Benjamin Barson, assistant professor of music at Bucknell University, held a presentation Friday Nov. 8, in Wood Hall on his new book “Brassroots Democracy.” According to the Wesleyan Press website, it “recasts the birth of jazz, unearthing vibrant narratives of New Orleans musicians to reveal how early jazz was inextricably tied to the mass mobilization of freedpeople during Reconstruction and the decades that followed.” According to Barson, this book was an accumulation of his time as a jazz musician, which made up a large part of his PhD thesis and his time in New York participating in community-led activism work.
The activism that Barson did in New York was quite like what was happening during Reconstruction-era Louisiana, where activists and large brass bands would hold protests and demonstrations. They were met with vitriol from white supremacists and confederates, but they continued headfirst regardless. Brass bands were at the helm according to Barson, synthesizing brass bands and Reconstruction grassroots movements.
Barson next showed a painting of one of these demonstrations, which was about the 15th amendment. The parade included a number of brass bands and former Civil War soldiers, along with Black people holding up banners. A conservative newspaper shared the sentiments of some at the time, “Long before daylight, whites were awoken by the steady tramp of the dark column of radical Republican clubs, whose black activists, the well dressed, barefooted all were united in marching to the music of the promised land.” Barson noted that this paper indirectly showed that these large brass bands became an interclass phenomenon, connecting both former slaves and freedmen together in arms.
These parades were a space for both musical and political expression. As seen in paintings, people would hold up banners that stated their demands. Some of them were eight-hour workdays, a free press and admonishing the contract system — which was the plantation owner’s way to reinstate slavery. Barson emphasized that some black-led reconstruction movements expressed a lot of political ideals and in local governments where black activists gained power, the first modern welfare systems developed.
According to Barson, “Brassroots Democracy” asks: What were the political ideologies of the people leading these types of movements and how was music a part of it?
One quote Barson mentioned states that jazz is “African rhythm and European harmony and instruments.” Such sentiments, however, painted jazz musicians — who mostly descended from Africa — in a negative light. Most Black people who lived in Louisiana during the Reconstruction era descended from Haiti and their inspirations for these parades came from the Haitian revolution. The Haitian revolution inspired not only other slave populations to revolt against their owners, but also helped spread music throughout the Caribbean and the Americas. U.S. plantation owners were wary of this Haitian influence and made sure to, as Barson noted, “Keep plantations as free as possible from French Blacks.”
This phenomenon is detailed in Julius Scott’s book, “The ‘Common Wind’,” which is also the term for the circulation of news about the Haitian revolution that spread across the Caribbean. A big point of this book is the fact that information about the Haitian revolution travelled to other slave populations. Barson wants his book to be the “sonic” “Common Wind,” detailing how song and sound shaped its impact.
Barson’s book details all sorts of musical devices and how they relate with the politics of the time. One example he showcased is the Habanera or Tresillo rhythm, something listeners of Reggaeton may be familiar with. This rhythm is around 200 years old and appeared in the Caribbean. Large drumming orchestras filled with Congolese migrants would play it. This fits into contradanza, a popular form of music in the Caribbean that is derived from country dance in England and Europe, where dancers execute a predefined sequence of dances to a fixed length of music. Ultimately, the tresillo rhythm and contradanza was considered inappropriate for Spanish and English audiences. Barson tells the story of how the son of the Louisiana governor at the time went to a party, heard this rhythm, and came back with soldiers to open fire on the dancers. One reason why people didn’t like this type of music may be its connotation with the Haitian revolution. Regardless, Haitian songs and rhythm continued their influence throughout the 19th century with musicians like Dan Desdunes.
Barson concluded his talk by emphasizing the importance of the intra-Caribbean background that is important in all the music and politics of this era.