Sinful Tunes and Spirituals: BLACK FOLK MUSIC TO THE CIVIL WAR (Music in American Life)
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.41 (775 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0252071506 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 464 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-03-11 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
From the plaintive tunes of woe sung by exiled kings and queens of Africa to the spirited work songs and shouts of freedmen, this title traces the course of early black folk music in various its guises.
"Unlike orthodox scholarship will have it, the so-called "Work" according to Delridge L. Hunter. Unlike orthodox scholarship will have it, the so-called "Work Songs" were "Devil' or "Praise" songs (today called Blues and Gospel) the people sang while working. "Work" is not a genre, it is a process or, something you have to do, activity. The Afriicans sang while they worked. Not having this understanding gives the appearance that the African Americans did ot develop an advancced secular musical form until the 20th century. Evidense presented in "Sinful Tunes and Spirituals: Black Folk Music," show that by the Ante Bellum, Africans had expanded into many genre in music and dance. The treatment of the. James Jacquet said Sinful Tunes and Spirituals. This is a very detailed, in-debth study of early Afro-American music. Dena Epstein spent decades tracking down original source material. Her book is a facinating look at pre Civil War attitudes and social practices. This is not a quick read--it is like reading a masters thesis--but anyone interested in early banjo music and/or the early history of Afro-Americans, will find this book essensial reading.. Tony Thomas said A necessary work, a triumph of determination. Dena Epstein was a Chicago Librarian. She wasn't a paid musicologist, but she was determined to find out the story of African American music from the time we got off the slave ships until the Civil War. She emerged with a triumph. No one who has not read this book really knows anything about African American, or for that matter American culture and music, worth knowing. Rather than the abstract dwelling on Africanism in this or that part of Black culture, she refutes the idea that the slaves were robbed of their culture she shows how the musical culture of West Africa was carried here and how it was mod
"Epstein has uncovered far more about early black music than anyone thought possible. Her luxuriant quotations and definitive treatments of a wide variety of musical subtopics make the book an essential reference volume and a marvelous storehouse of information."