"African American musical tradition, characterized by riffs, poly-rhythms, and call-and-response structure, has influenced all American music, including that of Appalachia. In contrast to the conservative continuity of European musical traditions (particularly old-world balladry) in the region, the African American aesthetic within Appalachia has accentuated improvisation, encouraging musical and verbal dexterity and variation. Historically, African culture considered both sacred and secular music as fundamental to spiritual expression and everyday life. Two major African musical traditions arrived early in America: group singing and drumming came from tropical rain forests of West Africa, and the instrumental tradition of the griots (storytellers of Africa who reminded fellow villagers of their history and traditions) emerged from the savannah grasslands. Africans in America had to negotiate among themselves many African dialects and languages as well as learn English. Living in shanties, these various peoples began to exchange repertoires. Accustomed to the mouth bow and bowed harp in Africa, these newcomers adopted the fiddle and entertained both themselves and whites, playing their own melodies as well as European tunes. The bluesy fiddle style that black fiddlers created still persists in Appalachia.
When collectors, almost all of whom were white, first traveled through the southeastern United States (including parts of Appalachia) to document African American music, they concentrated on vocal music, which was less challenging to transcribe than instrumental music. Collectors were most interested in black spirituals but also documented some African American field hollers and work songs, the latter featuring call-and-response improvisation.
No music has been more influential in the region than the singing, dancing, and music surrounding the banjo, still often considered an Appalachian icon. By 1740, enslaved musicians from West Africa had brought to the New World some percussion instruments as well as a plucked lute with a hide-covered gourd sound chamber and several strings, including the short, thumb drone. Blacks were playing this banjar for white frontiersmen in Appalachia by 1800. Interaction between African American banjar players and white musicians resulted in the invention of the wooden-rim, five-string banjo, the genre of banjo songs, and blackface minstrelsy. Several twentieth-century banjo styles reflected African traditions, especially various clawhammer techniques.
African American music was transformed when, in the early years of the twentieth century, guitars became readily available and affordable via mail-order catalogs. Transferring stylistic elements from the banjo to this newly adopted instrument, black musicians performed the recently emerged genre known as the blues, initially as solo vocalists with their own guitar accompaniment and, in later years, in combination with other singers and instrumentalists. White musicians in Appalachia had been influenced by black music long before the introduction of recorded sound technology; several major country music stars from Appalachia, including Jimmie Rodgers, the Carter Family, and Hank Williams Sr., learned songs and stylistic technique from African American musicians. Other music genres associated with Appalachia—such as string-band music, bluegrass, and rock ’n’ roll—also reflect the influence of black music." Cecilia Conway http://www.encyclopediaofappalachia.com/entry.php?rec=3
When collectors, almost all of whom were white, first traveled through the southeastern United States (including parts of Appalachia) to document African American music, they concentrated on vocal music, which was less challenging to transcribe than instrumental music. Collectors were most interested in black spirituals but also documented some African American field hollers and work songs, the latter featuring call-and-response improvisation.
No music has been more influential in the region than the singing, dancing, and music surrounding the banjo, still often considered an Appalachian icon. By 1740, enslaved musicians from West Africa had brought to the New World some percussion instruments as well as a plucked lute with a hide-covered gourd sound chamber and several strings, including the short, thumb drone. Blacks were playing this banjar for white frontiersmen in Appalachia by 1800. Interaction between African American banjar players and white musicians resulted in the invention of the wooden-rim, five-string banjo, the genre of banjo songs, and blackface minstrelsy. Several twentieth-century banjo styles reflected African traditions, especially various clawhammer techniques.
African American music was transformed when, in the early years of the twentieth century, guitars became readily available and affordable via mail-order catalogs. Transferring stylistic elements from the banjo to this newly adopted instrument, black musicians performed the recently emerged genre known as the blues, initially as solo vocalists with their own guitar accompaniment and, in later years, in combination with other singers and instrumentalists. White musicians in Appalachia had been influenced by black music long before the introduction of recorded sound technology; several major country music stars from Appalachia, including Jimmie Rodgers, the Carter Family, and Hank Williams Sr., learned songs and stylistic technique from African American musicians. Other music genres associated with Appalachia—such as string-band music, bluegrass, and rock ’n’ roll—also reflect the influence of black music." Cecilia Conway http://www.encyclopediaofappalachia.com/entry.php?rec=3
This video, "From Affrica to Appalachia," highlights the relationship between the modern banjo and its African roots. The Virginia Folklife Program facilitated the meeting of Malian griot and n'goni player Cheick Hamala Diabate, banjoist Sammy Shelor, and multi-instrumentalist Danny Knicely. It features music from both American and Malian traditions as well as collaborations between the two. Diabate will at varying points switch between his n'goni and the banjo more easily showing their similarities as he brings a unique style not traditionally seen in American banjo playing. As banjoist Sammy Shelor says in the film, "The whole things fun from start to finish."
Ballad Singing
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While Appalachian Ballads are no doubt a descendant tradition from English and Celtic Ballads they displayed a uniqueness which was largely unexplained by traditional scholars. Cecil Sharp, an English collector of Ballads, described this uniqueness as a "vocal peculiarity," where singers had, "the habit of dwelling arbitrarily upon certain notes of the melody, generally the weakest accents," which "produces an effect of improvisation and freedom from rule which is very pleasing," (Hay 7-8). Sharp, who has been critiqued for ignoring racial diversity in the region in his ballad collections and descriptions of the region, had he not been so focused on the idea of an isolated White Appalachia might have recognized that this "vocal peculiarity" is common in blues, jazz, and gospel music as well as the music of West Africa (Hay 8).
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Bluegrass
Affrilachian musicians that performed and influenced Bluegrass music include Arnold Schultz (Hay 7), a fiddle and guitar player whose innovative thumb-picking style has influenced Bill Monroe, Chet Atkins, and Merle Travis. Additionally, musicians like J.C. "Jake" Staggers, a Black banjo player from Northwest Georgia, were regarded as some of the best pickers in the region - even if that acceptance was given begrudgingly by their White counterparts. The groundwork laid by these musicians in playing style and technique formed the building blocks of the style that would grow to become bluegrass.
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Rock And Roll
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Two influential brothers, Brownie and Sticks McGee, both natives of Knoxville are two prime examples of Affrilachian musicians creating music not considered traditionally "Appalachian," and therefore being left out of what is considered Appalachian culture. Sticks McGee became famous for recording the song "Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee," which became the first big seller for Atlantic Records and is considered by some to be the first "Beach Music" song (Hay 8). This song, later recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis, would lay the framework for a number of early rock and roll songs, tying America's most popular musical creation to the Appalachian Mountains.
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Hay, Fred J. "Black Musicians In Appalachia: An Introduction To Affrilachian Music." 23.1/2 (n.d.): 1-19. Web. 9 Apr. 2015.