THE MUSIC OF THE AFRICAN SLAVES THE ROLE OF THE AFRICAN MUSIC IN THE U.S.A. In spite of being a shock subject, American slaves gave great contribution to American Music. Dutch boats landed some African slaves in Virginia, in 1619. A decade later, the trade of the American slaves were in perfect growth. By the end of 1720s there were 75.000 black people in the North American colonies, and in 1790 there were ten times more than this number. Ten years later, in the 1800s, there were more than one million black slaves in America. At this time, the former slaves contributed almost 19 % of the population of this country. In the beginning, the English colonies had no need of slaves, because work was mainly done by white slaves, but the plantations’ growth in the South required the presence of the African slaves. Although some slaves were taken from the East of Africa (Mozambique), the majority came from Angola and from the region of Congo. African slaves travelled in terrible conditions to America. However, they came singing, dancing and beating the drums. The methods used by slave traders were very severe, but it was not of their interest to loose their human pack. Music and dance were used to keep the morale of the miserable prisoners. They used to take the slaves to the deck, to practice exercises. What better exercise could they have than dancing, singing and playing drums? The habit of singing, while they were working was the principal impulse to the growth of the popular Afro-American song. The emphasis put over the « Spirituals » contributed to highlight the religious factor, in Black American music. We know that the slaves in Africa sang during their work; nothing forbade them to do the same in America. Neither the plantations owners, nor the superintendent worried if the slaves sang, as long as they did their work. Singing was considered a good thing, because it contributed to relief from the burden and the boredom of work, and so it would turn the slaves more obedient and satisfied; that is; in the point of view of the owners, less turbulent. They sang sorrow musics. Besides that, their musics expressed their fear and panic of being punished and caught, in case they had escaped. Music, dance, beliefs and religious experiences seem to be the stages of African culture that left more signs in the New World. The song is a typical musical expression of Africa. There were songs for each occasions: marriages and funerals, ceremonies and festivals, for love and for war, for work and worship. The African express all their feelings in songs. 2.2. THE BLACK SPIRITUALS There are few registries of the black singing, in southern plantations before the American Civil War. At the beginning, the black singing attracted the attention of an isolated writer, here and there, in the former period to American Civil War. But it was only during and after the war that the black songs and spirituals particularly began to stimulate a large interest and to receive the global attention. The impulse to the « discovery » of black spirituals came from the North. The black spirituals are the result of the cultural and musical African heritage as well as of the contribution of the « European » religions, which attempted slaves to convert to Christianity. That is, the Black spirituals are a mixture of African and European cultures, inspired in agonies, sorrows, fears and happiness felt by slaves. 3- THE ROLE OF MUSIC AND OF MUSICIANS IN AMERICA 3.1. THE IMMIGRANTS Charles Love was one of the many immigrants in America. In his bag there was a violin, a flaute, an oboe and a bassoon. He rode a white horse and travelled from one city to and other, hoping that all inhabitants of each city would appreciate his talent of being a capricious person, genius in music, dance and in fence. Charles Love was a typical professional musician who immigrated to the american colonies: a symbol of thousands of obscure musicians, more adventuro