If slavery were to truly disappear after thousands of years of dominating human history on this planet, there'd probably be a lot less folk music around! From Jamaican reggae, to Brazilian macaratas, Antillean tambu, American rag-time, blues, gospel, spirituals ... all of these colorful and influential genres sprang from the desperation of a people bludgeoned by generations of slavery.

For every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction indeed!

All of which begs the question - if life were always just peachy-keen, how much "need" would remain for folk music? Would we all just succumb to a content -- and silent -- existence???

As it is today, slavery does at least give certain cultural icons an opportunity to publicly save a little face.   ;-(

daylia