Abstract

African music is the primary source for the blues. Scholars have supplied ample

evidence to support this assertion. However, the African retentions still present in the

blues are not immediately apparent. African music and the blues share many similarities,

including the predominance of rhythm, the uses of music as social commentary and

critique, types of instruments, and musical structure. Slaves brought their culture with

them to the New World when they were forcibly taken from their native lands. The

sources of slaves from specific regions illuminates the continuation of African cultural

practices in the Americas; for example, griots, an antecedent of blues singers; and a belief

in the occult, such as "juju" in West Africa and "mojo" in the US.

1 . Introduction

A study of the origins of the blues must begin with a look at and a listen to African

music. It is widely accepted that Africa, as the source for the New World slaves, is also,

therefore, the primary source of African American culture. In his search for the roots

of the blues Samuel Charters (1982) states, "It had always been obvious that the blues

sprang from a complex cultural background, with much of it developing from the music

of the long period of African slavery in the United States . . ." (p. 1). More cautiously,

Paul Oliver, in his influential study, Savannah Syncopators (2001), also searched for

African retentions in the blues: "all this discussion is based on the assumption that

retentions of African culture, or a part of it, do exist and can be established. But if

they are proven, by what means were they transmitted?" (p. 19). To answer his own

question he researched the African sources of slaves. This is an essential step in blues

research because, as Michael Coolen (1991) attests, "it is far too common to try to show

connections between Africa and the New World without taking into consideration" the

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points of origin, the cultures, the points of disembarkation, and the numbers of slaves

who arrived (p. 1). In this respect it is also important to consider that cultures change

and evolve over time. After all, over 400 years have passed since the first Africans were

brought to the New World in the 16th century.

The Africans who survived the middle passage were exposed to all manner of

foreign cultures, not only other Africans, but Europeans and Native Americans as

well. Therefore, it is necessary to reconstruct a possible past for African music that

was taken to the New World where it evolved in a dramatically different fashion from

music in Africa. There are first-hand reports from the era; however, most of them

are biased, exhibiting disparaging attitudes towards the Africans and displaying an

ignorance of their music. Consequently, we must rely both on the observations of

modern ethnomusicologists who have done fieldwork in Africa to uncover the origins of

America's music, and on our own understanding of human cultures.

Charters (1982) discovered on his trip to Africa "how little the music sounded like

the blues" (p. 16). However, there are less superficial aspects of African music retained

in the blues. These include the transcendence of rhythm over harmony and melody,

the use of certain instruments brought to the Americas, musical forms, characteristics

of musical performance, the social aspects and uses of African music, the variety of

roles fulfilled by the musicians, occult superstitions, and the use of songs for resistance,

criticism, insult, and parody.

Although many other scholars have looked at the relationships between African music

and African American blues, the focus of this paper is to explicitly show the links —

cultural and historical — between African music and African American blues music,

thereby demonstrating that African music is the source of the blues.

2. Method

The primary analytic methods applied for this paper were textual, historical, and

sociological. The ideas have been developed from a combination of printed and recorded

primary and secondary sources.

3. Discussion

3. 1 Characteristics of African music

Generalizing about a huge continent with such immense cultural variety is a thorny

issue; however, the varieties of music created in Black Africa, which includes the

cultures from "the savannah and grass land areas" through "those whose countryside

is predominantly of the topical forest type," display some common traits (Nketia, 1974, p.

5). The area where styles of Black African music originate starts south of the Sahara

Desert and extends to the tip of South Africa. North African societies "are very closely

related to those of the Arab world of the Middle East . . ." ; therefore, its music has

more in common with the Oriental music of Arab cultures (Nketia, p. 3). There are

pockets of cultures unrelated to Black African culture throughout the continent; for

example, "the southern portion is dominated by settler populations from Europe" (Nketia,

p. 3). Although, since the independence of Zimbabwe and the end of Apartheid in South

Africa, the settler societies no longer have considerable or overwhelming power in those

countries. In this study we are primarily interested in those aspects of African music

that "have their historical roots in the soil of Africa . . ." (Nketia, p. 4).

Although it is a cliche to say that African music is made with drums, there is a

hint of the truth in the statement: rhythm to African music, after all, is what harmony

and melody are to European music. There is a tendency to dismiss African music as

primitive because it lacks the complexity of polyphonic harmony and the extended

melodies of European music; however, the same could be said of the primitive use of

rhythm in European music. As blues historian Robert Palmer pointed out, "if you want

to listen to something primitive, you should listen to Mozart, because if you hear Mozart,

there is almost no rhythmic variation in it. It's one, two, three, four forever. No cross

rhythms or poly-rhythms to speak of (Mandel, 2002). Of course, neither African music

nor Mozart should be pejoratively labeled primitive music. In African Rhythm and

African Sensibility (1981) John Miller Chernoff attests to the predominance of rhythm in

African music: "the notion of rhythm form [s] the basis for discussing, on a musical level,

the general characteristics of the various African musical traditions which are otherwise

so distinct in terms of instruments, tonal organization, and vocal styles" (p. 40).

The complexity of African rhythm is created through the combination of multiple

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rhythmic patterns directed by a master drummer who plays more complex parts. This

is called polymeter, polyrhythm, or cross-rhythm. Chernoff (1981) describes the

relationship between rhythms as follows: "The diverse rhythms establish themselves in

intricate and changing relationships to each other analogously to the way that tones

establish harmony in Western music" (p. 46). He suggests, "the cardinal principle of

African music is the clash and conflict of rhythms" (p. 47). This is immediately apparent

in a piece such as "Caresse" (1993) by the modern African drummer, Guem.1 The

various instruments are introduced one or two at a time building to a complex wall of

rhythm. The interplay of rhythms creates a new, overall rhythm which exists in the

clash and conflict of the individual, subordinate rhythms. This is analogous to

counterpoint in European music. Drawing a parallel with African American popular

music, Chernoff suggests,

in almost all African music there is a dominant point of repetition developed from a

dominant conversation with a clearly defined alternation, a swinging back and forth

from solo to chorus or from solo to an emphatic instrumental reply.2 Call-and-

response, as this kind of arrangement is generally known to ethnomusicologists, is a

major characteristic of African musical idioms. This characteristic is not

particularly difficult to understand, for we are familiar with this standard format in

Afro-American music. When James Brown sings "Get up!", Bobby Byrd answers

"Get on up!"; when Kool sings "Get down," the Gang's horns answer. In African

music, the chorus or response is a rhythmic phrase which recurs regularly; the

rhythms of a lead singer or musician vary and are cast against the steady repetition

of the response. (p. 55)

This aspect of African American music is familiar to anyone who has listened to

Spirituals or heard a work song; for example, the prison work song, "Long John,"

recorded by Alan Lomax in 1934:

LEADER:

1 . It's a long John,

He's a long gone,

Like a turkey through the corn,

Through the long corn.

2 . Well, my John said,

In the ten chap ten,

"If a man die,

He will live again."

Well, they crucified Jesus

And they nailed him to the cross;

Sister Mary cried,

"My child is lost!"

CHORUS:

Well, long John,

He's long gone,

He's long gone. (Lomax, 1998, p. 19)3

It continues in this way for seven more verses. Each line is repeated by the full group,

hence the term call-and-response. In short, to help us put African music in a way that a

person raised in a Western European derived culture can understand, Chernoffs (1981)

suggestion is helpful: "if rhythmic complexity is the African alternative to harmonic

complexity, the repetition of responsive rhythms is the African alternative to the

development of a melodic line" (p. 55).

3. 2 African musical retentions in America

3. 2. 1 Uses of music.

One of the most interesting African retentions in slave songs is the use of music to

criticize or correct anti-social behavior. Chernoff (1981) relates how "African song

lyrics . . . are especially concerned with moral and ethical questions and attack pride

and pretension in whatever form these unsociable qualities appear" (p. 70). In some

African cultures the criticism is so subtle that an untrained ear would be completely

unaware what was happening save for the reactions of the participants, which means the

musicians, dancers, and audience. Africans tend to talk around a subject, preferring an

indirect statement to a direct one:

In language, the African tradition aims at circumlocution rather than at exact

definition. The direct statement is considered crude and unimaginative; the

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veiling of all contents in ever-changing paraphrases is considered the criterion of

intelligence and personality. (Borneman as cited in McClary, 2000, p. 35)

Keeping this in mind, then, it's possible to understand how a subtle insult would have

greater value in an African community than a direct insult.

An example of a subtle insult is cited in Thomas A. Hale's (1998) study of griots —

the West African bards, oral historians, and praise singers who many accept as the

archetype of blues singers. The example shows the power a griot has to insult when

he has knowledge of genealogies (Hale, p. 22). In the example one of the important

people has arrived late, and the griot sings, -the Dumbaya have not been forgotten. The

princes of Horodugu have been put with the Keita.' [. . .1 Those who are not Malinke

may not know it; in the circumstances this was a deliberate insult, enough to make your

eyeballs explode with rage" (as cited in Hale, p. 22). This example shows the difference

between in-group understanding of an insult and those outside having absolutely no idea

of the insult.

Griots have other ways of changing or challenging the behavior of those they sing for.

They also give advice to leaders; for example, "Advice for a ruler may be presented in

the context not simply of what is good for a prince but also, in a broader sense, of what

society expects from their leader" (Hale, 1998, p. 29). Griots can also be subversive;

for example, Hale quotes a song by Mazo da Alalo, who served "the Sultan of Zinder,

the second largest city in Niger, . . . as his diplomat and spy for relations with a newly

arrived French administrator for the region, Jean Boudot" (p. 32). One of his songs is

the following:

He came to see if the people were working

And he beat those who were not. For Bodo

Everything was work . . . .

Even the marabouts and the roosters

who wake them for the prayer call went

to work. (as cited in Hale, p. 33)

Of course, because it was sung in a local language rather than French, Boudot, the

subject of the song, could not understand the words. This example also demonstrates

some of the various roles of griots: in this case, spy and diplomat.

Similar uses of music have also been noted regarding slave songs in the United

States. John W. Blassingame (1979) discusses this aspect of music in his book The Slave

Community: "Nicholas Cresswell declared in 1774 that in the songs of slaves of Maryland,

`they generally relate the usage they have received from their Masters and Mistresses

in a very satirical stile and manner- (as cited in Blassingame, p. 115). Blassingame goes

on to state that "On a number of occasions the slaves sang sarcastically of the actions of

their masters. The Reverend John Long wrote that Maryland slaves sometimes sang:

William Rino sold Henry Silvers;

Hilo! Hilo!

Sold him to de Gorgy trader;

Hilo! Hilo!

His wife she cried, and children bawled,

Hilo! Hilo!

Sold him to de Gorgy trader;

Hilo! Hilo!" (Blassingame, p. 116).

Reading this song rather than listening to it, however, one cannot hear the sarcasm. It

strikes one as "more a lament than sarcastic" (Bayer, 2003, p. 104). Unlike griots, slaves

were severely oppressed; therefore, their criticisms, rebelliousness, and resistance often

had to be covert. Could the similarity in the functions of music in West Africa and on

the plantations of the American south be merely coincidental, or is it the continuation of

a tradition brought to the New World by slaves? To answer this question, it is necessary

to look at slave origins.

3. 2. 2 Slave origins.

The issue of slave origins and points of disembarkation is strewn with obstacles; for

example, although the point of embarkation for a slave may have been the Gambia,

where he or she originated may not have been recorded. Oliver (2001) looks at this

issue when discussing Mungo Park's observations of slaves in his Travels in Africa.

Oliver states, "From his [Park's] descriptions of their movements it is evident that some

had travelled 600 or 700 miles in fetters" (p. 81). However, there is evidence that slave

owners in the United States had preferences for slaves of certain regions; therefore, they

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must have been somewhat aware of certain ethnic characteristics.

Blues scholars have concentrated on the Senegambia region as a source for blues

culture; however, is there evidence to support this? James A. Rawley (1981) in The

Transatlantic Slave Trade: A History shows that West Africa, especially Senegambia,

was one of the oldest slave trading areas for Europeans. Prince Henry of Portugal, "From

1415 to his death in 1460 . . . was the major figure in the inauguration of the Atlantic

slave trade" (p. 22). Rawley attests that " "By the time of Prince Henry's death, his

captains had explored the mouths of the Senegal and Gambia rivers . . ." (p. 22). The

people of the Senegambia were instrumental in the sugar plantations of the Portuguese

because they "were accustomed to performing skilled tasks" (p. 28). They "were often

assigned skilled jobs such as sugar master, blacksmith, and kettleman . . ." (p. 28). And

there is a connection between artisans such as blacksmiths and musicians. Hale (1998)

confirms "griots are part of a larger group of artisans who hold a professional monopoly

on the working of certain materials — for example, blacksmiths and metal" (p. 17).

The French crown had an interest in Senegambia. They "awarded a monopoly on the

trade between the rivers Senegal and the Gambia to a private company — the Company

of Senegal" (Rawley, 1981, p. 107). Another French company — the Company of the

Indies — established "a slave society in Louisiana . . . . [They] turned to Africa for

workers, obtaining slaves in Angola, Whydah, Goree, and above all in Senegal" (Rawley,

p. 115). In the early years of the slave trade, the French "drew disproportionately

from Senegambia and its hinterland" (p. 130). The English eventually took control of

the Gambia, drawing "the bulk of her slaves from West Africa; and along that extended

littoral she had two excellent stations, in the Gambia and on the Gold Coast" (p. 150).

Slave purchasers in the American colonies "strongly shaped the ethnic composition of

a colony. South Carolina from 1733 to 1807 secured about one-fifth of their slaves from

Senegambia . ." (p. 335).

Coolen (1991) reinforces the idea of the importance of the Senegambia as a source of

American slaves when he states that "the people of the Senegambia comprised a major

component of the slave trade to North America" (p. 2). Georgian slave buyers also

had a preference for Senegambians; they "account for fifty-three percent of the slaves

brought into Georgia between 1765 and 1775" (p. 4). In short, significant numbers of

Senegambians were brought to Louisiana, South Carolina, and Georgia. There can be

no doubt that among these slaves from the Senegambia were the professional musicians

referred to in general as griots.

3. 2. 3 Griots and griottes.

Griots and there female equivalents, griottes, are not merely entertainers, although it

is one of their many functions. Hale (1998) refers to them as wordsmiths, emphasizing

their mastery of words rather than their mastery of music: "the primary function of

griots is verbal art. Music is a closely related but secondary activity, hence the validity

of the term wordsmith" (p. 17). The term also reinforces their membership in the caste

of artisans, which includes blacksmiths. These wordsmiths or songsters have virtually

a monopoly on music making in the savannah region of West Africa. As Oliver (2001)

asserts, "In the African countries where Islam has had a powerful influence and where

chiefs exert considerable authority, much of the music making is the province of the

griots" (p. 52). The role of griot is hereditary; they "are the sons and nephews of older

griots," from whom they have learned their craft (p. 53).

Oliver (2001) suggests "Many griots were slaves at one time and some, technically,

still are" (p. 53). Although he does not offer much in the way of support for this

assertion, like slaves, griots are treated differently from others in the community. A

frequently cited example is the denial of proper burial rights. There is a theory that this

came about from "a fear of polluting the soil by bodies that possess some sort of occult

power" (Hale, 1998, p. 194). In his discussion of their origins, Hale attests that "some

seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century travelers from Europe assumed that griots

were a species of sorcerer," a kind of medicine man (p. 73).

Coolen (1991) identifies griots as part of the second class of those of freeborn status in

Wolof society, and, therefore, not of the slave class (pp. 6-7). There are two categories

of musicians in this class of Wolof culture, called sablek and bawlek in Wolof:

sablek comes from the word sab meaning "to sing or shout." The members of this

group (the "sing to eat" people) make their living through music. [. . .1 bawlek,

from the words "to read the Koran in order to eat," involves all who devote

themselves to the multi-faceted arts of 'buffoonery' and includes those who are

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known as gewel, from the word meaning "to come together for a meeting." The

duties of bawlek are varied and may be similar to those of the Afro-American

musicians known as 'songsters' in Texas and elsewhere. (Coolen, 1991, p. 7)

According to Hale (1998), the Wolof word gewel is equivalent to the word griot: "In

this language, spoken in Senegal and The Gambia, the griot is called gewel . . ." (p. 10).

Scholars often make no distinction between these two groups of musicians, referring

to them both by the word griot. Hale, however, makes a distinction between griots

and marabouts. A marabout is "a personal spiritual leader in the Islam as practiced in

West Africa. The marabout is a often a scholar of the Qur'an and many make amulets

for good luck, preside at various ceremonies, and in some cases actively guide the life

of the follower" ("Marabout"). Quoting Rene Caillie, Hale shows how marabouts have

an antipathetic attitude toward griots: "Often they [griots] give gifts to the marabouts

to obtain their friendship. The marabouts accept the gifts but still despise them" (as

cited in Hale, p. 101). Griots perform such a variety of functions that it is difficult to

precisely pinpoint their role in society. There is, of course, cultural variation between

the ethnicities that share West Africa. There is variation in the instruments they play

as well.

3. 2. 4 Instruments.

The type of instrument a musician plays depends both on the type of musician and his

or her ethnicity. The instrument most often associated with griots by outsiders is the

kora: a 21-string harp-like instrument "made out of a large, dried gourd shell — a

calabash" (Charters, 1982, p. 15). The kora is played exclusively by men (Hale, 1998,

pp. 162-164). However, griots of different cultures play different instruments; for

example, "Songhay griots do not play the kora" (Hale, p. 12). Wolof griots play the

xalam and the tama. According to Coolen (1991), there are two subgroups of the sablek

category of Wolof musicians mentioned earlier: "tamakat are drummers" and xalamkat

play the four- or five-string guitar-like instrument called the xalam, which is a strong

candidate as a prototype for the American folk banjo" (p. 7).5 Charters (1982) does not

distinguish greatly between griots who play the kora and those who play the balafon —

a kind of xylophone or marimba, those who play the xalam, and those who play the riti

— a single stringed fiddle , and those who play percussion instruments, except in the

sophistication of their music (p. 63).6 The use of certain instruments such as the banjo ,

the fiddle, and the tambourine by slaves demonstrates the retention of certain African

instruments in slave music. These instruments were used in early blues as well . One

can still hear black banjo songsters in the south. Traditional African American banjo

playing can be heard on Black Banjo Songsters produced by Folkways Records.?

The evolution of the banjo has inspired of a lot of interesting research and speculation .

Its construction, the style in which it is played, and the sounds produced all show a

remarkable similarity to the xalam of West Africa. Another name for the xalam is the

bania, "which probably gave its name to the banjo" (Oliver, 2001, p . 130). It is made out

of either a calabash or a hollowed out piece of wood for the sound box:

A piece of cowskin is stretched over and nailed to the back of the resonator,

either by nails covered with decorated studs or by small wooden pegs. The

cylindrical fretless wooden neck . . . pierces the skin sound table at one end and

emerges three-quarters of the way towards the other end, acting as a tail piece

for the strings. The five strings, nowadays made from two twisted strings of

nylon but formerly of horsehair, are tied at the upper end to tuning rings . . . made

from narrow strips of goat skin wound around the neck. The lower ends of the

strings pass over a detachable bridge . . . of calabash fitted on the emerging end

of the neck, and are tied to anchor threads which are secured by winding them

tightly around the tailpiece. Of the five strings, only two are stopped with the left

hand in first position though all five are used to play the melody. (Duran as cited

in Hale, 1998, p. 149-150)

There are also four string varieties (Coolen, 1983, p. 480). Like the banjo, the xalam has

drone stings and melody strings. It has "only two melody strings, with two or three

other strings that are fixed in pitch and are used as drones, as well as being integrated

into the main melody at appropriate times . ." (Coolen, 1991, p. 14).

Slaves were also known to have played the fiddle, the tambourine, and the fife and

drum. One can still hear fife and drum music in Mississippi, which some consider a

source for the blues.8 Nketia asserts that "many African societies make use of a limited

number of aerophones (wind instruments)" (p. 92). In his discussion of flutes, he says

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they "are combined in ensemble with drums, with voices, or with both, and with lyre,

drums, and rattles" (p. 94). Clearly there are antecedents for the fife and drum in

Africa. According to Oliver (2001), "the banjo figures much less frequently than the

fiddle" in first-hand reports from the slavery era (p. 31). In a review of advertisements

for slaves who escaped or were for sale, "A random dozen of these notices from 1810 to

1820 show that most played violin, but the tambourine, fife and drums are also

mentioned" (Oliver, p. 31).

One conclusion that can be made is that slaves experienced a certain amount of

acculturation. This maybe a reason for the use of the fiddle by slaves; however, bowed

string instruments are also found in West Africa. One example is the riti — a single-

stringed instrument played with a horse-hair bow, which is often played alongside a

calabash gourd played by a musician with "broad silver rings on his fingers," providing a

rhythmic accompaniment for the riti (Charters, 1982, p. 63).9 Charters draws a

connection between this instrument and the washboard: "The way of playing it was

again something that I'd seen in the United States. It was the kind of rattling, rubbing

technique that was widely used on the novelty instrument, the wash board" (p. 63). It is

also an antecedent for the use of the tambourine to accompany the fiddle.

Oliver (2001) reinforces the use of both the banjo and the fiddle by slaves when he

asserts "That the banjo and the fiddle were the instruments of the plantation seems

undeniable . . ." (p. 124). Blues scholars, as mentioned by Hale (1998), have linked the

tuning of the xalam with the banjo. He states that like the banjo "the topmost string is

actually the third highest in pitch" (p. 169). Along with this relationship, the balafon, "In some countries, such as Burkina Faso and COte d'Ivoire . . . is pentatonic," thereby

linking the tuning to the most commonly used blues scale (Hale, p. 169).

Another African retention in the blues is the style of singing in a high register, with

the melody often falling toward the end of phrases. Hale (1998) summarizes a comment

by Roderic Knight, that "men sing at the top of their register . . . which is also a

notable feature of country blues singers such as Son House (2003) and Robert Johnson

(2003) (as cited in Hale, p. 165).1°

3. 2. 5 Musical structure.

Coolen (1991) has identified a musical structure called the fodet which is "The basic

musical structure employed in playing the xalam . . ." (p. 11). He describes the fodet as "

a recurring musical phrase — in some ways a musical template — of a fixed number

of between six and twenty-four beats, consisting of specific melodic, rhythmic, and even

harmonic characteristics" (p. 11). Coolen makes a compelling argument for fodeti being

an archetypal pattern for the blues. The use of repetition of the text, for example , "finds

a common parallel in Afro-American music practice" (p. 12). As in the blues, in fodeti

"There is always a primary tonal center — a tonic called the danne . . ." (p. 11). Also

like the blues, "Most fodeti . . . contain at least one phrase that uses a secondary tonal

center" and sometimes two (p. 11). Example 1 shows a fodeti with a primary tonal

center and two secondary tonal centers (Coolen, p. 11).

Example]: Faleti Alfa Yaya

3

4

Source: Michael T. Coolen. (1991). Senegambian influences on Afro-American

musical culture. Black Music Research Journal 11 (1) ,1 - 18.

In a typical 12 bar blues the tonal centers are usually the tonic, subdominant, and

dominant, or the I, IV, and V chords of the key. This is strong evidence demonstrating

an archetypal pattern for the blues in West African music.

3. 2. 6 Magic and the occult.

Another retention worth mentioning at this point is the association of magic or the

occult with African music. In African culture it is referred to as "medicine" which

recalls the medicine men of Native American societies. The Dagomba word is "juju,"

which has loaned its name to a style of popular West African music. When Chernoff

(1981) was studying Dagomba drumming, his instructor suggested to him to get a juju

to overcome a wrist problem: "It's medicine and it comes from juju. If you want to play,

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you put it on your arm and everything will be all right" (Ibrahim Abdulai as cited in

Chernoff, p. 17). Juju also refers to the rituals which Chernoff underwent to become a

student of a drum master (pp. 11-19). The equivalent in blues culture is "mojo."

There is an explanation of "mojo" by Robert Palmer (1982) in his book Deep Blues: "Th

ey were little red flannel bags that smelled of oils and perfumes; some were pierced

by a needle or two. You bought them from a 'doctor,' a specialist in charms and magic"

(pp. 95-96). Compare this to Chernoffs (1981) discussion of the making of the juju: "H

e told me the name of the juju and told me to make charcoal from the remains of the

plants, sprinkle some of it on the juju, and use the rest to cook the chicken" (p. 18). It

was then used to make an amulet, which he wears on his arm. It is probable that slaves

brought juju to North America and the Caribbean. In an endnote in his book Chernoff

relates the following anecdote from his time in Haiti: "The same thing, incidentally,

happened in Haiti in Voodoo ceremonies, after I was blessed by M. Joseph Thelus, priest.

People there looked at an amulet on my arm and nodded" (p. 190).

Although juju, mojo, and voodoo are not incompatible with religion — Chernoff (1981)

asked the Muslim man who made his juju, " 'Won't it trouble God?', He looked at me in

amazement and said, 'Trouble God?' (p. 17) — there is a connection, as with blues

musicians, between griots and the occult. Blues has long been known as the devil's

music.11 Palmer suggests "the whole idea of the blues as the devil's music seems to have

been an old story in black folklore in the south probably older than blues, actually"

(Bluesland). As was mentioned earlier, griots traditionally were not permitted a proper

burial because of a connection with the occult.

Hale (1998) lists a "pattern of traits" connected with the origin of griots and their

connection with religion, which may be an antecedent to the demonic associations with

the blues:

frequent contact with blood, bleeding flesh, and the bloody soiling of things;

violations of taboos (murders, especially within a family, transporting of bodies),

followed by magical results; characterization of ancestors of griots under a veneer

of conformity to Islam, as adversaries of God, the Islamic religion, and the Prophet;

nonviolence and the role of arbiter in disputes; ritual "pillage" in the form of

collecting gifts that cannot be refused. (pp. 66-67)

Taboos connected with blood and death are not uncommon in various cultures

throughout the world.'2 The connection of griots with sorcery mentioned earlier could

have come from the various roles griots performed in their communities . The novel,

Roots, gives a fictional (or factional, as Alex Haley (1991) referred to "the fictional and

factual blend" of Roots) portrait of the importance of griots to their communities (Hale ,

1998, p. 2) :

Hanging on a branch of the baobab, beside the jaliba, was a goatskin inscribed

with the marks that talk, written there in Arabic by the arafang. In the flickering

firelight, Kunta watched as the jaliba began to beat the knobby elbows of his

crooked sticks very rapidly and sharply against different spots on the drumhead .

It was an urgent message for the nearest magic man to come to Juffure and drive

out evil spirits. (Haley, 1991, p. 22) 13

4. Conclusion

In slave communities, as well, musicians or songsters had many functions. Music was

used for secret meetings, religious ceremonies, work, and to satirize: "Negroes sang their

wares on market days, at festivities held on holidays, such as Christmas and Easter, and

at funerals. The successful production of American crops was the occasion of great

celebration like the making of African crops" (Fisher, 1990, pp. 138-139). Above all,

music was for them a relief from oppression. Blassingame (1979) attests to this function

of music when he states that "slaves' solace came from singing" (p. 126).

There is a great deal of African culture present in African American culture. Fisher

(1990) attests to this in his study of slave songs; for example, he writes: "American

Negroes continued their African traditions"; their "secret meetings were an African

heritage" (p. 76). The elements, which can be seen in early blues, include the

importance of rhythm, some of the instruments brought from Africa by slaves, the high

vocal timbres used, the arrangement of a solo singer with accompaniment, the occult

elements, and the use of music to resist oppression, to criticize, to insult, and to parody.

Because "Music was central to African culture," it stands to reason that this aspect of

their native culture would have been brought to North America (Blassingame, 1979, p.

22).

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Compelling questions for further research at this stage are how slave songs evolved

into and influenced the blues, and how much influence European musical traditions had

on the blues. Other questions worthy of further investigation are whether evidence

can be found that blues singers also used music as a covert form of resistance, what the

connection is between blues and evil, and how evil in blues has been passed down and is

manifest in subsequent forms of popular music.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

Notes

Guem, "Caresse," Danse — Percussions (Le Chant du Monde, 1993). For this and other

songs mentioned in the text or notes see the Appendix at the end of the paper.

An example of drumming from Rwanda such as "Ruanda: The Watutsi - State Occasion"

on African And Afro-American Drums, shows this relationship.

An example of a different version of this song can be found on the CD Afro-American

spirituals, work songs, and ballads performed by Lightning & Group.

An example of a kora can be found on "Bi Lamban" by Toumani Diabate with Ballake

Sissoko on the CD New Ancient Strings.

An example of a xalam can be heard on "DyanDjon" performed by the Kouyate Sory

Kandia. The same instrument is called ngoni by the Mandingo. The song, "Tara," on

Roots of Black Music in America (Disc 2) is an example of two xalam playing together.

An example of the balafon with xalam and kora can be found on Toumani Diabate's song

"Mankoman Djan" on Djelika. An example of the balafon accompanying singing can be

found on "Balafon" on Roots of Black Music in America (Disc 2).

To compare the sound of xalam to that of the fretless banjo listen to "Coo Coo" by John

Snipes on the CD Black Banjo Songsters of North Carolina & Virginia. For comparison,

the song "Shortnin' Bread" by "Big Sweet" Lewis Hairston on the same CD is an example

of the modern banjo.

For an example of fife and drum music, listen to Othar Turner & The Rising Star Fife &

Drum Band "Shortnin' / Henduck." on Martin Scorsese Presents: The Blues (Disc 1).

For an example of a similar instrument to the one-string riti called the Ethiopian masanka

listen to "Ethiopian Masanka." on African Musical Instruments.

For an example of a griot, listen to Kouyate Sori Kandia.

See Giles Oakley, The Devil's Music: A History of the Blues 2nd ed. (New York: Da Capo

Press, 1997).

12 The burakumin in Japan are discriminated against because of their historical association

with killing animals.

13 Jaliba is either a Maninka or a Mandinka word for a griot. Hale (1998) lists several words

in different languages for griots. In Maninka one word is jeliba (p. 213); in Mandinka

there are variations on jali such as "jalimuso for women and jali ke for men" (p. 10).

References

Bayer, K. (2003). Slave songs: A covert form of resistance during the slavery era in the United

States. Journal of Poole Gakuin University, 43, 99-112.

Blassingame, J. W. (1979). The slave community: Plantation life in the antebellum south.

Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Charters, S. (Ed.). (1972). Balafon. On Roots of black music in America (disc 2) [CD].

Washington, DC: Folkways.

Charters, S. (Ed.). (1972). Tara. On Roots of black music in America (disc 2) [CD].

Washington, DC: Folkways.

Charters, S. (1982). The Roots of the blues: An African search. London: Quartet Books Limited.

Chernoff, J. M. (1981). African rhythm and African sensibility: Aesthetics and social action in

African musical idioms. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Original work published

1979)

Coolen, M. T. (1983). The Wolof xalam tradition of the Senegambia. Ethnomusicology 27 (3),

477-498.

Coolen, M. T. (1991). Senegambian influences on Afro-American musical culture. Black Music

Research Journal 11 (1),1 - 18.

Fisher, M. M. (1990). Negro slave songs in the United States. New York: Carol Publishing

Group. (Original work published 1953)

Guem. (1993). Caresse. Danse Percussions [CD]. France: Le Chant du Monde.

Hale, T. A. (1998). Griots and griottes: Masters of words and music. Bloomington, Indiana:

Indiana University Press.

Haley, A. (1991). Roots. London: Vintage. (Original work published 1977)

Johnson, R. (2003). Cross road blues. Martin Scorsese presents the blues: A musical journey

(Disc 2) [CD]. New York: Hip-0 Records. (Original recording 27 Nov. 1936)

Lomax, A. (Ed.) (1998). Afro-American spirituals, works songs, and ballads [CD Liner notes).

Burlington, MA: Rounder.

Mandel, K. (Director). (2002). Bluesland: A portrait in American music [DVD].

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[Documentary]. [With Keith David, Albert Murray, & Robert Palmer). United States:

BMG.

Marabout. (2002). Fact index. Retrieved October 8, 2004, from http://www.fact- index.com/.

McClary, S. (2000). Conventional wisdom: The content of musical form. Berkeley, CA:

University of California Press.

Nketia, J. H. K. (1974). The music of Africa. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

Oliver, P. (2001). Savannah syncopators. In Oliver, P., Russel, T., Dixon, R. M. W., & Godrich, J.

Yonder come the blues: The evolution of a genre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

(Original work published 1970)

Palmer, R. (1982). Deep blues. New York: Penguin Books. (Original work published 1981)

Rawley, J. A. (1981). The transatlantic slave trade: A history. New York: W. W. Norton &

Company.

Son House. (2003). Preachin' the blues. Martin Scorsese presents the blues: A musical journey

(Disc 1) [CD] . New York: Hip-0 Records. (Original recording 18 May 1930)

Appendix

Song List

It's ideal to be able to listen to the pieces mentioned while reading this paper. To that end

I would have liked to have had a CD accompany this paper; however, that was impossible in

this format, and getting permission for each of these recordings would have been prohibitively

expensive and time consuming. Therefore, I've provided this song list so, if you're so inclined,

you can seek out the recordings for yourself. Some of them are rare recordings from

Folkways; others are widely available.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

"Caresse." (5:17) Guem, Danse - Percussions (France: Le Chant du Monde)

"Rwanda: The Watutsi - State Occasion." (4:39) African And Afro-American drums

(Washington, DC: Folkways) "L

ong John." (5:25) Lightning & Group, Afro-American spirituals, work songs, and ballads

(Burlington, MA: Rounder) "Bi L

amban." (4:59) Toumani Diabate with Ballake Sissoko, New ancient strings /

Nouvelles cordes anciennes (New York: Rykodisc) "D

yanDjon." (8:55) Kouyate Sory Kandia, L'Epopee du Mandingue (France: Africando) "Tara." (2:20) Roots of black music in America (Disc 2) (Washington, DC: Folkways) "Coo Coo." (1:15) John Snipes, Black banjo songsters of North Carolina & Virginia

(Washington, DC: Folkways)

8. "Shortnin' Bread." (1:58) "Big Sweet" Lewis Hairston, Black banjo songsters of North

Carolina & Virginia (Washington, DC: Folkways)

9. "Ethiopian Masanka." (1:11) African musical instruments (Washington, DC: Folkways)

10. "Old Corn Liquor." (1:10) Joe Thompson & Odel Thompson, Black banjo songsters of

North Carolina & Virginia (Washington, DC: Folkways)

11. "Mankoman Dian." (5:21) Toumani Diabate, Djelika (New York: Rykodisc)

12. "Balafon." (2:04) Roots of black music in America (Disc 2) (Washington, DC: Folkways)

13. "Shortnin' / Henduck." (2:52) Othar Turner & The Rising Star Fife & Drum Band, Martin

Scorsese presents: The blues (Disc 1) (New York: Hip-0 Records)

14. "Preachin' The Blues." (3:02) Son House, Martin Scorsese presents: The blues (Disc 1)

(New York: Hip-0 Records)

15. "Cross Road Blues." (2:40) Robert Johnson, Martin Scorsese presents: The blues (Disc 2)

(New York: Hip-0 Records)

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