Work Songs
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A work song, in definition, is simply just a song that one works to. Throughout history, music has been used to not only motivate but also synchronize the efforts of laborers of all trades and cultures. The Vietnamese called them Ho, the 18th century sailors called them Shanties, and the African-American version of this time-honored tradition is sometimes referred to as field hollering. Yet, these songs were most prominent in slave times, when the African-American workers would use music to communicate ideas and emotions through the barrier of language.
Ships would travel from Africa filled to the brim with people from completely different civilizations, that differed in culture, custom, and language. Yet, music is the universal language, and the people were able to communicate. This ideal, traveled with these ships and instituted themselves into not only the work ethic of the slaves at that time, but also into what would be the core inspiration for African-American music throughout history. Work songs were used during fieldwork to keep the men motivated and on task. This feature expanded into a way to also keep the necessary synchronization for railroad track alignment.
Some work songs are ballads about the life of the worker, while other songs set a rhythm to encourage workers to move at the same pace...