Azizi was absolutely correct in observing that there are very few "people of color" participating at Mudcat these days ~ certainly, very few African-Americans. There is certainly much less discussion of the blues and of other African-influenced American forms than there was only a few years ago. I think that's undeniable and, though not necessarily a bad thing, it can't be dismissed with the dumb comment that "we're all of color" (e.g., ranging from pasty white though pale pink to maybe a sort of beige-ish tan, relieved by the occasional sprinkle of freckles).

Where she was out of line, in my judgement, was in objecting to the absence of significant references to Negritude in this discussion of Barbershop singing. Is there any more lily-white musical endeavor extant in contemporary culture?

I found the message that revealed the possibility of any African-American influence upon the early roots of Barbershop to be very interesting food for thought. It was interesting and revelatory precisely because current-day Barbershop culture is white as Wonder bread.

If anyone had been able to expand on this observation (rather than simply to complain that it wasn't enough), it would have been great ~ but apparently there just isn't much more that can be said on the topic.

The ability to sing in harmony is not exclusive to any ethnic group. Each of our many diverse clans includes musical geniuses as well as a few tone-deaf members. Styles may differ of course ~ harmony singing that developed among Caucasian communities can be expected to sound different from the vocal mixes produced by groups of African descent. But clearly, members of any nationality, or "race," or whatever, are capable of developing their own harmony-singing traditions.

In the case of the barbershop tradition, it may or may not be true that the earliest examples of that defining close-harmony style may have developed among African-Americans. However, it's at least as likely that it developed as part of the minstrel-show scene which consisted of white folks trying to emulate and/or parody black music, with varying levels of success.

American music, which has pretty much become "world" music by now, can generally be described as a marriage of African and European traditions. That's what makes it so great! Many traditions or "subgenres" ~ blues, jazz, etc. ~ may justly be regrarded as primarily African, wherein most of the important artists may indeed be of Arican descent. But it stands to reason that others, while incorporating important African elements, are predominantly European in style and approach, and attract performers from primarily European/Caucasian backgrounds. I would think that Barbershop clearly fits the latter category.