Slave Orchestras, Choirs, Bands, and Ensembles

A Bibliography

Abstract

This bibliography collects brief references to ensembles of enslaved musicians in European colonies in the secondary literature. These are often summarized from primary sources consisting of travelogues, diary entries, news reporting, and auction lists of enslaved musicians. Understanding the global history of music should include an understanding of slave orchestras, choirs, bands, and other types of European derived ensembles and how types of forced musical labor has, for centuries, formed the backdrop of colonial music ecosystems globally. Many current music traditions in these parts of the world, including classical music, grew directly from these slave musical groups and have become an inseparable part of new hybridized musical genres, ensembles, and compositional traditions. Using the narratives told in the resources in the bibliography can help make connections to how Western classical music was used as tools of colonialism and how this was tied to musical trends in Europe and the Western world.