Was Jes Grew always a virus?
Within the scope of the Mumbo Jumbo, Jes Grew most literally represents the growth of Jazz music and culture in America. Through explanation by PaPa LaBas, however, we learn that Jes Grew does not just apply to this singular instance of black culture rapidly going from underground to taking over the mainstream. Jes Grew is the explanation of this phenomenon within American popular culture as a cycle wherein the latest incarnation of Jes Grew emerges to strong opposition, but eventually gets more and more popular, until it has become so commercialized and diluted, that the real art returns to the underground until the cycle begins again.
In class we talked about how mainstream Jazz music started to become much more watered down when it was appropriated for a broader white audience. Innovations within the Jazz scene continued to be made which would have caused a stir in the Jes Grew’s height, but by this point, no one cared, because Jazz was already accepted. This is when Jes Grew dies, or at least goes back underground to develop for when it reemerges into the public eye. In class, we also discussed how the next incarnation of Jes Grew would be hip hop, and what point in its life cycle we’re currently in. All of this got me thinking: what form did Jes Grew take before Jazz? Since Jes Grew is so interconnected with black identity in the Americas, what was the state of Jes Grew even earleir, before the slave trade?
The first question is a little easier to answer, in part because we already talked a bit about it in class. In the same way that Hip Hop was born from the branches of Jazz and R&B, Jazz was born from Ragtime music. As seen in Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow, when Coalhouse Walker first plays ragtime for the family on their piano, they are all very surprised; it sounded so different, and father especially did not like it. Ragtime music featured fast paced, syncopated rhythms that felt off beat and disorienting to the European ear. Additionally, the fact that it was one of the first forms of black culture to enter the general mainstream made it scary to many white audiences, similar to the atonists. One could make an entire argument of Coalhouse Walker being a personification of Jes Grew.
Finally, I want to talk about what Jes Grew could have been before the transatlantic slave trade, because so much of Jes Grew’s identity seems to be rooted not just in the culture itself, but in its introduction into America, under the pretext of slavery. PaPa LaBas states that Jes Grew has existed for eternity; this implies that the majority of Jes Grew’s life has been spent in Africa, we’ve been only focusing on the last 400 years or so. The understanding of Jes Grew as a ‘virus’ is only a modern interpretation of how it has adapted to its new environment. It could be that Jes Grew is just the spirit and embodiment of African culture. Back in Africa, it wasn’t a phenomenon, it was just a natural part of life. When it was taken hostage, and brought to the Americas under slavery, Jes Grew became the force of resistance that we see it as throughout the book. Starting with the work songs sung during slavery, and eventually evolving into Ragtime or Jazz, Jes Grew still embodied the same values as it always did, but just in a new, hostile environment.
Writing this made me think about an analogy between Jes Grew and a disease like smallpox. In Europe, everyone had built immunity to it, so it didn’t really mean anything, but when people came to the Americas, it spread like wildfire, because none of the natives were familiar with it.
-Sahnan
Hi Sahnan, I really liked the disease interpretation with immunity. Especially the dilution of culture as it enters mainstream is emblematic with how immunity works. Once a population gains herd immunity, the disease goes dormant before eventually coming back with a different strain or once enough people have forgotten. An interesting statement is how Jes Grew has been here since the beginning. I wonder if maybe Jes Grew could be more than just black culture but instead decided it resonated most with it and spread from there.
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ReplyDeleteNice blog Sahnan! Your way of tracing Jes Grew as a kind of cycylical force which appears randomly in different eras of Black culture. I found the connection to Ragtime really interesting, as it added a bit of literary context and opened the door for a lot more interesting commentary on Mumbo Jumbo. The analogy to small pox is the essence of this blog, as it accurately shows the infectious and disruptive nature of Jes Grew.
ReplyDeleteHey Sahnan. Great post! I really like how you took Jes Grew and instead of extending it forward, took it backward. It also is really intriguing to think about Jes Grew on more of "virus" terms -- your point about building immunity is really interesting. I do agree, I think Jes Grew became a form of resistance really only after the slave trade. I am looking foward to your next post!
ReplyDeleteIn light of the smallpox analogy at the end, it is true that the Wallflower Order folks allude to an old form of "immunity" to Jes Grew that used to prevail in Europe--and something about this multicultural and diverse context in America has weakened the European "resistance" to the virus. I also like to emphasize the common metaphor of Jes Grew going "underground" throughout history, emerging in various outbursts occasionally--this certainly fits the history of jazz, as you note. Initially the rhythm is infectious and new, leading to an explosion of new dances and new sensibilities, which we can see as white culture becoming "blacker." But once that becomes "popular music" with no clear racial identity (and this means that the white performers become more famous and wealthy than the Black innovators, which also implies that audiences are less discerning and can't tell the difference between the real thing and the simulation), it loses its essentially subversive Jes Grew energies. (No one would worry about "catching" Jes Grew at a middle-school band's "jazz concert," for example--no disrespect to those talented young people trying to work their way through a trombone solo!) Jazz continues to be a startlingly experimental and avant-garde art form in subsequent decades (bebop, post-bop, free jazz, etc.), but these difficult and challenging forms are not danceable, and they aren't wildly popular. So then rock-n-roll takes over the mantle of formerly Black music that becomes wildly popular and controversial when white kids start grooving to it, and the same cycle repeats. But there will always be (according to the metaphor) that "underground" where the real artistic creation is happening, and we can see that as an area where Jes Grew can flourish. The connections back to the centrality of the drum in African culture and religion, which manages to survive through the slavery era, makes this thesis especially strong--we can see a throughline around the primacy of polyrhythm, dance, and call-and-response vocals going from the pre-slavery era all the way through hip-hop and beyond. It really is THE story of original "American" music, which is why it makes me so crazy to hear these Atonists talk about erasing the contributions of Black Americans to what we know as American culture.
ReplyDeleteHi Sahnan. I really liked the way you described and interpreted Jes Grew. I specifically liked your connection to Ragtime, as it seemed to unlock or open more connections relating to Mumbo Jumbo to events experienced or discussed in Ragtime.
ReplyDeleteHi Sahnan, this was such a thoughtful and engaging post! I really like how you connected Jes Grew’s evolution to the broader cycle of cultural expression, appropriation, and rebirth. It makes the concept feel alive and ongoing. Your comparison of Jes Grew’s journey to a virus adapting to new environments was especially nice, since it captures both the resilience and transformation of Black culture through time.
ReplyDeleteHi Sahnan! This was a super interesting blog post, and I think you articulate your ideas very well. I think the quesiton of what Jes Grew was before the slave trade is very interesting, and it's something I hadn't thought about much before reading your blog. I really like how you describe it as similar to smallpox, where people in europe had developed immunity but others in america hadn't, and I think that analogy makes a lot of sense. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteI really liked the idea of comparing Jes Grew to smallpox. The commercialization of hip-hop and jazz can be seen as a method of developing a cultural vaccine, also similar to the actual smallpox vaccine. The whole point was to maximize the exposure to them so that people would be "cured."
ReplyDeleteHi Sahnan! Great post. I'm reminded of how a "victim" of the JG plague is said to feel the spirit of Africa flowing through him: maybe it's about connecting to the motherland and appreciating concentrated streams of pure culture. Your question about pre-transatlantic-slave-trade Jes Grew is really interesting. Great work!
ReplyDeleteHi Sahnan! I think it's really interesting to look back and try to mark different variations of Jes Grew over time and I think you explain them perfectly. I also find it interesting how Ishmael Reed plays into the more Marcus Garvey perspective of the struggle for black liberation which then makes sense why Jes Grew can be traced back to its original form in Africa. Great post!
ReplyDeletehi sahnan! I really liked how you tracked the timeline of Jes Grew and other complicated ideas in your blog post. What really caught my attention was your brief connection of Coalhouse Walker and Jes Grew. I'd love to see another blog post diving into this! I also really liked your description that Jes Grew is like smallpox, and Europe has immunity to it. Very interesting!
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