3. • “Approaching the common I heard the most
extraordinary noise….
• … a crowd of 5 or 600 persons assembled in
an open space or public square.”
• “Formed in circular groups… women
dancing... hardly moving their feet or bodies.
• Benjamin Latrobe in Impressions Respecting New
Orleans 1818-1820
4. • “The music consisted of two drums and a stringed
instrument. An old man sat astride of a cylindrical
drum about a foot in diameter, & beat it with
incredible quickness with the edge of his hand &
fingers. The other drum was an open staved thing held
between the knees & beaten in the same manner. The
most curious instrument, however, was a stringed
instrument which no doubt was imported from Africa.
On the top of the finger board was the rude figure of a
man in a sitting posture, & two pegs behind him to
which the strings were fastened. The body was a
calabash. It was played upon by a very little old
man, apparently 80 or 90 years old”
