Blog post 11: Music Culture of the Gullah People

The Gullah people are a culture of black Americans from South Carolina and Georgia. They were able to maintain there heritage from colonial times, where they were former slaves and rice cultivators. The Gullah tell African folk tales, weave African baskets and make walking sticks. Some aspects of the culture also include drum beats during burial services in order to call people in. The Gullah believe in spirits and many of their beliefs are from their African ancestors. They believe in witches and possession which is reflected in there ceremonial type of music.

The music is participatory in nature, where performers and audience are almost one in the same. There are multiple drums in the performance, with polyrhythmic beats going on. there is dancing and screaming from some women. All of the people are clapping and taking turns in the dancing circle. The Gullah are very charismatic and one can see the assimilation of cultures once the Gullah slaves embraced Christianity, yet maintained there worship style that can still be seen in the charismatic movements today.