Mel Bay's Creative Keyboard® Webzine | Misha Stefanuk - Jazz as an African Derived Music Genre

Jazz as an African Derived Music Genre

Musicological, Historical and Sociological Perspectives of Developing of Jazz as an African Derived Music Genre Developed Outside of Africa

Introduction. Transculturation as a Way of Developing Musical Forms. Definition of Terms

Transculturation is the main engine behind the development of contemporary cultural reality in our society and the world in general. The development of cultural diversity can be traced throughout human history, from the effects of Babylonian culture on Roman civilization to Ukrainian influences on the culture of modern Israel. The purpose of this document is to identify, analyze and ascertain the multiplicity of musicological, historical and sociological effects that African music had on forming and developing American jazz. It is a common opinion that jazz itself is a representation of a unique multicultural philosophical model. This model could be useful in other areas of social activities. Tracing jazz's roots to African music is easily explained by its historical development among African American population. Other proof of the connection between jazz and African music is the music itself. Certain musical elements are clearly different from European models and agreeably unique to African music.

The term enculturation itself is closely connected with African music. Gerhard Kubik states: "The extremely diversified languages within Africa are as much the result of long-term separation of local communities during the continent's remote history as it is of borrowing and processes of transculturation triggered by trade contact, migration and economic symbiosis. These formative factors have shaped the continent's expressive forms in music, dance, art, games, theatre, and oral and written literature." Merging and converging of cultures was earlier described in musicology as acculturation, and the term "enculturation" was established in the 1990's. Acculturation referred to "culture change in conditions of direct contact between people of different cultures. It does not imply assimilation in the sense of loss of culture, and it can be directly observed and reconstructed ethnographically, unlike diffusion, a historical process inferred speculatively from the distribution of cultural traits." The term was very instrumental in defining the "colonial encounter between the dominant cultures of Europe and Euro-America and the American and African natives anthropologists intended to study." This paper will examine the development of jazz as an African-rooted art form, developed outside of Africa. The analysis will be done from musicological, historical, and sociological perspectives.

Historical Development of New Orleans Jazz

Jazz is a symbiotic art form, which until recently was believed to be a combination of European melodic and harmonic technology and African rhythm. Aside from being overly simplistic, this statement does not explain the fact that jazz did not start in places like Bahamas or Georgia, where both cultures were also present. This fact however can be easily explained by analyzing the specific combination of Creole culture and sociological environment that existed in New Orleans at the beginning of the twentieth century. French culture supplied the correct balance of culture and openness to other cultures that resulted in creation of jazz, which has been called the most original American art form.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, New Orleans was one of the most important economical centers of the United States, due to the active port, which far exceeded New York at the time. As a result, the level of the racial diversity in New Orleans was unusually high for the United States and especially for the South. The fast forming mix of cultures and peoples resulted in a much more open society than any other place in the United States. Originally established as a French colony, New Orleans went through ruling by the British and then Spanish, which also resulted in different ideas of government leading the population in a relatively short time.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, New Orleans was the most racially diverse city in the Unites States. It also was the most advanced in terms of confronting the racial discrimination issue. Not only did African Americans have more rights in New Orleans than anywhere else, some of them even owed property, which was unheard of anywhere else in America at the time. The growing population of Creoles created a new group of people, people who did not consider themselves African American, and wanted to have similar rights with whites. For example, Jelly Roll Morton who was the son of a Haitian and a Creole, considered himself to be all French. (Crawford 2001)

Homer Adolph Plessy went to the courts to obtain rights similar to those enjoyed by whites, pleading that he was seven eighths white. Although he lost the lawsuit, his incident resulted in the passing of Legislative Code 111, which considered Creoles the same as African Americans. The surprising result of this document was the following unification of Creole and African American population and even more cultural exchange between them.

The cultural stage in New Orleans in 1850 was set for the emergence of a new symbiotic culture. The city featured three opera houses, two symphonic orchestras (white and Creole,) a variety of French tradition brass bands playing everything from funerals to fish fries, string trios (Guitar, mandolin and bass,) and all forms of church orchestras made of any musicians who were available to congregations. Many jazz musicians such as Kid Ory, Buddy Bolden and Joe "King" Oliver attended church mostly to study music. Humphrey's Onward Band of New Orleans and the Excelsior Brass Band played scottisches, waltzes and popular songs. Every Sunday from thirty-five to forty-five different bands performed on Lake Pontchartrain. Congo Square housed slave dances. It is important to mention that the African American and Creole populations of New Orleans were exposed to all kinds of music, including classical and opera. Most of the theaters in New Orleans had special balconies for Creoles. Even slaves could attend performances if they had their master's permission. The global cultural exchange that happened in the city created a psychological and sociological need for developing a new musical language, one that would be equally native to all members of New Orleans society.

<< Home