• Should the term “black music” be used within the music industry today?
A distinction between the “black music” within the music industry and what society sees and hears and the academic study of black music needs to be set. Because of the way they are both addressed and exhibited, they both tell different stories. The Big Three, the collective term of the three biggest music businesses in the industry, are all headed by white men and by association; they are in control of most of the music identified as “urban mainstream music”. In contrast, those who write about black music academically are predominately black musicologists within specified black music research units like the ones in Chicago and London. As Wilson explained, black American music has influences from many non-black traditions which makes a term like “black music” difficult to use and to pinpoint the significant black traditions that would sanctify the phrase (Wilson, 1983, p.2). Wherever a case for the terms usage appears, a counterargument arises in favour of non-black influence. There has been a common theme of rising from oppression, acclaim for innovation and appropriation via commercialism and misinterpretation throughout the history of black music, by which time certain crazes are left with the non-black audience while the black musicians find new musical pastures to grace. It seems that whenever these black popular music genres have reached their peak, a non-black music executive, who has the power to change things to suit a particular audience, has helped it along. This comes at a cost to whatever “blackness” the music may hold and thus begins to negate the term “black music”. Even when Berry Gordy, a successful black businessman, made Motown one of the biggest labels the world has ever known, he was accused of selling out to the white man in the name of money (Neal, 1997, p.117) by ways of making pop and nullifying the expression of black culture. With music of black origin evolving rapidly over time and being embraced by other cultures, the umbrella term it has been living under begins to lose its meaning in the industry
O When did the term first come into general use?
Finding the first use of “black music” proved difficult. The earliest use found was in 1928 by E. M. von Hornbostel (von Hornbostel, 1928) but that was briefly in relation to Negro music. Terms more commonly used were negro music, race records, Afro-American music and African-American music
O What makes “black music” black?
The social progression of black people from the mid-to-late 19th century to the present day has given the world a remarkable view into cultures obscured by the oppressive nature of the colonial elite. One of the most significant areas where black people have excelled from segregation to social inclusion is through the discipline of music. One of the fundamental issues faced by black people has been racism. Implicitly, black musicians were made to perform in ways white executives deemed “black”, a view heavily skewed by their stereotypical ideals, or that would cater to the white audience at the time, both for financial and social motives. Explicitly, blacks were separated from participation in many white music halls, whether they were performing or watching from the audience. It would seem almost impossible, therefore, to suggest a type of music could be defined by just one race in this manner due to the forcible nature of another. This, however, does not imply that a mix at the hands of selfish white businessmen was the most significant part of black music development. It was through those times of struggle that black musicians overcame this silent oppression by continuing to add musical and cultural elements that were “forbidden” – African religious context within Negro spirituals, heavy dissonance in ragtime, the painful lyricism of the blues and the strong melismatic nature of gospel were just some of the ways in which blacks made their own unique mark on a culture that had been dominated in the West by primarily white Europeans until the 20th century. The Harlem Renaissance of the late 1920s was the first example of a “forward-looking optimism and deeply felt community pride” amongst black people (Gioia, 1997, p.93) and produced some of the greatest musicians of its time who would go on to shape many more genres, both of black and non-black origins. Kopano (2002) posed an interesting idea when he claimed that blacks used sounds different to those of their oppressors by tapping into a black rhetorical and cultural tradition to facilitate this resistance (Kopano, 2002) and by doing so, provided a basis for the sanctification of the term “black music”
However, black musicians within the realms of so-called “non-black music” cannot be ignored. To typecast a whole race by one type of music, however it may be defined, is a form of segregation in itself. To most people, heavy metal would not be deemed a black music genre but there are a number of black musicians who helped to mould its sound, including Jimi Hendrix, George Clinton and Living Colour, the first mainstream all-black heavy metal group. Are those musicians enough to quantify a change in the historical perception of heavy metal? The historical integrity of the genres and musicians that have been placed under the black music umbrella term should not be ignored but neither should the movements away from it
O Can non-black musicians perform “black music”?
Non-black musicians can and have performed black music for decades, but of course, any perceptions of innate characteristics cannot be replicated by these performers. For example, the lyricism and context from blues music was portrayed from a direct point of view expressed by the bluesmen. This same feeling could never been conveyed by white musicians as they were never subjected to the same racial discrimination. Instead, their lyrics were of different troubles. The white influence on black music has been both damaging and constructive but still existent. A noticeable binary shift was also apparent within the early stages of black music development. It was well known that white musicians would perform in blackface (Al Jolson, William H. West, George Washington Dixon) but coupled with the forcible nature of black musicians being made to “sound white” both in playing style and vocal style, it would seem that the racial roles had been reversed, but paradoxically, to the advantage of the white performer as they were in charge of “being black” for the audience and have their voice/playing style performed by black musicians as well as themselves. To the contrary, there is also a case for black musicians who perform music perceived as being “non-black”. Despite the black innovators within rock music and its roots within blues, rhythm and blues and gospel music rock music is seen as a “white” genre. In fact, even within a “black music” genre, black musicians would sometimes perform in ways to cater white audiences (Ferris, Jr., 1970). By attaching such a specific term to a style of music seems counterproductive and stagnating. The two biggest black musicians in genres not immediately associated with black performers – Jimi Hendrix and Charley Pride – both experienced the hostility of racism but nevertheless became influential artists in their respective fields. Hendrix was born in Washington, to African American and Cherokee parentage, both marginalised ethnicities in America during his childhood and subsequent career while Pride came from the homeland of ragtime, Mississippi. However, despite it all, they found success in music perceived to be “white”. In the conversation of black music, Hendrix is often mentioned as a musician who bridged the gap, stylistically and racially and because of his roots in rhythm and blues and electric blues, this helped keep him in the discussion. However, Charley Pride, the most successful black musician in country music rarely gets a significant voice in the black music exegesis and this seems particularly puzzling. If Jimi Hendrix could make a name for himself in the white-driven world of rock music, why couldn’t Charley Pride for country? In his Open Letter, Tagg went as far as considering his omission in discussion of the term “Afro-American music”, which he seemingly contradicted when he later said “[…] reading between the lines of what frequently seems to be implied by ‘black’ or ‘Afro-American’, we might find ourselves concentrating on black US-Americans living in the South” (Tagg, 1988, p.5). If there is to be more improved critical analysis of black music in the current day, areas such as Pride’s success in country music, the roads it helped open for modern-day black country singers like Darius Rucker and bands like Living Colour in hard rock need to be looked at in more depth
O What genres are regarded as “black music” genres?
The main black music genres are indentified as Negro spirituals, ragtime, blues, jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, funk and hip hop. While disco had deep roots within the black community as well as the genre’s biggest musicians, there were also fundamental influences from the Latin and white communities
O Are there any notable non-black musicians mentioned within genres of “black music”?
There are many non-black musicians within the above genres except Negro spirituals. The self-proclaimed father of ragtime, Ben Harney, was white, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Seasick Steve were two examples of white bluesmen, Bix Beiderbecke, Bill Evans, Chet Baker and Dave Brubeck were some of the most influential white jazz musicians
O What has the industry’s role been in reinforcing the use of the term?
The industry has used many different names in the past to describe the same thing, as discussed in Chapter 3, mostly in the US. Black music has been more prominently used amongst scholars for academic purposes while “black music” is used in tandem with “urban music” in Europe (mentioned in Chapter 12)
