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Call and response (music)

Succession of two distinct phrases usually played by different musicians

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By region

Africa

In many African cultures, call and response is a pervasive pattern of democratic participation in public gatherings in the discussion of civic affairs, in religious rituals, as well as in vocal and instrumental musical expression in order to add depth to songs and performances. These call-and-response practices were often accompanied with specific dance movements and/or foot movements. African call-and-response music was also characterized by its improvisation and spontaneity, with the responding "audience" hosting the ability to add their own creative touches in order to create interplay between the leader and responding group. Most of the call-and-response practices found in modern culture and music originated from many African regions.

This back-and-forth musical interaction is also prevalent in many African drumming traditions. These drumming performances are usually broken into a call-and-response setting. The master drummer sets a pattern, and the accompanying drummer responds with either the same or a different pattern.

In oral traditions in Africa, call-and-response is usually incorporated. Griots would recite historical tales, with the audience responding at key moments with phrases of agreement and participation while engaging the audience.

North America

Enslaved Africans brought call and response music with them to the colonized American continents, and it has been transmitted over the centuries in various forms of cultural expression—in religious observance, public gatherings, sporting events, children's rhymes, and most notably, in African-American music in its myriad forms and descendants. These include jazz, soul, gospel, blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, funk, pop, and hip hop. For example, the recordings entitled "Negro Folklore from Texas State Prisons" were collected by Bruce Jackson on an Electra Records recording. Call and response are widely present in parts of the Americas touched by the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The tradition of call and response fosters dialogue, and its legacy continues today, as it is an important component of oral traditions. Both African-American women work songs, African American work songs, and the work song, in general, use the call-and-response format often. It can also be found in the music of the Afro-Caribbean populations of Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, and many nations of the diaspora, especially Brazil.

Call and response is extensively used in Cuban music, where it is known as coro-pregón. It derives from African musical elements, both in the secular rumba and in African religious ceremonies (Santería).

South America

When enslaved African populations were brought to work in coastal agricultural areas of Peru during colonial times, they brought along their musical traditions. In Peru, those traditions mixed with Spanish popular music of the nineteenth century, as well as the indigenous music of Peru, eventually grew into what is commonly known as Afro-Peruvian music. Known as “huachihualo“, and characterized by competitive call-and-response verses, it is the defining trademark of various musical styles in Afro-Peruvian musical culture, such as marinera, festejo, landó, tondero, zamacueca, and contrapunto de zapateo

In Colombia, the dance and musical form of cumbia originated with the enslaved African population of the coastal region of the country in the late 17th century. The style developed in Colombia from the intermingling of three cultures. From Africa, the drum percussion, foot movements, and call-and-response. Its melodies and use of the gaita or caña de millo (cane flute) represents the Native Colombian influence, and the dress represent the Spanish influence.

United Kingdom

In 1644, lining out – where one person sang a solo (a precentor) and others followed – is outlined by the Westminster Assembly for psalm singing in English churches. It has influenced popular music singing styles. Presentinge line was characterized by a slow, drawn-out heterophonic and often profusely ornamented melody, while a clerk or precentor (song leader) chanted the text line by line before it was sung by the congregation. Scottish Gaelic psalm-singing by prepresentinge line was the earliest form of congregational singing adopted by Africans in America.

Call and response is also a common structure of songs and carols originating in the Middle Ages, for example, "All in the Morning" and "Down in yon Forest", both traditional Derbyshire carols.

Hawaii

Call and response can be found in Hawaiian Traditional music and is still found to this day.

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