very few similarities culturally between my West African friends and my African American friends. African Americans have been here for hundreds of years, the first few hundred in slavery where any kind of Africaness was more or less beaten out of people. I just find it so unlikely that anything significant, if anything at all, has survived that. In the case of immigrants you normally see complete assimilation by the third generation and the conditions for them to maintain their cultures were far more favorable.
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