Different Drummers: Rhythm and Race in the Americas (Music of the African Diaspora, Volume 14)

292 Pages·2010·2.37 MB·English

by  Martin Munro

Different Drummers
MUSIC OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA
Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr., Editor
Samuel A. Floyd, Jr., Editor Emeritus
1. California Soul: Music of African Americans in the West, edited by Jacqueline Cogdell
DjeDje and Eddie S. Meadows
2. William Grant Still: A Study in Contradictions, by Catherine Parsons Smith
3. Jazz on the Road: Don Albert’s Musical Life, by Christopher Wilkinson
4. Harlem in Montmartre: A Paris Jazz Story between the Great Wars, by William A. Shack
5. Dead Man Blues: Jelly Roll Morton Way Out West, by Phil Pastras
6. What Is This Thing Called Jazz?: African American Musicians as Artists, Critics, and
Activists, by Eric Porter
7. Race Music: Black Cultures from Bebop to Hip-Hop, by Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr.
8. Lining Out the Word: Dr. Watts Hymn Singing in the Music of Black Americans,
by William  T. Dargan
9. Music and Revolution: Cultural Change in Socialist Cuba, by Robin D. Moore
10. From Afro-Cuban Rhythms to Latin Jazz, by Raul A. Fernandez
11. “Mek Some Noise”: Gospel Music and the Ethics of Style in Trinidad, by Timothy Rommen
12. The Memoirs of Alton Augustus Adams, Sr.: First Black Bandmaster of the United States
Navy, edited with an introduction by Mark Clague, with a foreword by Samuel Floyd, Jr.
13. Digging: The Afro-American Soul of American Classical Music, by Amiri Baraka
14. Different Drummers: Rhythm and Race in the Americas, by Martin Munro
Different Drummers
Rhythm and Race in the Americas
Martin Munro
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Berkeley Los Angeles London
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sity presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by
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University of California Press
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University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2010 by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Munro, Martin.
Different drummers : rhythm and race in the Americas / Martin
Munro.
p. cm. — (Music of the African diaspora ; 14)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-520-26282-9 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0-520-26283-6 (pbk : alk. paper)
1. Blacks—Caribbean Area—Music—History and criticism.

2. African Americans—Music—History and criticism. 3. Brown,

James, 1933–2006—Criticism and interpretation. I. Title.

ML3550.M86 2010
780.89'960729—dc22 2010005646

Manufactured in the United States of America
19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is printed on Cascades Enviro 100, a 100% postconsumer
waste, recycled, de-inked fiber. FSC recycled certified and processed
chlorine free. It is acid free, Ecologo certified, and manufactured by
BioGas energy.
For Cheralyn
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Slaves to the Rhythm 1
1. Beating Back Darkness: Rhythm and Revolution in Haiti 24
2. Rhythm, Creolization, and Conflict in Trinidad 78
3. Rhythm, Music, and Literature in the French Caribbean 132
4. James Brown, Rhythm, and Black Power 182
Conclusion: Listening to New World History 214
Notes 227
References 251
Index 269
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Acknowledgments
I wish to thank Ramsey Guthrie for his interest in this project and for sharing his
expertise. I am very grateful to Mary Francis for her encouragement and guid-
ance, and to Eric Schmidt and Suzanne Knott for help in the production stages.
Sincere thanks to John Cowley for information on Trinidadian music, to Charles
Forsdick for many useful reading suggestions, to Laurent Dubois for very helpful
comments on the manuscript, to Celia Britton and J. Michael Dash for contin-
ued support, and to Martin Chisholm and Pat Crowley for enduring friendship.
Many thanks to Bill Bollendorf for help and advice on Haitian art. Love to Jean,
Gary, and Alan Munro. My deepest gratitude as ever is to Cheralyn, Conor, and
Owen for companionship, love, and sharing thoughts on music new and old.
ix