Jazz Grew
In Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed, an epidemic by the name of Jes Grew sweeps across the country causing people to dance to exhaustion. Old people find the dance scandalous. The spread of Jes Grew seems to have a lot of parallels with the development of Jazz in the US during the same time period of the 1920s.
Jazz has its roots in West African music. During slavery, African traditions and music were repressed in American, there were gatherings of slaves in Congo Square where they would preform traditional music and dances. Their music incorporated drums, which were not used classical European music. In Haiti an other Caribbean islands, musical traditions lived on and were later reincorporated into American music by musicians who traveled between the US and Cuba. Jazz music grew out of New Orleans. It was played in vaudeville shows, bars, and brothels, spreading it to the rest of the US.
The parallels between Jes Grew and Jazz should now be clear. In Mumbo Jumbo, Jes Grew has its origin Haiti, where African rhythms survived slavery, and first spreads to New Orleans. Papa Lebas shows us Jes Grew's connection with Voodoo, an African religion. While Papa Lebas welcomes Jes Grew as an anti-plauge, the Atonists, who represent the dominant European culture, are determined to end it. This is similar to how jazz was most prominently an African-American form of music, while the more traditional white communities didn't participate in the Jazz movement.
Ishmael Reed uses Jes Grew as an analogy to the Jazz movement in 1920s America. Reed cleverly critiques race relations in America with his plot line of the Atonists fighting Jes Grew while Voodoo culture embraces it. It's interesting how Reed can turn a culture war into a plague and keep the connection so clear.
Jazz has its roots in West African music. During slavery, African traditions and music were repressed in American, there were gatherings of slaves in Congo Square where they would preform traditional music and dances. Their music incorporated drums, which were not used classical European music. In Haiti an other Caribbean islands, musical traditions lived on and were later reincorporated into American music by musicians who traveled between the US and Cuba. Jazz music grew out of New Orleans. It was played in vaudeville shows, bars, and brothels, spreading it to the rest of the US.
The parallels between Jes Grew and Jazz should now be clear. In Mumbo Jumbo, Jes Grew has its origin Haiti, where African rhythms survived slavery, and first spreads to New Orleans. Papa Lebas shows us Jes Grew's connection with Voodoo, an African religion. While Papa Lebas welcomes Jes Grew as an anti-plauge, the Atonists, who represent the dominant European culture, are determined to end it. This is similar to how jazz was most prominently an African-American form of music, while the more traditional white communities didn't participate in the Jazz movement.
Ishmael Reed uses Jes Grew as an analogy to the Jazz movement in 1920s America. Reed cleverly critiques race relations in America with his plot line of the Atonists fighting Jes Grew while Voodoo culture embraces it. It's interesting how Reed can turn a culture war into a plague and keep the connection so clear.
I like how you describe the struggle between the atonists and JGC carriers as a culture war. Sadly, I still believe that this struggle still continues today. If we are to look at rap and hip hop it is a genre that some people disapprove of, however, it is wildly popular with teens just like how Jazz is popular among the young set. On tiktok teens make jokes about how they listen to rap while living their suburbian life and it is a testament on how music can spread far from where it originates. When music spread so does awareness and acceptance of different cultures and some people like the wallflower order hate that and want to destroy it. Latin American music recently became big in the U.S but before the music wasn't widely accepted in mainstream media and it was looked down upon.
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