The music of black Americans: A history

by Eileen Southern

Beginning with the arrival of the first Africans in the English colonies, Eileen Southern weaves a fascinating narrative of intense musical activity. As singers, players, and composers, black American musicians are fully chronicled in this landmark book. Now in the third edition, the author has brought the entire text up to date and has added a wealth of new material covering the latest developments in gospel, blues, jazz, classical, crossover, Broadway, and rap as they relate to African American music.

Genres: Music, History, Nonfiction, Race, African American

552 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

Reviews

[Byron Mayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

The definitive history and reference of Black American music. Exhaustively researched and exquisitely written, it should be a standard in any music library or the library of any music lover.

[Adam Carrico · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an excellent read for the history of the music of black Americans. Her writing on early immigrants throughout the 50-75 years following the end of slavery is extremely informative, focuses on many individual artists of various genres, and is a surprisingly well written read for what is essentially a history textbook. The later periods (1950-1970) aren't as well covered, but that makes sense with the impact at the time of publishing would still remain to be seen. I was disappointed in the small amount of coverage of the blues, specifically the country blues, which seem to have the most direct connection to the spirituals and folk songs of the Southern slaves. Toward the end, this aspect of the book seemed too linear, while the split after post-slavery music seems much more distinct than noted. There was a bit of a mention on city blues in relation to jazz, but not much, and only a small mention of the urban blues towards the end in relation to artists like Muddy Waters or Bo Diddley.

Overall, amazing book that is very much worth a read if you're interested in the history of American music at all.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Caveat one: This is a textbook. You won't like reading it if you don't like reading textbooks.
Caveat two: Goodreads lists the author incorrectly!! How do I fix that?

I found this book while doing some online research on the origin of the blues for my short story, "The Origin of the Blues" - rather what it says on the tin. Obviously, I found the sections on the blues to be the most interesting, as well as the beginning section with all its tantalizingly scant evidence for the very first music of African Americans. I also have a great fondness for the music of the 20s, so that section was riveting. It's nice to own a textbook, because I highlighted and underlined a lot toward the beginning and almost all of the blues section. I would recommend this as a good first resource if you're looking to explore any African American music topic in depth as it has an excellent bibliography. Of course, being a survey history, it doesn't go into depth itself. Time and again I got all excited about a hint of intrigue - a popular singer shot in a speakeasy. What? Why? Oh, now we're on to discussing the next popular singer.

It has provided me with a list of topics to explore in more detail in the academic library I have access too, as well as more ideas for my short story, which may be too short to hold them all.

I also got excited every time Cleveland was mentioned, which seemed to peak in the 20s and 30s. Ah, that's my town. We used to be someplace. Oberlin Conservatory gets a lot of mention, and the Cleveland Symphony and CIM get mentioned in the later chapters. (Here ends the section only interesting to Cleveland residents.)

I felt the book kinda fell down on the later chapters - I don't think the author was quite as interested in modern music as she was in jazz and gospel. The paltry paragraphs on rhythm and blues and rock in particular disappointed, though there is at least a few pages on the origins of rap. I wonder if a later edition wouldn't have more about rock and a longer exploration of the origins of rap and hip-hop.

[Jbondandrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very detailed book.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eileen Southern fue la primera mujer negra en obtener un puesto de profesor titular en la Universidad de Harvard. Su asignatura era la música, la música negra norteamericana. Su Historia fue publicada en 1971, aunque esta edición es del año 2001. Un año después, falleció. (Biografía breve.)

He de confesar que no lo he leído entero. Sí lo he hojeado muchas veces y también me detengo en el orden de aparición de los géneros con bastante sorpresa (blues antes que jazz, por ejemplo). El formato es el mismo que el de una enciclopedia. Que se puede leer, claro, pero que su función es más la de un objeto de consulta. Además, dado que la profesora Southern era músico, la composición tiene prioridad sobre todos los demás aspectos musicales. Por ejemplo, la autora incluye la partitura de la canción Before I´d Be a Slave y cuenta su historia:

Barton escuchó la canción muchas veces durante la década de 1880. La asociaba especialmente con el viejo tío Joe Williams, un antiguo esclavo para quien la esclavitud no había sido especialmente ingrata, pero que no obstante había esperado la libertad tan ansiosamente como el más perseguido de los esclavos. Ésta era la canción que Williams “adoraba cantar, sentado delante de su puerta al atardecer”.

Yo no puedo copiar la partitura, pero sí mostrar la canción, ya que en los años 60 se convirtió en uno de los himnos del movimiento por los derechos civiles. Hay muchísimas versiones en distintos géneros, pero a mí me gusta ésta…

Oh, Freedom

[Wynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great history lesson about the roots of today's popular music.

[TediyraBH]

0393952797

ML3556 .S727M 1983