The Birth and Development Music in the Americas
At approximately the same time, around 1900, two musical art forms were generated in the American continent : j azz in North America and t ango in South America. These genres have come to be instantly recognisable and internationally acclaimed and are the definitive music of the countries where they developed . Both forms grew in the poorest areas of the cities : New Orleans for jazz and Buenos Aires and Montevideo for tango. B oth were initiated by the influx of immigrants. Immigration into North America was the result of the slave trade which started in 1501 and was only made illegal in 1833 in England and in 1865 in the USA. Over that period, countries such as Portugal, Spain and England transported an estimated total of 12 million negroes from all parts of Africa to the Caribbean and the southern States of America. They were destined...