Music, dance and story telling are among the forms of art that have been kept century after century in Africa. Everyday life activities in traditional Africa included music and many other cultural experiences. Music and dance were traditions that characterized an African musical expression and played an important role in the lives of the people.The traditional music of Africa possessed a distinguishing feature of rhythmic complexity like no other continent. Music was highly functional in ethnic life, accompanying birth, marriage, hunting and even political activities.Before the 20th century, music was very different when compared to the 21st century music. Special occasions owned a distinctive type of African music.
One of his most praised songs “Guadalajara” pays tribute to the City of Guadalajara, Jalisco, where mariachi originated. Another song from Vicente Fernandez that carries out the serenata tradition is “Amor de mi Alma” in which he confesses his feelings of betrayal that a woman has brought upon him. Another influential mariachi artist Pedro Infante also sings with a Mariachi band. He sang with a traditional Mariachi band because he felt that mariachi represented the roots of Mexico and he was proud of his heritage. Just like Vicente Fernandez, his music dealt with issues about love, politics, and religion.
But they eventually settled in what is now Canada and Louisiana like the Spanish they were searching for converts to Christianity. France colonized using alliances, farming, and trade. They unlike the Spanish were allies with the Natives who helped them with attacks from Iroquois. The French allied the Natives for fur and used them as hunters. The French received most of their profits from the fur trade.
Zulu warrior dance. In ancestor veneration it is considered that the death is a mere passage from the human world to the spirit world. In many societies the ancestors occupy more devotional attention than God/Supreme being. Native American Religion Native American religions are the spiritual practices of the Indigenous peoples in North America. Traditional Native American ceremonial ways can vary widely, and are based on the differing histories and beliefs of individual tribes, clans and bands.
The slaveholding system had become self-sufficient and this dictated the end of many tribal practices among black slaves. Blake, by Martin R. Delany, takes place in the antebellum period in America. One may realize that most of the slaves depicted in the novel are now converted to Christianity, their masters’ religion. The problem here is that this conversion is nothing less than a subversive way to control the group of slaves in the Franks plantation. Master Frank uses religion to pour fear and obedience in his slaves’ minds.
In the United States slavery is understandably associated with the South since it was the Southern states that so vigorously defended the practice during the nineteenth century. However, to understand how slavery first took hold in the South, historians look much farther back in time, to ancient Greece and Rome and the civilizations that preceded them. In many of these societies, it was common practice to enslave peoples who had been defeated in war. Even through the Middle Ages, Moors and Christians enslaved each other and justified it on religious grounds. Difficult as it is for us to understand today, slavery was a simple fact of life throughout much of human history.
The European part being mainly the melodies and harmony of the Andalucia region of Spain (the homeland of the Conquistadors), while the African part in Salsa is mainly from the western coast of Africa where the slave trade was most prevalent.” ("Justsalsa.com," n.d, p. 1) It is said that “Between 1930 and 1960 there were musicians from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mexico and South America coming to New York to perform. They brought their own native rhythms and musical forms with them, but as they listened to each other and played music together, the musical influences mixed, fused and evolved.” (latinmusic.about.com, Lilich, n.d, p. 1) “This type of musical hybridization gave birth to the 1950s creation of the mambo from son, conjunto and jazz traditions. Continuing musical fusion went on to include what we know today as the cha cha cha, rhumba, conga and, in the 1960s, salsa.” (latinmusic.about.com, Lilich, n.d, p. 1) The type of instruments used in salsa music is what makes salsa music so unique. Salsa music has a heavy use of percussion (clave, maracas, conga, bongo, tambora, bato, cowbell.) Other salsa instruments include
Initially, the arts were normally reserved for many formal, religious occasions, and were never really practiced for leisure under the British crown. In Colonial America however, there were schools created for the earliest of choral societies, and the most famous of musicians of the time period stressed the creation of music for self expression and leisure. Traveling operas were created; actors performed stage shows, and entertained the colonists from town to town. Due to the harsh climate that the early settlers endured, music became a welcoming escape, and an attractive hobby that many took up for themselves. The creation of arts and crafts became a trending sensation in Colonial America.
Capoeira history is passed through word of mouth, folklore and most commonly through music. All have made similar claims that Capoeira developed in all three states around the same time. The argument of whether Capoeira is African or Brazilian, though it may be controversial, is just a simple as the statements above. The art of Capoeira was developed over a half of a millennium ago in colonial Brazil, making it Brazilian and not African. The lack of written documentation will always prohibit the one hundred percent sureness of Capoeira being Brazilian but understanding what is known and a little common sense can give one enough evidence to support that statement.
Their music expressed a strong sense of oneness with nature. They believed their songs to be received from the spiritual world to give then strong power to accomplish a given end (pg 25). This could have possibly made music more important to them than to any other culture in America because the supernatural qualities believed to be held in their music made them successful in hunting, fishing, healing, etc. However, by the time people began to write about the early Native Americans, other groups of people began to convert the Native Americans to their way of life. Soon Native Americans were learning the traditions of people such as the Spanish and