The Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Music of America

By Ben Dumbauld

Itâ€s an established fact that the majority of popular music in the United States today can be traced back to the Transatlantic slave trade centuries ago. R&B and Rock came out of the Blues, which in turn came from work songs sung by sharecroppers and from spirituals sung by enslaved people on plantations. The banjo - an instrument of African origin - remains a prominent instrument in Bluegrass, Folk and Country. Some musicologists and ethnomusicologists have even argued that the entire cyclical nature of most popular music in the United States - the repetition of rhythmic and harmonic motives - derives in part from African conceptions of music. 

Of course, the Translatlantic slave trade did not only traverse the United States, but also most of the Caribbean and South America. Are we to expect, then, that the popular music of countries in these regions would follow a similar historical trajectory? Are popular music genres in the Caribbean and South America similarly influenced by African culture, brought to shore via the Transatlantic slave trade?

Exploring the five lessons that comprise TeachRockâ€s new lesson collection, LADAMA: Movement, Music, and Community in South America, the answer is a resounding yes. African musical culture has deeply influenced the popular music of at least the countries of Colombia, Brazil, and Venezuela. 

In the LADAMA lesson on Cumbia - a style of music that has grown enormously popular throughout the Americas - students discover that the genre is a mixture of African, European, and Indigenous influences. During colonization, Indigenous people and Africans enslaved by Europeans in Colombia were only allotted one day a year for celebrations. In those rare moments, the music and dance of Cumbia was born - a combination of art forms that developed as an act of resilience and cultural preservation by those enslaved by colonialists.

We find similar stories in more regional forms of popular music in South America. In another LADAMA lesson, students discover that the Venezuelan genre of Quitiplás was born among enslaved people from Congo and Angola working on cocoa plantations. The polyrhythms characteristic of the genre are similar to those in Congo and Angola, and the unique instruments of Quitiplás - large dried bamboo stalks struck against each other or on stones - came into being only after plantation owners destroyed and made illegal traditional African drums.

Legacies of the slave trade have not just affected musical styles in South America, but also dances. In the LADAMA lesson on Joropo, a genre from the highlands of Venezuela and Colombia, students discover that traditional dance movements were first developed by enslaved people as a way of mocking the movements of the European waltz. Similarly, in another LADAMA lesson, students discover the Brazilian circle dance Ciranda was developed by Africans in the city of Recife, one of the main ports for the slave trade in Brazil.

Finally, with the LADAMA lesson on the Columbian rap group ChocQuibtown, students come to understand how the legacies of the Transatlantic Slave Trade go beyond popular music. In the lesson, students explore how the group uses Hip Hop to confront the continued segregation and the unfair extraction of natural resources in the region of Chocó, Colombia - while at the same time paying homage to the rich cultural and musical history of the region.  
LADAMA: Movement, Music, and Community in South America breaks new ground for TeachRock in multiple ways: it is the first time we collaborated so deeply with a group of musicians, it is our first venture into popular music in South America, and it is our first lessons specifically directed to bilingual learners. In addition, when coupled with other lessons TeachRock offers, it reveals how not just national, but global historical processes influence the music we hold dear.

Watch the LADAMA highlight reel to see the work in action.