Hidden in the depths of the BBC World Service archives is an excellent series of three radio programmes looking at the ways in which music from Africa has developed and influenced many musical genres. The programmes can be heard by clicking on the audio buttons here:- The Musical Legacy of Slavery, but the sound quality is better if you listen on Real Player. The programmes are introduced by Rita Ray and contain some wonderful examples from Sierra Leone, Caracas and the United States. I particularly liked the quote from Taj Mahal wondering "What was it about a plucked string that really just scraped across my soul?"

The other pages on the BBC World Service site on Abolition are also well worth exploring, as are the pages on the main BBC site commemorating the Bicentenary of Abolition.