41 Comments

Bravo Ted, this is superb writing and research. I love the illustrations.

In Orlando Figes book The Europeans, he writes about the importance of Spain and Russia as European points of contact with the so-called 'Oriental' world. If you haven't read it, I think it is very relevant to what you are writing about now.

It's no coincidence to me that the South of Spain has one of the richest musical traditions in the world, even though it is very hard to encounter in an authetic form. You're much more likely to find it in Seville's edgy 3000 Viviendas estate or in a music contest in Granada's prison than some overpriced restaurant in the caves of Granada. I live in Spain, and many flamenco musicians identify with Black Americans, on the basis that both are treated as an underclass and use music to maintain their dignity and express the pain of living in difficult cirumstances.

"Not long ago, many Spanish scholars denied these non-European influences on their music, but that never made much sense."

I think there is a central lie to every nation or culture, and the central lie to Spain is the denial African heritage, ancient and recent (I mean just look at the guitar!) In fact the ritual of re-enacting the Reconquista annually strikes me as a way of maintaining this delusion, as what is lost in the spectacle is that when the Catholics conquered Spain they did not drive out or execute the bulk of the population but demanded them to convert. In this sense the Moors never really left Spain but - as is almost always the case - they simply changed alligence and religion (and not just Muslims, but Jews also, who were able to coexist in the Moors more tolerant civilization than the one that followed it).

So much of Spanish culture from its food, ceramics, quadrant gardens, language (aceite, alfombra, azucar, Hola etc.) dance, clothes, and music, is heavily influenced by African culture. I think you're onto something with this strand of research. You seem to understand something about Europe that very few Europeans truly acknowledge.

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Fascinating insights, thank you.

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One of the best articles on music I've read, and I've been reading them since 1956.

Music crosses borders and gets adapted. The Maghreb was always a part of the Mediterranean world and Troubadours began in Languedoc on the border of the Pyrenees. Just as "La Dolce Stil Nuovo" began in Sicily and was transformed by Florentine poets into the sonnet, the prevailing short poetic form until the 20th century.

The cultural stew of America has been simmering for a millennium.

Morris Dancers etymologically certainly are from "Moorish," but in their case it may be more deeply connected to Celtic symbols of Light and Dark. Gets really dark this time of year in Northwestern Europe.

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Thanks for this comment. I may write at some point about the linkage between the Sicilian strambotto and the sonnet—a development that is similar to the emergence of the kharja in medieval Spanish multicultural lyrics (completely unknown to scholars until the 1940s). This would be part of a larger essay on how artistic innovation Europe came from the outside, starting in coastal communities, borderlands and fringes, and only gradually reaching the center of the continent. Places like Sicily, Lesbos, Islamic Spain, etc. served as entry points for innovation, but this dynamic is hidden from view in most textbook accounts.

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Gobsmacked by your approval. Ted, you are among the most perceptive and knowledgeable out there.

Thanks

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There is also the example of African musicians who travelled in Europe and were invited to visit King Malcolm’s court in Edinburgh in 1487. They never left and by 1510 there was a thriving African Scottish community in Edinburgh. (Catholic Association for Racial Justice)

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Amazing story. The man portayed in the painting by Jan Mostaert is not Vicente Lusitano, but assumed to be a member of the court of emperor Charles V. Since this is the only known portrait from this period of an African man in clothing of Western European royal courts, it sometimes appears as an illustration in articles about Lusitano.

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Oh my god!! That music! “Heu me Domini” by Vicente Lusitano… sounds so modern! You got me reading up on 16th century chromaticism… fascinating stuff!

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“Western song styles became dominant because they were the most multicultural musical idioms in the world” - a cool tenet!

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I read your compelling piece about African influences on European music this morning while I was listening to a CD. Specifically, I was listening to Christian Hommel’s recording of J.S. Bach’s Concerto in A major for oboe d’amore, strings and basso continuo (BVW 1055). I cannot imagine better circumstances. This was real serendipity. If I did have any doubt or reservations about your post, they would have floated away with the sound. The African influences are that evident. This was were audible proof of African influence on Bach.

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The Russian poet Pushkin’s grandfather was an African, and a favorite at the Court of Peter the Great.

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The grandfather was also the second black man to become a general in the Tsar's army, was a military engineer, became part of the Russian nobility, was Pater I's godson, and also convinced A. V. Suvorov's parents to allow him to enter a military academy.

He also had a complicated love life.

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How interesting--thanks!

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An Ethiopian Christian, I believe

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"Diversity was their strength. It still is."

Sad how some rant against this "idea."

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Late addendum.

Some people's idea of diversity is occasional t bone steak instead of filet mignon.

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Don't forget the fries 😋

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Nah, with their filet mignon they will have potatoes au gratin.

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Dec 19, 2023
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Before you can have diversity there must be distinct, established cultures. THEN something can happen when they meet.

Just saying 'diversity is the key to all creativity' is nonsense.

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If you hold out a hand, and it is not accepted, the tension will remain.

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Interesting. History always manages to topple our prejudices. Thanks.

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So you used to buy music from his catalogue too! Yes he had his own music label, Original Music. I still have some of those recordings that are mainly African music from Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Congo, Sierra Leone et al. He was a very learned man and lacked any pretension. You are right someone should do a bio. He certainly deserves to be remembered in this way.

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This is a fascinating story, Ted. The images are also amazing.

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Thanks for sharing! Super interesting history 👌

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This is amazing. Could be a great appendix to Douglas Murray's book the War on the West, where at the end he begins to describe how the West (in general) has always uniquely valued learning from and gleaning from other cultures. This is very clear in its music, as you point out!

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Influences coming from the periphery inward. Accepted more easily because of fragmentation. Something to do with long coastlines.

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Interesting you should mention Elvis Presley, who was of Melungeon ancestry, a mix of white, Native American, and black.

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Provocatively well said, Sir. You offer insightful observations and connecting of dots heretofore seldom related to one another by those up in the ivory towers (some of whom have been at sufficient elevations long enough for the oxygen starvation to have made the brain damage irreversible). You'll be attacked from all sides, for denying the primacy of the attackers' traditions, when in fact you are celebrating the uniqueness of ALL traditions and reveling in the upward spiral music takes when these diverse influences become confluences in the larger flow of culture, which must grow and change or die.

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