Slavery and Development of Music

Chapel Evans
6-23-21
 In relevance with the Age of Reason and colonial era, the selected topic is slavery.

Slavery is defined as a form of forced labor whereby individuals are taken as other people’s

property against their will and wishes (King, 2016). The first slavery act was performed by the

Mesopotamia Code of Hammurabi and can be traced as early as 1860BC. Other terms such as

Sumer in 3500BC referred to slavery. The central reason for the emergence of slavery was due to

increased wars between nations.

A good example is the war between the Ottoman and Byzantine in Europe that

necessitated the need for more additional personnel to aid in putting up a good fight. Therefore,

they had to outsource these additional personnel from Africa in form of slavery. However,

despite slavery having detrimental effects, it is known to have contributed to the development of

education, religion, cultures among others (King, 2016). In this paper, I will discuss the

relationship between colonial slavery and the development of music.

According to Thompson (2015), slavery had a greater impact on music

development. The author holds that the slaves sharing similar traditional backgrounds sang some

of their traditional songs while executing their different roles. They did this as a way of passing

the time and as a means of trying to forget the harsh reality that they were experiencing. In these

groups, they developed songs aimed at increasing production and reducing boredom (Cepero,

2013). These songs created a sense of togetherness and familiarity among them. For instance, the

creation of many African American work songs took place in the seventeenth century. This is

because many of the slaves had their origins in Africa and therefore the songs reminded them of

home. Other songs were created as a way of expressing frustration and anger through verbal

signals (Arnold, 2014, p. 7). In other words, there was the introduction of subject-specific songs,

a practice that is highly embraced in modern society.

 Additionally, since the slaves had their own worshipping and praying ways, there

was also the development of religious songs. For instance, the African tradition introduced the

aspect of call and response whereby a song leader would sing the verse and then it would be

repeated by the greater gathering. This led to spiritual development and this form of worship is

still practiced in many worship centers today. Another attribute that was introduced and is still

practiced is clapping while singing gospel songs. This implies that not only were religious songs

introduced but there was also an introduction and sharing of practices associated with such songs

(Cepero, 2013).

Moreover, social gatherings would also be organized by slave masters where the

slaves would compete on singing. This incorporated various types of songs and accommodated

different dancing styles (Thompson, 2015, p. 78). Therefore, the slaves had to compose songs to

sings during different occasions including harvest time, happy times, during death, competition

among other instances. This initiated the development of occasion-based songs which is a

concept that is greatly embraced in our modern society.

Based on the above discussion, it can be realized that slavery experiences had a

significant impact on music development. Therefore, it can be argued that it is through slaves’

engagement in music that brought about different genres of music in our current society. These

music genres indicate how transatlantic slavery did not end without traces of its existence today.
 References
Arnold, M. (2014). Coming to terms with the past? The controversial issue of slavery in
contemporary Mauritian fiction. Journal of Romance Studies, 14(2), 5-19.
Cepero, L. (2013). The Afro-American Slave Music Project: Building A Case for Digital
History.
King, W. (2016). African American childhoods: historical perspectives from slavery to civil
rights. Springer.
Thompson, I. (2015). African American creative arts: dance, literature, music, theater and visual
art from slavery through the Harlem Renaissance. International Journal of Humanities
and Social Science, 5(1), 71-80.