Arts and Music in African Derived Diaspora Religions

Abstract

The Europeans and other colonial masters in Africa used religion as one of its strategies to enslave Africans both mentally and physically, which eventually led to highest degree of mental castration. The colonial masters were not clever enough to discern that no culture is superior to others; as long as the culture of the people’s lives are with them, then, such culture becomes authentic. Music and religion in the African setting form a greater part of the cultural lives of the peoples. One of the gravest errors that the colonial masters committed was to first pronounce that Africans had no music, and since the continent was perceived as a “musicless” world space, religions that were part of the bedrock of African music ultimately became ostracized. However, the soul of the two sister arts—music and religion—refused to die; rather, they were transplanted through their reincarnation strength and moved with the slave merchants outside Africa, and became entrenched into the lives of the survivors of the enslavement trade.