Journey of Sound
by Ric Stewart
Journey of Sound
by Ric Stewart
Click here for Music Map
Afro-American Music Odyssey
Music binds us all, celebrates the best aspects of life
and has the power to transcend social and national barriers. African
and American combinations in music consistently yield sublime and durable
art forms: Bossa Nova, Reggae,
Chicago Blues, Soul. On this journey we
will look at points along a continuum of sound which developed as part
of a larger movement of peoples and travel of culture. This series of
articles focuses on cities, genres, and artists who work within this
ever expanding form of art.
The Blues is synonymous with the African music which travelled
to the Americas during centuries of slave trading and subsequent migration.
Much of this music developed in a particular part of West Africa often
referred to as the Sene-Gambia. The Blues idiom features the flatted
third and seventh notes of the scale and emphasizes the I, IV, and V
chords in composition. Similarly, call and response, a powerful and
unmistakable vocal and instrumental phrasing, thrives in all African-American
rooted music. These bluesy characteristics connect Jazz and Brazilian,
Rock and Reggae.
American to African Influence
 American recordings
have become widely available in Africa over the last 3 decades and the
travel of sound has come full circle with African artists such as Baaba
Maal, Ali Farka Toure, 
and Manu Dibango clearly playing in the currents of pop, blues and jazz.
Randy Weston: A Special Case of Blues
American pianist Randy Weston has revisited the birthplace of the blues,
researching the folk roots of the music by living and playing in Africa
for many years. His recent cd's have melded both the straight forward
raw elements of the blues with more sophisticated jazz arrangements.
Weston senses vitality in the rhythms of Africa, stating
"The music of no other civilization can rival that of Africa in the complexity
of and subtlety of its rhythms. All modern music-- jazz, gospel, Latin,
rock, bossa nova, calypso, samba, r & b, the blues, even music of the
avant-garde is in debt to African rhythms." These interrelationships can
be heard as a confluence of style, tradition, and artistic vision in this
song clip from Weston's Self Portraits where he consciously follows
the music of Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington with a heightened sense
of African folk forms. For example, check out this clip from "Ganawa
in Paris"
The Afro-American Music Odyssey is an interactive mixture
of sounds, images and words which will continue to grow.
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