Question

Jazz scholar Nathan Davis asks,“What kind of music might we have had if African slaves had been taken to China or Japan or any other part of Asia instead of to the Americas? On the other hand, what would have been the results if the Africans had been the captors and supplied various African territories with European slaves?” Offer your opinions below.

Answer 1

The potential music would certainly be an interesting thing to hear. Combining the tonalities of Africa and East Asia would have definitely yielded music with interesting poly-rhythms and sound quality. Likewise, the hypothetical import of European musical ideas into the African continent would result in another diverse pattern of poly-rhythms; this time, with the mono-rhythmic tones of European society up to that point.