Transformations
You cannot escape God. You will meet him in foreign
lands.
Namibian proverbThe music, yearning like a God in pain ...
John Keats
In the late nineteenth century, George Washington Cable watched an exhibition that took place in New Orleans's Place Congo, later to be known as Congo Square. 1. African slaves were engaged in their usual Sunday recreation, performing transplanted African dances with musical accompaniments. Cable's ([1886] 1969b) striking and informative narrative is so engaging that I will quote from it at length:
____________________The gathering throng closed in around, leaving unoccupied the circle indicated by the crescent of musicians. The short, harsh turf was the dancing‐ floor. The crowd stood.... The pack of dark, tattered figures [was] touched off every here and there with ... bright colors.... [There stood] the squatting cross-legged musicians ... grassy plain
-35-
Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information:
Book title: The Power of Black Music: Interpreting Its History from Africa to the United States.
Contributors: Samuel A. Floyd Jr. - Author.
Publisher: Oxford University Press.
Place of publication: New York.
Publication year: 1996.
Page number: 35.
This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.
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