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An African Song or Chant from Barbados
| An African Song or Chant from Barbados | |
|---|---|
| Gloucestershire Archives | |
 | |
| Type | Music manuscript |
| Date | Late 18th century |
| Accession | D3549/13/3/27 |
An African Song or Chant from Barbados is a one-page manuscript of a work song sung by enslaved Africans in the sugar cane fields of the Caribbean.[1] Dating from the late 18th century, it is the earliest known such song.[2] It is also the oldest notation of a piece of music from Barbados.[3] Hans Sloane had already written down three African songs in Jamaica in 1688, but these did not come from the context of forced work and are also incomplete.[2]
There are three versions of the manuscript: two rough drafts and one final copy.[4] These are kept in the Gloucestershire Archives in Gloucester, England with the shelf mark D3549/13/3/27.[1] The manuscripts were added to the UNESCO Memory of the World international register, recognising documentary heritage of global importance, in 2017, nominated jointly by Barbados and the United Kingdom.
- ^ a b "An African Work Song, Barbados, ca. 1770s-1780s". slaveryimages.org. 18 July 2016. Retrieved 2025-01-03.
- ^ a b Gibbs, Roger P.; Courtenay, Julie. "Nomination form International Memory of the World Register: An African Song or Chant from Barbados" (PDF). UNESCO Memory of the World Programme. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:2was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "An African song or chant from Barbados". catalogue.gloucestershire.gov.uk. Retrieved 2025-01-09.
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