Different Drummers: Rhythm and Race in the Americas / Edition 1

by Martin Munro

Overview

Long a taboo subject among critics, rhythm finally takes center stage in this book's dazzling, wide-ranging examination of diverse black cultures across the New World. Martin Munro’s groundbreaking work traces the central—and contested—role of music in shaping identities, politics, social history, and artistic expression. Starting with enslaved African musicians, Munro takes us to Haiti, Trinidad, the French Caribbean, and to the civil rights era in the United States. Along the way, he highlights such figures as Toussaint Louverture, Jacques Roumain, Jean Price-Mars, The Mighty Sparrow, Aimé Césaire, Edouard Glissant, Joseph Zobel, Daniel Maximin, James Brown, and Amiri Baraka. Bringing to light new connections among black cultures, Munro shows how rhythm has been both a persistent marker of race as well as a dynamic force for change at virtually every major turning point in black New World history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520262829
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	07/16/2010
Series:	Music of the African Diaspora , #14
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Martin Munro is Associate Professor of French and Francophone Literatures at Florida State University.

Table of Contents

Contents
Acknowledgments

Introduction: Slaves to the Rhythm

1. Beating Back Darkness: Rhythm and Revolution in Haiti
2. Rhythm, Creolization, and Conflict in Trinidad
3. Rhythm, Music, and Literature in the French Caribbean
4. James Brown, Rhythm, and Black Power

Conclusion: Listening to New World History

Notes
References
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"A compelling interdisciplinary exploration of rhythm and sound in the circum-Caribbean."—Oxford Journal

Editorial Reviews

Examining Black music in the western hemisphere since slavery, this book makes clear the essential role it has played in culture, politics and social change.

B.l.a.c.

A compelling interdisciplinary exploration of rhythm and sound in the circum-Caribbean.

Oxford Journal - Kaima L. Glover