Negro Spirituals In Folk Music
Negro spirituals are the folk songs created by enslaved Africans in North America between 1619 and 1860’s. Many African Americans started doing Negro spirituals so that they can praise the God in not only the white mans way but, enjoy it in their own way. While making a new way to praise God they made a new genre, folk. The new genre consists of call and response, rhythm, harmony, tone, and lyrics. Because negro spirituals are religious this type of folk music is not secular. Negro spirituals are based off of call and response lyrics wise. Call and response is form of interaction between two groups. One side calls and the other responds.
This video is a great example of a folk nnegro spiritual. Using call and response, rhythm, harmony, tone, and lyrics. Reverend F.W. McGee made the song linked above. It s called “Fifty Miles of Elbow Room”. In this song the piano is used to play chords and melodies. The trumpet is being used to keep harmony and melody as well. Reverend F.W. McGee was born October 5, 1890 and passed away April 8, 1971. He was born in Winchester, Tennessee but, was raised in Hillsboro, Texas. He settled down to to have three children and kept preached the word of God. Overall, Folk music is one of my favorite types of music. My favorite song is fast car by Tracy Chapman.
