The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-08-02
THE NEGROES SONG.
It Bresthos Sadness Induced by
the Wrongs His Race Has Borne.
no Othcr Music Can Match It In ,Ielnn-
choly Sweetness, and 1t Was the Only
Thing That Slavery Left IIIm-Ec
sons for It's Excellence.

Ninety years ago in little grass
matted hut beside the Niger river q
white traveller lay tossing in the ago
MICS of tropical fever. Sometimes In
his dcliriu,n he murlnurcd broken
fragments of Scottish songs-eomc-
times, as the panSs of the fever mo
mentariy abated, the sound of the
bagpipcs seemed to ring in his ears,
and, reused TO semi-consciousncss by
the sweet illusion, the sick man would
rise from his couch of reeds ind cry:
play tho Blue Bells Of Scotland
pipcr-plny the Blue Bells"
Then women, dark of f:rc, and
clad only In n blue cotton skirt, entered
the hut Sitting down beside the in
valid she began to softly Groom song
of woudruus melody. In the music of
that African song pathos, sympathy
and anxiety seemed to blend with hope
and confidence, while the sound, ever
soft and low, touched gently the ears of
the sufferer, and soothcd him to rest
and sleep, from which he awolsc, weak,
but free from the fcvcr's grasp
Thnt Traveller, says the Chicago Globe,
was Mungo Park In his memoirs he
says: 81 am firmly convinced that the
soft music of that negro woman's song
saved nay life and gave me new strength
for my undertaking"
How or when the negro acquired hts
love Of music history cannot tell. IIe-
rudotus tells of the sounding bows" of
the Ethiopians-blncli bows whose
strings give out melody swreter than
the notes of Tyre or cithcrn, and which
~cro In great demand at festivals. In
Roman times the Mauritauian blacks
wcre noted for their musical skill, and
tie chroniclcrs Of the middle ages often
speak of tho sable musicians who dc
lighted the lordly Sarnccns with their
TALENT In the strungc, mysterious
land of Africa the negro has little to
do and abundance whercwith to sup
port life. Doubtless, in the earlier Cgcs,
he loungcd about his hut dry after day,
until at last from sheer cnnui, he turned
to music us u means of employing his
idle time. AS the centuries rolled on
the black became more and more
skilled In musical art until, when his
race first began to see the shores of
America, he was already q vocal and in
strumental genius of high merit
But it was among the negro slaves
that the divine nrt" reached it's per-
fiction The poor African, torn from
his native land, and sent from ease and
idleness TO hard work, under an exact
ing master. could not express his
thoughts In the ordinary language Of
common conversation, but NIL the pa
thOS, oil the sorrow Of his misfortunes
and his surroundings, acting upon his
sensitive and romantic nature, con-
bined to produce u type Of song which
the world has never seen surpassed.
Perhaps u wife or child would I've sold
Into servitudc, far away from the poor
slave who composed the song; perhaps
kindly master would pass beyond
deaths river; perhaps the slave himself
would bc sent into a distant state,
ncvvr again to see the home which had
become Gear 10 him By countless ties,
but, whatever the cause, the negro
songs remain matchless In their
melancholy sweetness. marvellous in
their patient resignation To fate nId
''naSsa's" will.
But there were CLEANS on light md
happiness in the life OF the slave In
the evening, when the work was over,
tie darllics would assemble In tho
quarters and, while the 'possum and
the hoe cake, the sweet potatoes end
the corn wcp being cooked to perfco-
ton by the skillful "nuntice," the fiddle
and the banjo sounded merrily end tho
uproarious chorus mingled with tho
Shuttle OF the dancing feet.
Prom these festive occasions sprang
the idea of negro ninstrclsy, which has
since become 80 distorted That not one
person In fifty north of Mason and Dix
on's line hos any idea of real plantation
MUSIC or of the real depth and richness
OF those unique and nlatchlees melodies.
Since the wnr the negro has been free,
but he bas not forgotten his music, and
he, and his descendants, even those In
whose veins fingers hardly drop of
negro blood, still sing the songs that
once delighted young nassa" and rose
sadly around "old massa's" grave. But
even among the negroes there was
great variety of music, tlngcd by local
ity, OF course, and often 10y the anccs-
trail tribe of the negro Thus, in New
Orleans the blacks had list of songs
much different from the music of Viz
gina or the Carolnas The songs of
Caroline dWrlt upon cotton lands and
rice fields; those Of Louisiana less upon
material surroundings and more upon
sentiment and love.
Much French blood ran IL tho veins Of
these people and their music showed
the combination of rntcs Even now in