Exploring Black Musical Roots

When blacks were abducted from Africa and shipped to America to toil as slaves in fields and homes, they brought with them the music of their homeland: a rich heritage of sounds that evolved into gospel, the blues and jazz.

Musician James Calhoun will demonstrate the history of black folk music Sunday at the Hollywood Los Feliz Jewish Community Center as part of the center’s annual Children’s Performing Arts Series.

The improvisational nature of jazz “goes all the way back to Africa, with street cries and shouts” that people added to, Calhoun said.

“Nothing is ever staid and straight,” he said. “These things are passed on orally, and because they are passed orally, each time they are different.”

Calhoun, accompanying himself on a piano, will begin with African chants and rhythms; then he will demonstrate spirituals and work songs from the days of slavery.

“The spiritual is primarily in the sacred realm,” he said, explaining the difference between that and the work song. The latter were sung as a distraction and sometimes to keep the slaves working together in rhythm.

“There’s some crossover,” Calhoun said. “Like the spiritual, (the work song) has a lot of symbolism.”

Blues started around the time of the Emancipation Proclamation, Calhoun said. Blacks “would sing the blues as the response to the lack of employment” and other problems, he said. “You’re free, but you’re not free. The blues are songs that are sad.”

Jazz developed somewhat later, and again, he said, there was a lot of crossover, with both forms emphasizing improvisation.

Calhoun encourages audience members to join in. “Everybody sings, and there’s lots of hand clapping and foot tapping,” he said.

his is the first performance in the center’s annual series of programs for children ages 3 through 10. The show starts at 2 p.m. at 1110 Bates Ave., Los Angeles. Tickets are $6.50 per person. Children must be accompanied by an adult.