The Microsoft Teams link for this event will be emailed to all attendees the day before it takes place. We will also send a reminder nearer the time.

African – American Composers

Black composers were on the forefront of American popular music during this period; ragtime itself was the combination of African syncopation over a European march beat and it formed the basis for the development of blues and jazz. Growing up as the children of former slaves, many black composers and musicians had to navigate, and even perpetuate, racism in popular entertainment as they grew their careers.

This performance will focus composers such as Shelton Brooks and Scott Joplin, trailblazers such as W.C. Handy ‘father of the blues’, Ernest Hogan ‘father of ragtime’, and James Bland, who spent two decades in London and once performed for Queen Victoria.