Folk Music Reflection
Folk music in African American culture dates back to the enslavement of our ancestors during the Transatlantic slave trade. When forced to abandon their cultural practices and embrace the Western way of living through Christianity, they kept their African traditions alive through word of mouth. This included spirituals, in which enslaved Africans sang to express frustration and empower, and the use of griots, West African storytellers who use poetry and music convention to tell stories of the past. Post-emancipation, folk music remained an integral part of the Civil Rights Movement with artists such as Odetta, whose style of “gospel-funk” resonated with the fighting spirits of African Americans as they combated racial segregation and discrimination nationwide.
The djembe drum dates back to the Mali Empire in 1230 AD. The three basic techniques of the drum, base, tone, and slap, produce low, medium, and high pitches, respectively, based on the striking technique. The banjo, derived from African string instruments dating back to the 1600’s, was created from split gourds and animal hide stretched over them. The strings would be made from either gut or vegetable fibers attached to a wooden neck. Similar to the banjo, the kora uses a half of a gourd, then is covered in cow skin with a long, wooden neck to support the strings. The instrument has 21 strings, making it difficult to classify it in one instrumental group, but is most commonly compared to a double harp. The earliest believed mention of the kora dates back to 14th century Mali which describes harp-like instruments in the written language of the time. Bones, or rhythm bones, created out of long animal bones produce sharp sounds that mimic the sound of rattling bones.
Amythyst Kiah (born 1986) (pictured above)
Valerie June (born 1982)
Rhiannon Giddens (born 1977)
Allison Russell
