On another current thread I had asked about the past contributions of Black Britons to British folk music and their current involvement in the folk music scene there. Some posters responded and suggested that this topic merits a seperate thread. So here goes. I'm reposting my original post and hope that those who responded in the other thread will re-post here.

excerpt of post:

..why is it that we {"United Staters"} can point to the very significant contributions of African Americans to our nation's and the world's traditional music, but there doesn't appear to be the same ability to trace people of Africans descent's contributions to traditional music in Britain? Is it because from which ever century that Africans first came on the scene in Britain as slaves or free[d] people they were eventually {before 20th century Caribbean and African immigration} so throughly assimilated into the culture that one can't say what their contribution was?

end of re-post

Also, here are somewhat related questions:

Aren't there any Black people from Britain posting on Mudcat? If not, why not? And for that matter, surely I can't be the only African American or person of African descent posting here... Where are the "folks" from the Caribbean, Canada, and other European countries besides Britan? And there's Black folks living other places...

Mudcat is a treasure trove of information on multiple genres of Black music. Surely I'm not the only Black person who happened onto or was led to this website.

In the context of sharing information about one's music experiences,and insights on historical examples, it seems to me that declaring one's race has value.

So to any Black folks who've been "passing" here on Mudcat, I urge you to declare yourselves and post on!