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JASS BECAME JAZZ TO ELEVATE OUR SOUL !
Contributed by
RAJNANDY
on
Tuesday, 13th July 2010 @ 09:58:09 AM in AEST
Topic:
happypoetry
|
JASS BECAME JAZZ TO ELEVATE OUR SOUL !
INTRODUCTION
My love for this music flows in my veins ,
And from writing about it myself I could
hardly restrain !
The Atlantic Slave Trade :
The story begins some four hundred years
ago in History ,
Drenched in the blood and sweat of the black
slaves which was no mystery ;
Painting a sorrowful background to our Jazz
Story !
It was a time when the English , Spanish , French ,
Portuguese , and the Dutch became frantic , -
To gain control of the slave trade across the vast
Atlantic !
Slave trade those days was a profitable business
proposition !
The funds generated had also financed Britain’s
Industrial Revolution !
In 1619 , a Dutch sailing ship had carried the first
lot of fifty slaves from West Africa , -
To work in the cotton , tobacco and sugarcane
plantations of English colony of Virginia !
Only twenty slaves had survived that hazardous
Atlantic journey ;
And here my friends , lies the roots of my Jazz
Story !
While it is true that in New Orleans - Jazz got
cradled and nourished ;
But it had taken birth in the regions of Western
Africa , -
Where slave trade had once flourished !
Later , many more slaves were transported across , -
To work in the plantations of the Southern States
of America ,*
And in their hearts one could hear the tom–tom
and drum beats of native Africa !**
Hollers and Work Songs :
The slaves brought no musical instruments with
them ,
And worked under the whip lash of their white
Overseers - in chains !
But they had clung to their music which fed their
hope and the will to survive !
And from the depth of their sorrow and suffering , -
Sprung the rhythm and beat of their life !
While at work they were forbidden to talk to each
other ,
So they sang in a rich sing-song voice , and called
out to one another !
This was not understood by their whip-wielding
Overseers !
They also called out and communicated to other
work gangs in the distant fields ,
Who also replied back in a similar fashion , -
To make their communication network complete !
The ‘hollers’ and ‘work songs’ also did help ,
To lighten the burden of their treacherous fate !
This ‘call and response’ later formed one of Jazz
music’s basic elements !
As ‘improvised music’ got composed with jazz
providing a proper vent !
From their tormented soul they sang to wipe away
their blues ,
Giving birth to ‘blue notes’ later , for WC Handy
to pay his handsome tribute !
The slaves longed for freedom and emancipation ,
And sang their ‘spirituals’ with faith and devotion !
While singing they often got into a trance ,
And felt like the Israelites in bondage in Egypt , -
ordained by fate and chance !
The Mississippi was like the River Jordan , across
which they hoped to see , -
A band of Angels coming in their chariots to set
them free , @
From their suffering , drudgery and captivity !
Thus ‘improvisation’ becomes a vital ingredient of
Jazz music ; $
For ‘freedom of expression’ is its distinguishing feature , -
which Jazz forever seeks !
Thus friends , ‘Jazz’ had come in chains buried deep
inside the black man’s soul !
With a longing for freedom from torture and pain , -
Which was totally beyond their control !
The tom-tom beats , work songs , spirituals and the
blues , -
Were all precursor to Jazz , - and here let me pause , -
to pay my homage and dues ;
To those valiant predecessors who had come in
chains ,
Giving a painful birth to ‘jass’, - from which Jazz
gets its name ! #
-Raj Nandy
New Delhi
Foot Notes :-
*Slaves sold at 15 dollars per head !Early 1700s saw 75,000 slaves auctioned!
By1800s there were one million slaves in US alone ! Slaves came from Senegal,
Ashantis, Gold Coast, Niger Delta, Dahomey & the Congo; with a variety of
beats and music – buried in their hearts !
**The Drums were an essential form of communication in Africa ! They
believed their Gods communicated through their beats ! Those drums provided the basic beats of Jazz Music !
+Blue music= a part of cultural landscape of Southern US by early 1900s ;
remained unnoticed till W.C.Handy published his song –‘Memphis Blues’ in1914 !
@Reference famous Negro spiritual song -‘Swing low sweet chariot’ ! I use
to sing in my Missionary School in Calcutta ! Slaves had sung them in plantation ‘praise houses’ !
# ‘Jass’ – originally an Africa-American slang meaning sex ! Born in the brothels of Storyville(New Orleans), & Jasmine perfumes used by the girls ! One visiting them , were said to be 'jassed-up' ! Mischievous boys
rubbed out letter ‘J’ from posters announcing -"Live Jass Shows'' , making
it look like ‘'Live Ass Show'’ ! So ‘ss’ of ‘jass’ got replaced by 'zz' of Jazz !
$ “Improvisation”= is the process of spontaneously creation of fresh melodies over the continuously repeating cycle of chord changes of a tune, which distinguishes Jazz from all other musical forms - raising it to its own great Individualistic Heights ! THANKS !
……… ALL COPY RIGHTS ARE RESERVED BY RAJ NANDY.---
RAJNANDY, PLEASE: To help keep this site INTERACTIVE, please read and comment on at least 3 poems for each one you submit.
We especially request this if you are going to post this many poems in less than 24 hours.
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Copyright ©
RAJNANDY
... [
2010-07-13 09:58:09]
(Date/Time posted on
site)
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Re: JASS BECAME JAZZ TO ELEVATE OUR SOUL !
(User Rating: 1 )
by lovingcritters on
Thursday, 15th July 2010 @ 12:28:20 PM AEST
(User
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a Message)
|
Oh Raj, I've always appreciated Jazz, but after your most informative write, I appreciate it even more. I remember as a young girl here in the States singing, "No Body Knowns The suffering I know. No Body knows but Jesus" When times get very depressing for me, I still hum that wonderful comforting tune. But now that I know all they suffered through, it means even more to me.
Thank you for sharing all your "time consuming" and "hard labor" that I know went into this poem. It's marvelous!
Warm love
consue |
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Re: JASS BECAME JAZZ TO ELEVATE OUR SOUL !
(User Rating: 1 )
by antikythera on
Sunday, 18th July 2010 @ 05:17:46 AM AEST
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Info | Send
a Message)
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| This is so incredible...history and poetry combined! I really like jazz too so this definetly resonated with me....good job! What's your favorite jazz musician? |
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