Slave Songs of the United States

The musical capacity of the negro race has been recognized for so many years that it is hard to explain why no systematic effort has hitherto been made to collect and preserve their melodies. The public had well-nigh forgotten these genuine slave songs, and with them the creative power from which they sprung. These are the songs heard . . Upon the Mississippi . . . wild and strangely fascinating. -from the Introduction The authors lived during the nineteenth century and recorded the music of the slaves from what was actually heard on plantations during, and immediately following, the Civil War. Dramatic and melodious songs like [read more]