There are, at the moment, more than a thousand music genres in the world. It is easier than ever to engage with different artists, all of whom take influence from different styles, sounds and beats, and to become exposed to songs we may not have heard of. But do we ever stop to question how these genres came to be?
A lot of the sounds of today stem, directly or indirectly, from the music genres originating in different parts of Africa, including the instruments used as well as certain vocal techniques (such as the call and response, a modern example of which can be heard at the end of ‘Nobody’ by Ariana Grande and Chaka Khan). For instance, Nigerian fuji and Ghanaian highlife combined to form the modern Afrobeat style. Musical traditions form a large part of the cultures of the communities, due to the storytelling nature of the songs, and the aural sharing with younger generations, as well as in religious rituals. The rich music scene of West Africa, characterised by percussion, rhythmic layers and complex harmonies was brought to America with enslaved people during the slave trade, and was kept alive through spirituals (religious folksongs), hymns and field chants.
When slavery was abolished in America in 1865, many former slaves found jobs as musicians. Soon, ragtime originated in New Orleans, one of the few places where enslaved people could own drums, and developed as musicians mixed and discovered other styles from around the world. One of the most famous ragtime artists of the time was Scott Joplin, who became famous after the publication of ‘Maple Leaf Rag’, and has since been dubbed the ‘King of Ragtime’. His piece heavily inspired his dedicated following, keeping the style alive until its rebirth in Jazz, which will be discussed later. Ragtime was seminal not only for popularising African American music among all levels of society, but also for influencing dance styles, resulting in the growth of dance orchestras in mainstream entertainment, which continued well into the 1920s. By the start of the 20th century, ragtime was widely listened to, played, and danced to by people of many different subcultures across North America and even Europe.
Although, North America was not the only region to adopt elements of traditional African music – Latin America benefitted from it, too. Music genres such as conga, rumba and salsa were also founded on the same foundations, often stemming from religious traditions originating in the Congo. With the joy and catchiness of the sounds of samba, it became and remained an integral part of Brazilian celebrations across the years.
Now, onto Jazz. As ragtime spread further, musicians began to experiment and add improvisations to the sound, which is how the genre was born. Incidentally, this was one of the main differences between ragtime and Jazz – ragtime was meant to be played as the composer intended; Jazz allowed and encouraged improvisation and freedom of expression. Many African languages rely on the way words are spoken, as well as the meaning of them, to convey messages – something not as important in European languages. These intonations were conveyed with the use of instruments and is something that can still be heard in Jazz music today. Another influence was the use of polyrhythm (the use of multiple rhythms of equal importance over each other). Jazz is incredibly diverse in its composition; it encompasses the traditional African tones, the ragtime rhythms, and the instruments, such as trumpets and trombones, commonly used in Europe, creating a multidimensional experience and booming in the 1920s, now known as the Jazz Age.
And it developed from there. Jazz influenced funk and arose alongside soul, which branched off into R&B and eventually Hip-Hop and Rap, which is what we commonly know today. We are lucky to be able to access a true variety of music, and I hope that we can appreciate the roots and beginnings of the beats and melodies that we now take for granted. We are indebted to the musicians who pushed through discrimination and continued developing their craft, contributing to the music scene of the 21st century.
I would like to end with a quote from a Ted Talk by Bill Sellanga, titled How African Music Influenced Pop: “In his book How Music Works, David Byrne says something that I found very interesting. He said, ‘we are all Africans’. And this is something I like, because for the longest time a lot of Africans have felt like our contribution to humanity hasn’t been valid. The influence of African music on pop culture is immense, but has been downplayed.”
