Of all the influences on Western style popular music, the sounds of Africa are still the most pervasive. Any time you hear Blues, Jazz, Rock and Roll, Rap, Soul, or any combination of the above, you don't have to dig too deep to find African roots. Even Bluegrass and Country have African influences, even if it's only their use of the Banjo, which was introduced to North America by African slaves.
It makes you wonder then why it has taken so long for the music of Africa to gain a toehold in North America. Unlike the music of the Middle East or India with their different melodic and rhythmical structures, African music has familiarity going for it.
Even though people like Peter Gabriel in the early eighties began his series of World Of Music And Dance (WOMAD) festivals as attempts to bridge the gap between our two worlds, acceptance has been slow. While European audiences have shown more of a wiliness to accept performers like King Sunny Ade from Nigeria and more recently Baaba Maal from Senegal, North Americans still treat them like novelty acts.
If it's hard for African musicians to gain acceptance, you can only imagine the difficulties faced by people from countries just to their north in the Middle East. Not only are there the political and social barriers to overcome, but a good deal of their music has nothing for a Western audience to compare it to.
We can't say, "Oh, that sounds like the Blues or like a song I heard on the radio yesterday". Although people like Ry Cooder have produced albums with performers from there, the only way it seems that musicians from Jordan, Israel, Egypt, Iraq, Algeria and the rest can make an impression is by getting their music sampled for the dance floor.
Music is supposed to be this great means of communication between people, and yet if a good portion of the world doesn't even listen to the rest of the world's music, what's that say about our abilities to communicate? Thankfully, there are still labels and people who try their damnedest to ensure that musical information flows two ways, and not just West to East.
Article comments
1 - your wiki guide
well..i think i need to hear it too! But that's a good review there, buddy!