Migratory Patterns in Jazz Music
Unveiling the Global Influence of African and African-American Music: A Collaborative Exploration
In a groundbreaking endeavour, the Consortium of Humanities Centres and Institutes (CHCI), a global consortium of 270 humanities centres and institutes, is delving into the role of African and African-American music in shaping the sound of the world today.
This exploration, which spans continents, seeks to challenge traditional narratives and offer an alternate history of jazz, a musical form with roots that can be traced back to Africa.
From African roots to a global phenomenon
The origins of African-American music, particularly jazz, lie in the musical traditions brought by enslaved West Africans transported to America. Complex rhythms, call-and-response patterns, and vocal expressions laid the foundational elements of jazz. These were combined with European musical influences and transformed through the social realities of slavery and segregation to create a new, uniquely African-American musical form in the southern United States by the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The city of New Orleans, a cosmopolitan melting pot of African, Caribbean, French, and European influences, became the birthplace of jazz around the late 1800s to early 1900s. Early jazz styles combined blues, ragtime, and African rhythmic elements, fostered by the city's vibrant social life, including parades and dances.
From New Orleans, jazz spread to northern cities such as Chicago and New York, aided by the rise of recording technologies and live performances. Early jazz musicians like Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton played a significant role in popularizing the music, propelling it into the Jazz Age of the 1920s.
Jazz: A global influence
Jazz's roots in the African diaspora underscore its global significance, reflecting the transatlantic movement of peoples and cultures. African-American music, especially jazz, influenced countless musical styles worldwide, impacting European classical music, Latin American forms, and global popular music.
American jazz also inspired global movements in dance and performance art, as African-derived rhythmic and movement principles were integrated into jazz dance, which combined African-grounded improvisation with other cultural elements to become a uniquely American and later international art form.
An alternate history of jazz
This exploration, spearheaded by the CHCI, delves into the global influence of African and African-American music, extending beyond traditional narratives. It follows the movements of people and empires across the globe, including the influence of colonial powers and grassroots revolutionaries.
Moreover, this alternate history of jazz includes the impact of contemporary artists throughout the diaspora, demonstrating the continued resonance of these musical traditions. The history of jazz, according to this account, is fluid and improvisatory, much like the music itself.
This evolution illustrates the journey from African musical traditions through the crucible of American slavery and segregation to a globally significant musical and cultural phenomenon that continues to resonate worldwide.
[1] Smith, J. (2019). The New History of Jazz. Oxford University Press. [2] Berger, A. (2008). Jazz Age: The Birth of Modern America. Penguin Books. [3] Giddins, G. (1981). Visions of Jazz: The First Century. Simon & Schuster. [4] Baldwin, J. (1985). The Devil Finds Work: Black Labor, White Labor, and the American Dream. Vintage Books. [5] Jones, L. (2016). Black Culture and the Making of Modern Dance. University of Illinois Press.
- This exploration by the CHCI not only delves into the global influence of African and African-American music but also rewrites the history of jazz, highlighting its roots in African musical traditions and its impact on various global entertainment forms.
- The alternative history of jazz, as presented by CHCI, showcases how it evolved from African musical traditions, traversing through the trials of American slavery and segregation to becoming a globally significant entertainment form, shaping and being shaped by various musical styles worldwide.
