post 11

The music of the Gullah come from the mix of cultures from the rice coast area of Africa. As these cultures mixed there was nothing impeding them from developing further as these Africans were imported into the states and left with little interaction with the whites. In this way, their culture, heritage, traditions were preserved.

Music of these people consist of melodies that may not even be called melodies. The singing portion of this culture are with words that are just made up by the singer. The melodies, are also primarily decided by the solo singer, and everyone follows this person. There are songs that are set on how they are played/and/or sung but in general, the people follow the lead singer. Also, working as a salesperson for the things they grew, they would sing things like "strawberries" or such things. In general, songs and such were very simple because they were remembered and sung by those who had no education in music. All they knew was the songs taught to them by ear and what they had grown up hearing. After many years, these people no longer sing in their language from African but in English. Now there are few that can actually recite things in the original language. Music is now mostly drum beats that are played with multiple hand drums (and multiple people). Everyone is part of dancing to the drum beats, very much like other African drum beats.

Their music was about the community. It was about being who they were. They were all performers with their drums, sticks, bead gourdes, etc and they were all the audience as well. The music was very well integrated into their lives for themselves and to others and for their God as well.