The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-10-04
AMERICAN FOLK SONGS.
ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION or THE
MUSIC OF THE COL0RED PEOPLE.

Pscuiiar Melodies Of the Southern
Nssross-PIsntatisn Dittiss and Camp
Meeting sengs-Crigin Of Negro MIN
streisy-varieties OF sesg.
Herr Oh. MiehIing, . Gurman, who has
given much attention to the history OF
the American negro song and music, re-
Gently read an essay on this bject before
a German scientific society. His treatise,
"Folksong and Folkmusic In America"
contains many interesting and partly
new views, which, though not admissible
In some respects, are worth perusal and
may attract the leisure and labor OF the
competent to study which, strange to
say, has not as yet received the attention
Of the native scholar.
The origin and the evolution OF the
songs of the colored people OF he United
States describe unique feature of Amer
lean "folk song" and form an interest
ing evidence of innate musical talent of
the negro. These negro songs, to distin-
guish them by that title, not to be con-
founded with the minstrelsy Of our
theatres, are never created by way Of ar
tistic composition, but spring into life
ready made. The sacred songs of the
colored race, inspired, as they were, under
the red hot fervor of religious excite
ment during the revivals in churches and
camp meeting, are OF this sort.
On such occasions a kind OF religious
paroxysm will seize the blacks, which is
Of a far greater violence than that OF their
white brethren. The parallels of relig-
ious hermeneutics for the negro become
vested with flesh and blood, so TO speak;
he takes everything literally, and his
vivid imagination sometimes leads him
to the most fantastic illustrations. ST.
Johns Punishment to the Island of Pat
mos, for instance, as related by st. Jerome,
receives the following description in on
OF these hymns:
In dc days OF the great tribulation.
On u big island the Philistines put John,
But the avens fed him till the dawn come
roun',
Den he glib a big Jump and few up from the
groun';
o, come down, come down, John.
The negroes Of the United States being
descended from various African tribes,
many peculiarities of their "spirituals," {"
as they prefer calling their hymns, may
possibly be traced back to the original
unculturcd musical expressions of their
respective ancestors. These consisted OF
only three or four notes incessantly re-
peated. The endless repetitions of the
same tunes may be compared to practic-
ing for hours on the piano the same
nonotonous fugue, and, OF course, 10
civilized ears cause torture and disgust.
The negroes imported from Africa at orcs
drew Indictment from new musical Inn
| prcssions their attentive and receptive
cars received in America, and soon en-
riched their simple motives by rearing
OH this basis their own peculiar melodies,
some of which are surprise even to the
professional composer.
The sources of the negro songs may be
grouped under four sections: First, imi-
tations of Irish and Scotch ballads, reels
and jigs, which the blacks listened to on
the Mississippi steamers or in the dane
ing halls of New Orleans, st. Louis and
other places. Second, imitation OF Meth
odist and Baptist hymns. The negroes
were particularly attracted by the camp
meeting songs of the Methodists, in the
same way as the Hottentots of Sout h
Africa arc at present under the spell Of
the lively hymns of the Moravian colo
nists OF their country, while the sombre
tunes OF the German Lutheran and Re-
formed missionary stations find little
favor with their melodious cravings.
As third division may be mentioned
the recitative style, or airs more closely
ndbcring to the original African type,
despite their having expanded in melody
and rhythm. Noticeable among these
are the especially so-called "shouts," "
violent outcries of incoherent words,
which, for rhythmical reasons introduced
into the songs, are again interrupted by
The melodious refrains and from partic-
uiar characteristic Of the negro airs in
the interior of Africa. A fourth source
o: the songs OF the colored people OF the
United States is to be sought for in the
French Creole tunes of New Orleans and
its neig hborhood. 1t Is noteworthy that
not one OF these four types is entirely free
OF African influence.
The abolition of slavery has changed
many things in the South, and il has not
been without influence on the music and
singing OF the colored people. Moody
and Sankey hymns and other songs oi
whites are spreading among the blacks
but, as OF old, the plantation songs, with
their partly merry and partly melan-
| choiy melodies, are still exercising a pc
culiar charm over both races.
In this connection IL Is interesting Il
note how the American popular tunes-fol
q regular folk-song can hardly be saiC
TO exist in the United States-have beer
Influenced by the songs oft coloreC
population. Some fifty or sixty year
ago the negro minstrels, or serenaders,
came into vogue. These, mostly whit,
| people with blackened faces, pretended q
represent the plantation life OF the slsve
| In song and dance.
Despite their plantation songs" be
ing very different from the genuine. the.
| pleased the people of the United State
to an unwonted degree. The musica
field for time was monopolized by thes
minstrels. Able foreign musicians wh'
came to this country during the fourtl
| and fifth decade of this century had {,
submit to negro mimicry to make thei
| living.
Yet these minstrels or serenaders cause,
the formation OF a new kind OF music
singing and dancing, which is still in ex
istence, and, strange though it may seem
the plantation songs OF the negro slave