Musician to Discuss Link Between Music & Slavery

Blues and spirituals of the 19th century changed how Americans listened to music.

It helped them understand and recognize different musical jazz styles, even better than their European counterparts, said Ray Kamalay. 

Kamalay, a musician based in Detroit, Mich., will discuss the history of American music – spirituals, blues and early jazz – and trace their origins to slavery- during an Oct. 3 talk at Princeton Public Library titled "Freedom, Slavery and the Roots of American Music." Kamalay will also perform several songs. 

"Americans are so used to different kinds of syncopation that they can easily distinguish between various forms of jazz or the difference between a ragtime and a cakewalk, and lots of different things," Kamalay said. "And that’s because the American ear is more trained, at least along those lines of Americanism.”

Kamalay draws up upon his degree in political philosophy, including ancient slavery, in his music lectures. 

“I’ve been putting two and two together ever since, for about the last 20 years and it’s really turned out to be less a discussion of musical idioms, more a discussion of the international history of slavery," he said. 

In ancient Rome, for example, if a slave ran away from his master, he was 'stealing' himself because hadmaster had rightful possession. 

“And consequently, they were making themselves contraband, stolen property," Kamalay said. 

Using that same rationale, white people generally didn't attend attend shows with black musicians before the Civil War, he said. 

“Not just out of racism, which there was, but also the fact that a large percentage of black people in the north were escaped slaves, contraband, stolen property," Kamalay said. "And there were bounty hunters all over looking for them.”

Instead, people flocked to Minstrel shows, performed by white people in blackface. 

Fascinated by musical history, Kamalay has worked with Howard Armstrong, an African American fiddle and mandolin player who died in 2003 at the age of 96.

Although Armstrong didn't record his music or compile it into sheet music, he knew his repetoire of songs from playing them over a 70-year career. 

“He just had an astonishing treasure trove of American music from virtually every old kind of institution, camp meeting, vaudeville shows, you name it,” Kamalay said. “He was a fiddle player and mandolin player. He sang in eight languages. I mean, what a nut.”

Kamalay's talk, “Freedom, Slavery and the Roots of American Music” is scheduled for Oct. 3 at 7 p.m. at the Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon St. Admission is free. For more information, call 609-924-9529 or visit PrincetonLibrary.org.