African American culture  Polyrhythm  Traditional African music, particularly that of West Africa, is known for its highly complex polyrhythms and, unlike the examples given below, the downbeats do not usually coincide. Rhythms and counter rhythms evidence the common African cultural tradition of call and response, with different drum lines, other musical instruments, bodies and voices contributing rhythmic elements that complement and communicate with one another. This element of instrumental, as well as vocalized, call and response is also evident in the polyrhythmic quality of jazz, a musical form with its origins in the African American community. African American music is rooted in the typically polyrhythmic music of the ethnic groups of Africa, specifically those in the Western, Sahelean, and Sub-Saharan regions. African oral traditions, nurtured in slavery, encouraged the use of music to pass on history, teach lessons, ease suffering, and relay messages. The African pedigree of African American music is evident in some common elements: call and response, syncopation, percussion, improvisation, swung notes, blue notes, the use of falsetto, melisma, and complex multi-part harmony.  http://webhollis.com/albums/Funny-Fo...t_A_Cookie.jpg    Whatever you say, chief.  The African pedigree of African American music is evident in some common elements: call and response, syncopation, percussion, improvisation, swung notes, blue notes, the use of falsetto, melisma, and complex multi-part harmony.  <<that's funny because all of that stuff is present in traditional European music too. Especially the so-called blue notes, Irish and British Folk music is just full of those blue notes, except they call them bent notes or long notes I think. Once again....all they can talk about is moosic.:D No, I really want to hear some music FROM AFRICA , not some supposed African influence that was supposedly imported to America and intermingled with European styles(there is no African influence in American music, Blacks were completely acculturated before they ever left the plantations). I want to hear some real AFRICAN MUSIC, you know, from Africa, not America. I especially would like to hear some African traditional music that sounds even remotely similar to Blues, Jazz or Rock n' Roll. :D I also want examples of Black culture that don't have to do with American music. Which...either way you want to look at it...even if there really was an African influence on certain genres of American music, there is still always a European influence too so if anything that would make it just American music, not really White or Black, not African or European. So still not true Black culture or Black music in it's purest form. I'm looking for a real, authentic, uncut slice of Africanness here, Jack. :p