Join us for "Enslaved Violinists: Labor, Learning and Listening," a talk by Dr. Maria Ryan, on Feb 24, at 5 p.m. The event will be held in C. Ruth Edwards Music Hall, Room 202. In this talk, Dr. Maria Ryan will explore the possible lives of enslaved musicians in the British colonial Caribbean, their training and the role of musical labor during slavery.
Throughout the centuries of the enslavement of Africans and their descendants in the Americas, certain people were trained as musicians in a way that the people who enslaved them understood a musician to be. Usually, these were men, and they were often taught the violin. The time-consuming investment in their training and financially costly provision of their instruments was redeemed in the musical service they provided for the people that claimed to own them. Yet, despite the ubiquity of enslaved African and African-descended violinists across colonial America, evidence about the logistics of how they were trained, from where and whom they acquired their instruments, and their own feelings about playing for the people who claimed to own them, are scarce. Come join us for this talk to learn more!