Old European Culture

I will be using two sources for this next section: • “The Story of Jazz”, Marshall W. Sterns,Oxford University Press, New York, 1958 • “A Story of Jazz”. Paul Tanner amp; Maurice Gerow, W.C. Brown Co.,Iowa, 1973 Each island in the West Indies represents a unique blend of African and European elements. Dutch Guiana - now the Republic of Suriname - had a large element of slaves who escaped into the interior jungle and they retained almost all their African heritage; those who remained on the coast and in close contact with the predominant European culture lost most of the African heritage. Haiti is a predominately Dohomean/French culture and the music is a blend of French folk melodies with African elements. Cuba is a predominately Yoruba/Spanish culture and the music also reflects this - the Habanera, Guajira, Punto, and Guaracha contain strong Spanish elements; the Rhumba, Conga, Son Afro-Cubano, Mambo, and the Cha-Cha are predominately African. Trinidad is a mixture of Spanish, French, and English influences - Spain and England held it as a colonial possession and the French entered as colonists ...»