Dude, if you want to debate bluegrass music and the influence upon it (or lack thereof) by black folks, then start a new thread.
I never said it had African roots, but that it had a lot of influence within it from Africans who were enslaved, brought to this country, and decided to make their shitty lives a little better by playing some music with the white folk.
Making music together was probably the first thing done in this country where black and white were on anything close to equal footing. I never said they had a dominant influence on it, just influence. I've even provided proof.
If your so convinced that blacks are too dumb to comprehend bluegrass music so they couldn't possibly contribute anything to it then I really pity you.
Pity yourself.
I value truth over lies, no matter how comforting those lies may be.
here is a fine example of traditional west african music.
[video=youtube;TdZk3DlZmbw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdZk3DlZmbw[/video]
it bears no relation to bluegrass, gospel, blues, jazz or even rap/hip hop rhythms.
all popular and folk music in america derives from european music of various types, from spanish, to celtic, to french, to germanic, with nearly zero percent african content.
bluegrass is derived directly from celtic folk music, including the rythms. this was the music the slaves heard, and had access to, while traditional african music was strictly suppressed by the slaveholders.
gospel music too, was of european origin, and was used as a tool to solidify control over the slaves' social groups.
african music has it's charms, but it is a distinct form, very different from european and american music in every respect.
blues bluegrass gospel and jazz have been shaped by the black experience in america, but that experience was entirely a product of european social customs, for good or ill.
in the 70's many historians and social leaders used a variety of fictions to create a myth of black african culture persevering in spite of slavery, but these myths are as full of shit as the use of swahili as the language of the african-american renaissance.
swahili is the slave trade argot of EAST AFRICA, and the moslem dominated slave trade, not the west african peoples who were brought to the new world by the portugese, dutch and spanish slavers.
hell, you cant even find traditional african rhythms in reggae music, except in certain sub-genres which deliberately fold in these rhythms precisely because they are african, not because they are part of the musical history of the new world.
)
Food smells delicious though
