Music: Black Musicians and Music History
This page was originally compiled In celebration of Black History Month but is relevant year-round. A selection of sources on Black and African-ancestry musicians, composers, conductors, and musical narratives.
Books
American Composer Zenobia Powell Perry by
Zenobia Powell Perry (1908-1993) was a composer whose life provides insight to a special time in the 1920s and '30s when black American composers were finally being recognized for their unique contributions to the country's music. Born in Boley, Oklahoma to a black father and a black Creek Indian mother, Zenobia was influenced by both black American and native American folklore, music, language, and poetry. In American Composer Zenobia Powell Perry: Race and Gender in the 20th Century, Jeannie Gayle Pool examines the life of this talented individual who faced tremendous challenges as a female, as an African American, and as a woman of mixed heritage. Based on interviews conducted by the author, as well as Perry's personal papers, correspondence, and scores, Pool provides a rich portrait of this unique composer. Pool also provides an analysis of Perry's musical style, a chronology, a complete list of works, and several appendixes. Raising many complex and unresolved issues related to American blacks with Native American heritage, Perry's life story bears witness to a century in which tremendous strides were made toward equality for all.
ISBN: 9780810863767Publication Date: 2008-12-19
Bibliography of Black Music v. 2. Afro-American idioms. by ISBN: 9780313242298Product information not available.
Bibliography of Black Music v. 3. Geographical studies by ISBN: 0313235104Publication Date: 1982-06-14Product information not available.
Bibliography of Black Music v. 4. Theory, education, and related studies. by ISBN: 9780313235108Publication Date: 1982-06-14Product information not available.
A Black Canadian Bibliography by
A bibliography about works by and about the diverse peoples of African heritage living in Canada. The second section of the book includes audio and video material including contributions in jazz, gospel, reggae, calypso, steel band and dub poetry.
ISBN: 0968273432Publication Date: 2000-
Hidden in the Mix by
Country music's debt to African American music has long been recognized. Black musicians have helped to shape the styles of many of the most important performers in the country canon. The partnership between Lesley Riddle and A. P. Carter produced much of the Carter Family's repertoire; the street musician Tee Tot Payne taught a young Hank Williams Sr.; the guitar playing of Arnold Schultz influenced western Kentuckians, including Bill Monroe and Ike Everly. Yet attention to how these and other African Americans enriched the music played by whites has obscured the achievements of black country-music performers and the enjoyment of black listeners. The contributors to Hidden in the Mix examine how country music became "white," how that fictive racialization has been maintained, and how African American artists and fans have used country music to elaborate their own identities. They investigate topics as diverse as the role of race in shaping old-time record catalogues, the transracial West of the hick-hopper Cowboy Troy, and the place of U.S. country music in postcolonial debates about race and resistance. Revealing how music mediates both the ideology and the lived experience of race, Hidden in the Mix challenges the status of country music as "the white man's blues." Contributors. Michael Awkward, Erika Brady, Barbara Ching, Adam Gussow, Patrick Huber, Charles Hughes, Jeffrey A. Keith, Kip Lornell, Diane Pecknold, David Sanjek, Tony Thomas, Jerry Wever
ISBN: 9780822394976Publication Date: 2013- Keyboard Music of Black Composers: A Bibliography byCall Number: ML128 .B45H68 1992Publication Date: 1992Includes bibliographical references and index
Discography : pages 293-308 
Music of Black America by ISBN: 0393021564Publication Date: 1971-03-01Eileen Southern’s book The Music of Black Americans: A History represents a monumental achievement for its author. Prior to its publication in 1971, American musicology had focused on European music, and studies of American music had not considered Black composers and performers.
A digital appendix to The Music of Black Americans, is available at: https://musicinmoba.harvardmusiclib.share.library.harvard.edu/. The index includes song examples, a guide to the text, and index to musical examples.
Woodwind Music of Black Composers by
The preponderance of early Black composers wrote choral music and even the most outstanding among them did not compose works for woodwinds. However, the later half of the twentieth century has witnessed a rise in compositions for woodwinds, both for solo and chamber ensembles by relatively unknown Black composers. This pioneering volume will become the standard source of information on nineteenth and twentieth century Black composers from three continents as well as their woodwind compositions. It contains the most current and complete biographical data on 90 African composers, Afro-American composers, Afro-Latin composers, and Afro-European composers, including their education and professional experience and information on their continuing musical influence. A distinctive feature is the separate, easy-to-use woodwind music index of both published and unpublished works for solo and chamber ensembles that groups the music by medium and numbers into 27 categories that contain some 430 works. Exact instrumentation, dedication or commission, premiere performance, and publisher are also found here. A list of abbreviations, key to publishers, collections, and manuscripts, and a discography of 38 recordings of woodwind works by 26 of the included composers complete the volume. This first bibliography of woodwind music by Black composers is an excellent reference work for Black composers, for the woodwind repertoire, and for American music in general. It will be highly useful in college-level courses such as Survey of Afro-American Music and Woodwind Literature as well as to woodwind players, ensemble directors, and scholars.
ISBN: 0313272654Publication Date: 1990-01-24
Video
Listening
- Playlist: Black Canadian Musicians and Composers
A selection of works by Black Canadian musicians, composers, and conductors from the Naxos Music Library database.
Websites
- #BlackMusicMatters: Hip-Hop & Social Justice in Canada #BlackMusicMatters: Hip-Hop & Social Justice in Canada is a listening- and inquiry-based resource designed for teachers with students in grades 7-12. It is intended to be used by educators of various disciplines who wish to explore Black culture, history, and creation, specifically through the lens of hip-hop music. The aim of #BlackMusicMatters is to introduce students to Canadian hip-hop artists and their music, while engaging them in critical inquiry of a variety of social justice themes.
- The African American Art Song Alliance The African American Art Song Alliance was founded in 1997 to promote and Uplift the contributions made by African-Americans to art song, be they composers, performers or scholars.
- African Canadian Online - Music (York University) This site provides information on African Canadian artists and their work, links to other Canadian resources on the web, and updates about the activities of the Centre. The Centre for the Study of Black Cultures in Canada endeavours to serve as a stimulus to and focal point for faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, as well as independent scholars who are pursuing research in African Canadian Studies at York and elsewhere.
- African Diaspora Music Project To create a repository for the concert works (those intended for the concert stage; aka classical works) of composers of the African Diaspora. (The African Diaspora in this context is defined as those composers throughout the world descended from people of West and Central Africa).
- Black Canadian composers of art song Part of the Canadian Art Song Project, this page identifies some of the notable composers of Black Canadian Art Song.
- Black Music History Library BMHL is a living register of books, articles, documentaries, series, podcasts and more about the Black origins of traditional and popular music dating from the 17th century to present day. Resources are organized by chronology, genre and/or geography for ease of browsing.
- Center for Black Music Research Center for Black Music Research (CBMR) holds materials highlighting the role of black music in world culture with materials originating or representing black music in the United States, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean in a variety of formats: personal papers, scores, sheet music, audio-visual materials, photographs, books, periodicals, and commercial recordings.
- Institute for Composer Diversity The Institute for Composer Diversity, housed at the State University of New York at Fredonia, is dedicated to the celebration, education, and advocacy of music created by composers from historically underrepresented groups through database resources and programming analysis.
- My People Tell Stories My People Tell Stories was started based on the premise that people of color need to tell and interpret their own stories. We provide services in arts education, including professional development for teachers, artists, and researchers who seek to center diverse, inclusive, and equitable practices in their work. We strive to do work that leads to the healing of mind, body, spirit, and soul.