This Is How We Flow
Subtitle: Rhythm in Black Cultures
Publisher: University of South Carolina Press
Published: June 1999
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 160
ISBN-13: 9781570031908
Subjects: Black studies; Cultural studies; Folk music; The Arts: General Issues; Rhythm; Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - General; Black Art; Black Musicians And Their Music; Social Science; Pop Arts / Pop Culture; Popular Culture - General; Music; Africa; USA; People of Color; American literature; African American authors; African Americans; Blacks
First sentence: The evolution of forces and patterns giving rise to syncretic cultural forms such as jazz is not merely a mechanically occurring result of, for example, European musical styles and techniques being mastered and infused with African and African American elements by musicians such as Scott Joplin, King Oliver, Fletcher Henderson, Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker, and others whose innovations are then "quoted" and incorporated into the eclectic styles of other black and white composers, arrangers, and musicians.
Description: "This is How We Flow" explores the meaning, motif, and theme of rhythm in black cultures throughout the United States and Africa. In ten essays the volumes contributors illustrate how rhythm is the foundation of all African expression - from music and dance to the visual arts, architecture, theater, literature, and film. They suggest, by example, that an African aesthetic does indeed exist, an aesthetic that revolves around the motif of rhythm.