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How does the West African heritage in Caribbean music compare with the European influence in Caribbean music?

I did research on this but couldn't really understand the european influence.

Andy Bonner
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anisa
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    What did your research discover? (By the way, "Caribbean music" is still a really broad field with a lot of genres—reggae, calypso, cumbia, fungi... Maybe it would help to focus on a few and their histories.) – Andy Bonner Aug 27 '21 at 14:33
  • that the influenced the harmonies and melodies but what does that even mean – anisa Aug 27 '21 at 15:01

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Good point; "harmonies and melodies" does need more explanation (after all, those are just elements common to many music-cultures). I think you'll need something to go on; this book seems useful (especially Part 1): https://www.google.com/books/edition/Focus_Music_of_the_Caribbean/x0W4DwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1 (since some pages are omitted on Google preview, find a real copy if you can).

It will probably help to focus more narrowly. For instance, if we're talking about "heritage," we're probably thinking mostly about the era of colonization and less about the modern era. It could also help to think about how European music and West African music were different (especially at the time). You mentioned harmony, which is one big difference. In the European tonal tradition, "harmony" is pretty important; ever since medieval chant, little Western music involves just a lonely melody with no "chords" or other voices (and when it does, it implies them). But many global music-cultures prioritize "monophony," or what Western context might call "the melody."

From the opposite angle, African musics (and West African especially) are rich in polyrhythms. I suspect tracing the rhythmic influences in Caribbean genres would be an easy way to point to African origins.

You might also get some good insights by asking yourself what instruments are being used, and where those instruments came from. Are there plucked-string instruments derived from the Portuguese vihuela? Are there marimba-like instruments derived from the West African balafon? (I don't know, just speculating.)

Andy Bonner
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  • It's also really difficult to know how and when African music may have been influenced by European music. There's lots of lovely melodic harmonization coming out of West Africa, but since they've had contact with Europeans for centuries it's probably impossible to know whether they borrowed the practice or not. We have better documentary evidence of influence on the other direction. For example, the vihuela and its relatives came to Europe from North Africa. The banjo is closer to its African roots than are the guitar and violin, but they all have African roots. It's fascinating. – phoog Aug 27 '21 at 23:09
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    Another element is scale . Early blues recordings from the US can sound very much like certain West African styles, and I don't think anyone seriously doubts that this is the origin of the blue note. In the US, obvious sources of European influence include Gaelic music, since the south was largely settled by people from Scotland and Ireland. Perhaps a similar connection could be made in the Caribbean. Did any early ethnomusicologists/folk music collectors make recordings in the Caribbean? Did these recordings (or do other sources) shed any light on the music being made by white people? – phoog Aug 27 '21 at 23:17
  • I've also been ignoring it since the question imposes the focus, but the other important ingredient in the Central American melting pot is indigenous cultures. – Andy Bonner Aug 28 '21 at 01:27