Kubik: Sources, Adaptation and Innovation; The Rise of a Sung Literary Genre
Introduction
Overview: Historically oriented blues research encompasses four interrelated areas of inquiry:
1) The study of the musical, literary, and social factors that led in the late nineteenth century to the development of a new, rural-accompanied solo song genre later labeled the blues.
2) The study of the remote history of the blues’ musico-structural and literary characteristics, focusing on origins in African and other cultures.
3) The study of the blues’ developments and changes after the first publication of sheet music (1912) and the rise of commercial gramophone records (beginning in 1920).
4) The study of the influences of the blues and its derivatives on other American music and on other musical cultures worldwide from the 1920s to the present.
Among these, the third area has been the best covered, aided by: written sources, pictorial documents, oral tradition, and especially commercial recordings and extensive field recording since the 1930s.
In the blues’ early history, most scholars agree that the blues is a tradition that developed in the Deep South at the end of the nineteenth century under specific circumstances, combining traits with remote origins in African regions and in Euro‑American traditions (e.g., ending rhymes in lyrics, I–IV–V chord progressions, strophic form, and certain Western instruments).
The persistent question in African‑American studies has been the search for the blues’ “African roots.”
Conceptually, history can be seen as an uninterrupted continuum in time and space, which suits tracing the blues’ origins and rise. The blues did not begin in Africa, on the Middle Passage, nor at plantation life’s inception; rather, it emerged from a chain of determinants linked by cause and effect across different times and places, with traces that eventually vanish into sourceless history.
Core theses:
There is no simple, singular “root” of the blues; it was a logical development resulting from specific processes of cultural interaction among eighteenth‑ and nineteenth‑century African descendants in the United States under particular economic and social conditions.
Like Brazilian samba, the blues must be understood as arising from older traditions transplanted and transformed within new American contexts (e.g., from within the cultural radiation area of the Lunda Empire in northeastern Angola for samba; blues arising similarly from multiple African regions and Euro‑American influences).
Implication: insisting on a single origin (“roots”) can perpetuate an oversimplified tabula rasa view of African captives’ creativity; the blues emerges from multiple strands that were mobilized in the U.S. South.
A central question: Which eighteenth‑ to nineteenth‑century African traditions preceded the blues and how did they channel experiences into forming this music? And in which parts of Africa were these traditions established?
Notable cross‑reference: Kubik draws an analogy to samba’s origins from Lunda‑Angola sources to emphasize that origins are complex, not monolithic.
1 - Sources, Adaptation, and Innovation
The history of the early rural blues and its proclaimed “roots” is inherently complex; avoid assuming a direct, unilinear descent from a single eighteenth‑ or nineteenth‑century African musical genre.
Key historical frame for context: cumulative U.S. events shaped the environment for the blues’ emergence:
The first British settlement in North America was at 1607 (Jamestown).
By the 1640s, settlement was limited to a narrow coastal strip.
In 1682, La Salle penetrated the Mississippi River area from the south.
Nouvelle‑Orléans was founded in 1718; Florida was under Spanish administration.
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the British slave trade brought increasing numbers of West Africans from the Gambia/Senegal area and then from along the Guinea coast to the Atlantic coast.
Contemporary sources indicate the African population was concentrated in rural areas of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
Dena Epstein (1973) highlights key questions about Africa in the New World: what music did Africans bring, how long did it persist, and how was it transformed into Afro‑American forms? (Quoted in Epstein 1973: 61.)
Epistemic sources and instruments from Africa reach the New World via various channels, including on slave ships during dances and music to prevent despair:
Ships’ passengers were encouraged to dance and make music using African instruments (Epstein 1973: 66–67).
The Guinea coast produced instruments such as long‑necked plucked lutes (e.g., xalam) and others, which influenced American musical practice through traveling professionals.
Instrumental and stylistic connections traced by Epstein and Kubik include:
A West African single‑string bowed lute (goblet‑shaped body) and a two‑stringed plucked lute; cord‑and‑peg tension on a goblet drum suggests West African origins (Epstein 1973: 67; 79–80).
Sloane’s Jamaica illustration (1707) shows two West African lutes and a west‑central Sudanic harp model, indicating broader West African influence in the Caribbean and the Americas.
Bandore (banjer) in 1832 testifies to a long‑neck lute tradition in Virginia/Maryland among slaves; Boucher’s Glossary (1832) records: “To Negro Sambo play fine banjer” with catgut strings; the instrument aligns with long‑necked plucked lutes linked to West African models (Epstein 1973: 76).
West African influence in the southeastern United States:
The garaya (two‑stringed plucked lute) and other long‑necked lutes reflect West Central Sudanic models (Hausa, Wolof xalam) that linked through itinerant musicians and traders; examples include Hausa traders who used garaya (Kubik 1989a: 80).
Michael Theodore Coolen notes a Senegambian ensemble of plucked lute (xalam), bowed lute, and a calabash, showing cross‑linkages with fiddle and banjo traditions popular in the U.S. (Coolen 1982: 74).
Professionalism and itinerancy: Solo singing by improvisatory musicians who accompanied themselves on West African‑designed plucked lutes formed a cultural bridgehead in the Southeast United States and became a popular pastime among enslaved communities.
Anecdotes illustrating African musical presence:
A Virginia text by Dick the Negro (1803) describes a Guinea love‑song sung to a girl, with him playing a banger under her window (quoted in Epstein 1973: 81).
The Slave Act of 1740 in South Carolina documents dancing accompanied by diverse instruments and indicates that evangelical missions sought to stamp out music as secular, accelerating transformation of dances into religious expressions like ring‑shouts (Epstein 1973: 90; see also Parrish 1942; Floyd 1991, 1995).
Reverend Morgan Godwin (1680) notes dances to procure rain and the weekly Christian loyalty of converted slaves; these data aid understanding of how secular African musical practices persisted or transformed in Christianized settings (Epstein 1973: 80).
Accompanying archival notes: a Virginia Accomac County record from the 1690s mentions a Negro fiddler entertaining whites; the fiddler’s instrument was likely a European fiddle, but the playing style might reflect West Central Sudanic goje/goge traditions, contributing to the perception of virtuosity among audiences and enabling later revival of African musical professionalism in new repertoires (Epstein 1973: 83).
Indirect line of influence: technique transfer from African fiddling/one‑string traditions to European instruments like the violin, contributing to the emerging blues idiom in the U.S.
After the American War of Independence (1775–83): a process of secondary proliferation of African‑derived styles occurs as the thirteen states along the Atlantic seaboard (including MD, VA, NC, SC, GA) consolidate, and the cotton gin (1793) accelerates plantation expansion west of the Appalachians. In 1803, the large Louisiana territory purchase opened up the Mississippi region for English‑speaking settlement. This era’s social geography encourages dispersed and relatively isolated farming communities, which becomes the “turf” for blues development (Kubik’s synthesis).
Westward migration and its cultural footprints:
The movement into Alabama, western Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, northern Louisiana, and eventually east Texas—areas characterized by late settlement and distant, swampy, rural environments—creates conditions favorable for the blues to evolve in its early forms (the “dropped leaves” thesis by Graham, 1994).
The Appalachian and Ozark mountains become sites where African heritage meets European‑American communities, producing distinctive hybrid practices (e.g., unique tonal conceptions, such as neutral modes and altered seventh chords).
Nearest African diaspora influences and the music‑making technologies they carried:
Mouth bows (e.g., chipendani) and related monochord zithers surface in the U.S. through Mozambican and Angolan channels; these instruments are tied to central African monochord zither practices.
In Africa, monochord zithers are common in a compact region (southeastern Nigeria, southern Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Congo, CAR), often made from raffia stalks and played by two youths with a striker and a slider; these practices influenced American slide‑guitar concepts centuries later (Evans 1978; Kubik 1987; Evans 1998; photo documentation in Evans & Welding 1995).
In the southern U.S., slide guitar techniques reportedly emerged from these traditions, with Handy recounting a Tutwiler guitarist around 1903 who used a knife to slide along the strings; Big Joe Williams later recalls children’s one‑string zithers built at home (e.g., wall guitars with baling wire) as the source of the slide guitar style (Evans & Welding 1995).
The slide guitar and other African American monochord descendants helped seed the blues in the Delta and surrounding rural areas, contributing to the development of the “diddley bow,” “bo diddley,” and related one‑string guitar traditions ( Evans 1994; Evans & Welding 1995).
The “Out of Africa” motif appears repeatedly as Kubik maps the cross‑continental journeys of instruments, playing techniques, and repertoires that migrated and adapted across the Americas.
The five‑stringed banje (an American derivative of western and central Sudanic plucked lutes) shows concentrated distribution within a roughly 150‑mile zone around Knoxville, TN, and extending into the Ozark region—evidence of localized adoption and adaptation in European‑American communities (Graham 1994: 367).
The Appalachian region’s distinctive tonalities include neutral thirds and varying sevenths, a pattern noted by Annabel Morris Buchanan and supported by Cecil J. Sharp’s fieldwork, suggesting shared tonal traits across Anglo‑American, African, and Native American folk music traditions (Buchanan 1940: 84–85).
The Deep South’s continued use of African background instruments persists among African American children, particularly in Mississippi’s blues communities; pathbreaking work by David Evans documents these traditions, including the popular “one‑stringed instrument” family (Evans 1970s–1990s).
The blues’ direct linkage to the West Central African monochord zither and its slider technique helps explain the emergence of slide guitar as a central blues motif; despite a lack of 19th‑century U.S. written sources, the late‑19th/early‑20th century transmission of these ideas is evident in field recordings and autobiographical accounts (Handy; Big Joe Williams; Evans & Welding).
Figures and photographs referenced in the text illustrate instruments and performances relevant to these connections, including:
FIGURE 1: The southern United States today (map showing the broad region under consideration).
FIGURE 2: Details of the garaya lute’s construction (two‑stringed plucked lute) and related instrument photos (garaya in Nigeria; one‑stringed bowed lutes in Ghana).
PHOTO 1–7: Visual documentation of lutes, players, and monochord zithers in Africa and the United States.
Key terms and instruments introduced in this section (examples):
garaya: a two‑stringed plucked lute from West Africa (Hausa trader context in northeastern Nigeria; spike‑lute family).
bandore / banjer: long‑necked plucked lute used by slaves in Virginia/Maryland (19th century); transmits West African lute traditions to American settings.
xalam: a Senegambian string instrument (plucked lute) associated with Wolof; part of a broader ensemble with bowed lutes and calabash; illustrates cross‑regional connections with American fiddle/banjo traditions.
goje / goge: West African one‑string fiddles from the Sudanic belt; evidence of European audience attraction and later influence on fiddle performance styles.
diddley bow / jitterbug: American descendants of central African monochord zithers, adapted for home use and later commercial blues performance; slider technique derives from these traditions.
2 - The Rise of a Sung Literary Genre
The blues has been proposed to possess African roots in the realm of oral literature as much as in music; however, this dimension has often been neglected in favor of musical analysis.
An integrated approach toward West African music and oral literature was recommended by Kubik (1988a) in his work on Yoruba chantefables, arguing for a holistic view that links musical texture with storytelling and societal commentary.
African background of the blues’ oral literature, particularly in areas like magic, voodoo, and the pervasiveness of the concept of the “devil,” has been a focal point for several scholars (Finn 1986; Ferris 1989; Oliver 1990; Spencer 1993; others).
Notable theses in the literature include:
Finn and Spencer propose that blues as “devil’s music” reflects reinterpretations of Yoruba/Eṣù and Fon/Legba religious concepts; the bluesman is cast as a voodoo priest in disguise and as a trickster figure (see also Floyd 1995: 72–78).
Kubik’s field experiences in Togo and Dahomey (Benin) and in Nigeria (Yoruba) have taught him to exercise restraint when faced with broad generalizations about religious symbolism in the blues; he urges an integrated, contextual analysis rather than broad, essentialist claims about “devil” imagery.
Overall implication: while there are compelling indications of African religious concepts shaping blues imagery and idioms, robust conclusions require careful, nuanced ethnographic and historical work that situates the blues within specific regional and cultural matrices rather than sweeping generalizations.
The excerpt ends mid‑thought as Kubik signals continued discussions about the depth and limits of the “devil”/voodoo interpretations in the blues and the need for balanced scholarly caution.
Summary of key cross‑cutting themes
Blues as a product of a multi‑layered historical process, not a single invention or root stock.
The central role of West African instruments, playing techniques, and performance practices in shaping early American blues idioms, transmitted through enslaved and itinerant musicians, and adapted in new social ecologies.
The significance of migration patterns, plantation economics (e.g., cotton gin), and westward/dispersed settlement in creating isolated spaces where hybrid blues forms could incubate.
The tension between literary/musicological analyses and ethnographic/historical approaches to Africa’s musical and verbal heritage, urging integrative study.
Ethical considerations: avoid reductionist “roots” narratives; acknowledge the complex, dynamic, and situational nature of cultural exchange and the power relations that shape musical evolution.
Glossa ry / Key terms and concepts (quick reference)
I–IV–V degrees: the common triadic chord progression in blues and many Western popular musics; expressed as I, ext{(the I chord)}
ightarrow IV, ext{(the IV chord)}
ightarrow V, ext{(the V chord)}, often in a repeating cycle.garaya: a two‑stringed plucked lute from West Africa (Hausa traders; spike‑lute family).
xalam: a Senegambian plucked lute (Wolof); part of ensemble with bowed lutes and calabash.
goje / goge: one‑string fiddles in West Africa (Sudanic belt) that influenced later American fiddle/violin practices.
bandore / banjer: long‑necked plucked lute widely documented among enslaved communities in Virginia/Maryland (19th c.); linked to West African long‑necked lute traditions.
diddley bow / jitterbug: American descendant of central African monochord zithers; a primitive “slide” instrument used by Mississippi blues players.
monochord zither: a simple stringed instrument made from a single string, played with a slider or knife; key in the development of slide guitar traditions in the U.S. South.
ring‑shouts: African‑derived religious expressions that merged into Protestant devotions in some communities after secular dances declined.
devil’s music: a popular trope linking blues with Yoruba/Fon religious concepts; Kubik emphasizes the need for careful, contextual interpretation rather than universal claims.
Connections to broader themes
The blues as a case study in cultural diffusion, adaptation, and innovation under slavery, migration, and economic change.
The blues as part of a broader African diaspora’s musical repertoire, with parallel developments in the Caribbean, South America, and Africa itself.
The interplay of musical technique (monochord, slider, I–IV–V harmony) with social practice (itinerant musicians, plantation labor, religious transformations) in shaping a distinctly American musical form.
Practical and ethical implications for study
Avoid essentializing Africa’s musical contribution to a single “root” or stereotype; treat the blues as emergent from a complex web of interactions across time/place.
Use integrated methods that combine ethnography, historical documents, and musical analysis to understand both the sound and the social meanings of blues practices.
Acknowledge the agency of enslaved Africans and their descendants in innovating, adapting, and propagating musical forms within harsh social conditions.
Recognize the political dimensions of scholarly work in this area, including how “roots” narratives can shape cultural identities and claims to heritage.
Notes on references and figures cited in the excerpt
Epstein (1973): Key compilation of sources on African musical influence in the early Atlantic world, including:
Airing captives on deck with music and dance, use of African instruments, and the spread of West African instruments to the New World.
Discussion of a Senegambian barrafoo and an eighteenth‑century African drum in the British Museum (Exhibit 1368; Sloane bequest, 1753).
Insights into West African impact on the southern Atlantic coast’s musical culture and instrument inventory.
Kubik (1987, 1989a, 1996, etc.): Proponent of an integrated approach to West African music and oral literature, fieldwork across Togo, Dahomey, and Nigeria; emphasizes cautious interpretation of “devil” imagery and the blues.
Coolen (1982): Analysis of Senegambian ensembles including xalam, bowed lute, and calabash; notes similarities to American fiddle/banjo ensembles.
Graham (1994): Documentation of Appalachian/ Ozark traditions, including mouth bows and the diffusion of African bow techniques into European‑American communities.
Handy (Handy 1970; 1903 Tutwiler anecdote) and Williams (Big Joe Williams) as sources for the transition of African monochord zither ideas into early blues playing styles.
Dena Epstein (1973) and John Davis (1803) provide historical anecdotes about enslaved musicians, dances, and performances that illuminate the social milieu of early African American music.
Figures referenced: Fig. 1 (map of the southern United States region under study), Fig. 2 (garaya lute), Photo 1–7 (visual documentation of instruments and players), Photo 3 (Cotton gin), Photo 4–7 (mouth bows and monochord zither examples).
This set of notes captures the major and nuanced points from the provided transcript, emphasizing the historical context, sources, cross‑cultural connections, instrumentologies, and the rise of blues as a sung literary genre within a continuum of African and Euro‑American influences.
The notes identify several African music characteristics and influences:
Instruments: Long-necked plucked lutes (e.g., xalam, garaya, bandore/banjer), single-string bowed lutes (e.g., goje/goge), two-stringed plucked lutes, west-central Sudanic harps, calabash, mouth bows (e.g., chipendani), and various forms of monochord zithers, including those made from raffia stalks and the “one-stringed instrument” family.
Playing Techniques: The slider technique, which originated with monochord zithers and influenced the development of slide guitar. There's also evidence of technique transfer from African fiddling/one-string traditions to European instruments like the violin.
Tonalities/Scales: The presence of neutral thirds and varying sevenths, suggesting shared tonal traits with European-American folk music traditions.
Performance Practices: Solo singing accompanied by West African-designed plucked lutes, improvisatory musicianship, and the practice of encouraging music and dance on slave ships. Anecdotes also suggest African dance forms persisted, such as dances to procure rain, which later transformed into religious expressions like ring-shouts.
Oral Literature/Lyrical Themes: The blues is noted to possess African roots in the realm of oral literature, with themes related to magic, voodoo, and the concept of the “devil,” reflecting reinterpretations of Yoruba/Eṣù and Fon/Legba religious concepts.