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Music In Common

Olaudah Equiano, a.k.a. Gustavus Vasa, noted that music, singing, and dancing were inexorably intertwined in West African society, a legacy bequeathed to America when West Africans were brutally uprooted from their homelands and transported as slave labor across the Atlantic. Although the cultures of West Africa were sufficiently diverse and musical practices differed from nation to nation, they did have enough in common to create an identifiable heritage for Africans in the New World. From a number of sources, historians have learned how music played an integral role in everyday life, how a variety of practices emerged, and even what musical instruments were used. Integrating dance, syncopation, and dramatic elements, this musical heritage was transported to America and adapted and changed by American slaves until distinct and separate musical forms emerged. One of these forms became better known as the blues.

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