[Harp-L] Hi Life / Ju-Ju/ Blues

["Steve York" <bandbase2@xxxxxxxxx>]

<<Considering that JuJu and Highlife are contemporary forms which evolved in
the 20th century, somehow I doubt this. Blues has some similar traits with
the griot (primarily Manding) traditions, but is not simply the same thing
in the US. It can be hard to tell what influenced what now, because there
has been a great cross- fertilization of African musics with
African-American forms in the 20th century--and this is particularly hard in
West Africa, which was the origin of most Africans in the American slave
trade. But if you look to the older traditions you can see some significant
differences between West Africa and the African-American southern
musics--for reasons I'll get into below.>>

I worked with a number of Ghanaian and Nigerian musicians in the UK. They
were all adament that JuJu and Hi Life were derived from US sources, most
notably James Brown. Having said that, BS'ing is also a West African
tradition.


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