|
05 Sep 17 - 10:23 AM (#3875332) Subject: Black experience/ Slave trade From: GUEST,Christopher Thomas Can anyone point me at Broadsides or songs in the British tradition that feature black characters or touch on the slave trade? |
|
05 Sep 17 - 10:53 AM (#3875343) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: meself The Flying Cloud. |
|
05 Sep 17 - 12:22 PM (#3875357) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: GUEST,henryp Sambo's Song written by Alan Bell Sambo's Grave can be found at Sunderland Point, near Lancaster. |
|
05 Sep 17 - 01:02 PM (#3875365) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: FreddyHeadey meself's suggestion mudcat threads Origins: The Flying Cloud thread.cfm?threadid=54665 Flying Cloud: History thread.cfm?threadid=14289 |
|
05 Sep 17 - 10:32 PM (#3875420) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: mg was it thomas moore who wrote virginio? |
|
06 Sep 17 - 06:48 AM (#3875457) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: GUEST,matt milton The song 'Desolation' has the verse: "The captains of whalers are abolitionists They go in for amalgamation; A nigger or a Portuguese is treated like a man But Americans are dogs on Desolation." Which sounds, depressingly, exactly like the kind of nonsense you hear being whinged by racist, whites-first types in 2017! |
|
06 Sep 17 - 09:15 AM (#3875481) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: GUEST What is "white first" about the quote? I don't know the song but in isolation the verse seems to be praising the "captains of whalers" or is this just a knee jerk reaction to the use of the "n word"? |
|
06 Sep 17 - 10:57 AM (#3875499) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: meself I don't think the knee jerk-reaction is on the part of matt milton .... I don't know the rest of the song, but the verse given is clearly implying that the captains are snowflakes/libtards/leftists who are trying to destroy America by favouring the lesser races at the expense the poor oppressed Whites. |
|
06 Sep 17 - 11:15 AM (#3875502) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: leeneia I can't think of a single song about the slave trade. Some things are just too awful for songs. I can't think of a single song about the death of one's baby, about Pearl Harbor, 9/11, or Hurricane Katrina either. |
|
06 Sep 17 - 02:17 PM (#3875534) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: mg Slave's lament was by burns. Darling nellie grey they have taken you away. Lots about slavery itself..oh boys carry me long. Irish slaves..red leg ???? Amazing grace. Lots of stephen foster songs..read original verses.. |
|
06 Sep 17 - 02:59 PM (#3875540) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: David Carter (UK) Leenia: from very different genres, Tears in Heaven and Safe in the Arms of Jesus may have been written as a result of the deaths of the writers' children. |
|
06 Sep 17 - 03:04 PM (#3875541) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: David Carter (UK) Are you interested in modern songs Christopher Thomas, or just traditional ones? |
|
06 Sep 17 - 03:09 PM (#3875542) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: David Carter (UK) The Bristol Slaver by Show of Hands is one I was thinking of. |
|
06 Sep 17 - 05:42 PM (#3875554) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: GUEST,matt milton "I don't know the rest of the song, but the verse given is clearly implying that the captains are snowflakes/libtards/leftists who are trying to destroy America by favouring the lesser races at the expense the poor oppressed Whites." Yes, exactly, that was my point. The verse I quoted is the only reference to race/colour in the song and the song clearly doesn't regard "abolitionists" or "amalgamation" as good things. The rest of the song is a grim and in many ways bleakly poetic vision of the hardships of life on Desolation Island. Were you to simply leave out that verse, you'd have quite a powerful good song, as it happens. That's why it sprung to mind. |
|
06 Sep 17 - 05:44 PM (#3875555) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: GUEST,matt mliton Quite a few references to slaves and slavery in the Bodleian Broadside collection. http://ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/search/?query=slaves http://ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/search/?query=slavery The Bodleian is an excellent resource for finding broadside ballads based on themes: just type your keyword into the search box... |
|
06 Sep 17 - 06:02 PM (#3875558) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: Joe Offer Not traditional and not British, but I'd like to call your attention to Rhiannon Giddens (formerly of the Carolina Chocolate Drops). Her Come Love Come is an amazingly powerful song, as is At the Purchaser's Option." -Joe- |
|
06 Sep 17 - 06:17 PM (#3875565) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: GUEST,henryp No More Auction Block - From The Jubilee Singers by Gustavus D. Pike, 1873 and quoted in The Music of Black Americans, A History by E. Southern, 1983 No more auction block for me No more, no more No more auction block for me Many thousand gone Songs of the Underground Railroad; See Wikipedia page Harriet Tubman - words & music by Walter Robinson One night I dreamed I was in slavery, 'bout 1850 was the time Sorrow was the only sign, nothing around to ease my mind Out of the night there came a lady leading a distant pilgrim band "First mate!" she yelled, pointing her hand "Make room on board for this young man" Amazing Grace - published in 1779, with words written by the English poet and Anglican clergyman John Newton (1725–1807). Newton wrote the words from personal experience. He grew up without any particular religious conviction, but his life's path was formed by a variety of twists and coincidences that were often put into motion by his recalcitrant insubordination. He was pressed (conscripted) into service in the Royal Navy, and after leaving the service, he became involved in the Atlantic slave trade. In 1748, a violent storm battered his vessel off the coast of County Donegal, Ireland, so severely that he called out to God for mercy, a moment that marked his spiritual conversion. He continued his slave trading career until 1754 or 1755, when he ended his seafaring altogether and began studying Christian theology. (From Wikipedia) Not necessarily from British tradition, but often well-known in Britain. |
|
07 Sep 17 - 11:05 AM (#3875672) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: leeneia Guest Christopher Thomas, where art thou? Your question has been answered by Matt Milton, Sept. 6 As for me, I didn't say that no songs on terrible topics have ever been written, I said I had never heard one. I near folk music at places like a session, on the radio, in school, at my brother's house when he gets out the guitar, and other places where ordinary people encounter ordinary music. |
|
08 Sep 17 - 04:49 AM (#3875790) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: Jim Carroll There are a few English equivalents in the form of Transportation ballads; I'm thinking of songs like Virginny-O which always reminds me of the Spirituals. There are a number containing some remarkable descriptions of the slave-like conditions, like The Female Transport (Sara Collins) Of course, The Lags (or Treadmill) Song is a perfect example of slave-labour Jim Carroll |
|
10 Sep 17 - 05:52 PM (#3876389) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: Tootler The shanty Shallow Brown concerns a slave being let out to a whaler during the winter when there is little work in the fields. According to Stan Hugill some plantation owners did this. |
|
13 Sep 17 - 02:25 PM (#3876895) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: Anglo Someone above mentioned The Slave's Lament. Listen to Eliza Carthy's rendition on the first Waterson Carthy album (1994). The song's from Robert Burns. I don't see a YouTube version of that one, but a YouTube search comes up with dozens of versions, including Jean Redpath and Dougie Maclean. |
|
15 Sep 17 - 07:39 AM (#3877182) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: Gda Music A powerful lament from the brilliant Mighty Sparrow. SLAVE I`m a slave from a land so far I was caught and was brought here from Africa Well it was licks like fire from the white slave master every day ah down on me knees And it took weeks and weeks before we cross the seas To reach to the West Indies. CHORUS And then you work and work and get no pay Toil and toil so hard each day I`m dying....I`m crying.... Oh Lord oh..... Oh Lord I want to be free. Many times I wanted to run But the English Slave Master standing there with his gun Oh I know he would shoot to kill So I stayed and prayed but I planning still I studied night and day how to get away Ah got to make a brilliant escape But every time I think bout the whip and them dogs Me body does start to shake. In my heart there was much to say And I hope that the boss would listen to me some day Though he knew my request was small Twas a sting whip that will answer me when I call We had to chant and sing to express our feeling To that wicked and cruel man That was the only medicine to get them to listen And it`s so Calypso began. Times had changed in so many ways Till one day someone said free the bloody slaves I was then put out in the street Got no food, got no clothes, got no place to sleep I had no education, no particular ambition This I cannot conceal Forgot my native culture I live like a vulture From the white boss I had to steal. Lyrics are Sparrow`s from his book "One Hundred and twenty calypsoes to remember". Several different *The Slave* musical performances are posted on YouTube. GJ |
|
15 Sep 17 - 10:42 AM (#3877193) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: meself Thanks for that GJ - that really is powerful. I'm not exactly a Calypso aficionado, but I've never before seen Calypso lyrics that really come across in isolation, read on the page. (I had a chance meeting once with Mighty Sparrow, in Toronto. It wasn't until about thirty years later that I discovered who he was, with the benefit of the internet. I had never forgotten his rather distinctive name.) |
|
16 Sep 17 - 04:03 PM (#3877313) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: jojofolkagogo Yes, song about Harriet Tubman is very good but better still read her history on Wiki |
|
18 Sep 17 - 10:06 AM (#3877522) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: GUEST,Christopher Thomas Just been able to pick this up after a week away: I was looking for something in the British tradition, and not necessarily just about slaving. The evidence looks thin on the ground but thanks for the helpful pointers. |
|
18 Sep 17 - 10:20 AM (#3877525) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: Nigel Parsons I would think you might not find much in the British tradition, as we were often the aggressors in terms of slavery. Hardly: "aren't we good, aren't we great, "We'll sell you workers on the slate." Possibly the closest you'll get is Kipling The White Man's Burden And much of his work has been put to music at some point. Cheers Nigel |
|
18 Sep 17 - 02:58 PM (#3877540) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: GUEST,henryp From Australia; 'The Convict's Lament on the Death of Captain Logan' which we now know as 'Moreton Bay'. Like the Egyptians and ancient Hebrews We were oppressed under Logan's yoke Till a native black lying there in ambush Did deal this tyrant his mortal stroke My fellow prisoners be exhilarated That all such monsters such a death may find And when from bondage we are liberated Our former sufferings will fade from mind |
|
20 Sep 17 - 01:51 PM (#3877870) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: Teribus Not knowing the song and with only this snippet to go from and assuming it is of an age: "The captains of whalers are abolitionists They go in for amalgamation; A nigger or a Portuguese is treated like a man But Americans are dogs on Desolation." Which sounds, depressingly, exactly like the kind of nonsense you hear being whinged by racist, whites-first types in 2017! - Guest matt Milton I think the meaning is very plain and totally at odds with: "the verse given is clearly implying that the captains are snowflakes/libtards/leftists who are trying to destroy America by favouring the lesser races at the expense the poor oppressed Whites. When was the song "Desolation" written? No-one in their right mind would ever describe the Captain or Master of any sailing ship as a "snowflake/libtard/leftist. Onboard their vessel at sea as authorities they were second only to God. The meaning of the verse quoted? What was the purpose of a Whaling Ship? Rhetorical question - The ship existed to make money for its owner, the Captain and the crew, in that order. Who went to sea in the days of sail? Rhetorical question - Those that HAD TO. - The Captains of ships struggled hard to crew them so they could not be fussy about who signed on that's the "amalgamationist" and "abolitionist" bits - anybody would do. Who would the Captain and Officers respect most among those who made up the crew? Rhetorical question - Those who were experienced "whalers" (The Portuguese) and those who could work hardest without complaint (Slaves on loan?) Why would "Americans" be treated like "dogs on Desolation"? Rhetorical question - They were the least experienced onboard a whaling ship, initially at the outset of the voyage they literally would be a waste of space and provisions, who knew nothing, and would not be able to contribute anything until such times as they had learnt the ropes. Absolutely nothing to do with destroying anything. Slaving songs: Congo River would be one. |
|
21 Sep 17 - 01:56 AM (#3877923) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: GUEST Ugh this thread is lefty crap Dont forget the brits ended the slave trade (except in the muslim world) Just so we're clear on facts here |
|
21 Sep 17 - 04:58 AM (#3877938) Subject: RE: Black experience/ Slave trade From: GUEST,matt milton Chris, when you said "I was looking for something in the British tradition, and not necessarily just about slaving. The evidence looks thin on the ground but thanks for the helpful pointers"... did you look at the broadsides linked to on the Oxford Bodleian collection? Quite a few addressing slavery, all of them British. I'd strongly recommend anyone tempted to engage with two of the more recent comments above not to bother. |