Q-

I agree with much of what you're saying above but as applied to the "music hall." Is not "minstrel theatre/minstrel singing" a distinct musical art form?

Both venues were certainly a contemporary source of catch phrases, tunes, for the "shanty mill" of the mid 19th century. "The Jolly Roving Tar" is a good example of a sea song that can be directly traced to the music hall sheet music. And "Coal-Black Rose" is a shanty that can be traced back to the minstrel song of the same title. Each had been extensively "folk-processed" as collected later on from sailors but no one would confuse the source of either.

I would be more convinced that the slang term "bulgine/bullgine was not invented by Black Americans if someone could dig up an 1846-1849 British news article which used the term.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble