The Gullah Islands

After viewing the videos about The Gullah People and their ancestors, the first thing I noticed about their music is that they use a lot of membranophones. They focus a vast majority of the music on the rhythm. Even the dance strongly corresponds with the rhythm. Another thing is that the music culture makes sure to involve many different people of the society just as the African society does in its ceremonies. They women were very colorful dresses and some were what seem to be costumes. The singers tend to stretch out syllables over different notes. The songs' lyrics are very detailed as showed in this Gullah Song. One performance by a man seemed to be somewhat of a slam poem. These performances involve many church performances as well as anti slavery rallies. The overall ceremonies seem to be mostly based on celebrating their freedom from slavery as well as celebrating their rich heritage.