Amandrai, a song by Ali Farka Tour�
"As American as the blues is, its DNA takes us back to Africa. To Mali, Mauretania, Senegal, Niger, and other countries in what is known as the Sahel, the region of Africa between tropical Africa (Congo, Cameroun) and North Africa. Unfortunately, it was the through the slave trade that the musical and cultural influence spread. Brazil, which got more Africans than the U.S., got most of its slaves from another Portuguese colony, Angola. The U.S. ports of entry for slaves included Charleston, South Carolina and New Orleans. Senegambian slaves were monotheistic (Islam) and either converted or syncretized their belief system into Christianity. By contrast, Catholic countries such as Haiti, Brazil, and Cuba imported slaves from countries where polytheistic religions and animism prevailed. It was also those polytheistic countries that had polyrhythms in their music. Slaves coming to America came from monotheistic, mono-rhythmic cultures. Just compare Brazilian samba or Cuban music with ...
