African American Rhythm and Percussion Traditions of New Orleans, Mississippi, & Georgia

The historical context of African American drumming is one in which African drums and drum making traditions were transported to North America with enslaved Africans, but did not survive or evolve into the present day. Instead, African American drumming is a tradition in which African rhythms survived and are expressed on European-derived percussive instruments. Included in this list are also traditions in which everyday objects are used in place of actual drums, traditions in which stringed instruments (i.e., the banjo) are used percussively, as well as traditions in which the body (hands, feet, etc etc) is used as a primary source of percussion/percussive effect. This playlist serves to showcase both the particular percussive-rhythmic traditions among African Americans throughout the southern U.S., specifically in the states of New Orleans (the birthplace of jazz), Mississippi (the arguably somewhat apocryphal birthplace of the blues), and Georgia (specifically traditions among the Gullah people of the low country/Sea Islands), as well the ways in which they are both distinct as well as homogenous.