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The Strokes - Oblivius

The first determinative episode in the history of African American music can be found in a significant eighteenth century incident. On September 9, 1739, enslaved people from the kingdom of Kongo, which covered parts of today’s Congo and Angola, staged an uprising in Stono, South Carolina. Their goal was to reach St. Augustine in Spanish Florida, where the authorities guaranteed freedom to any runaway. They marched with Colours displayed and two Drums beating. As their numbers grew, they set to Dancing, Singing, and beating Drums, to draw more Negroes to them. In the end, the uprising killed twenty whites and forty Africans.

It is absolutely necessary to the safety of this province, that all due care be taken to restrain the wanderings and meetings of negroes and other slaves, at all times, and more especially on Saturday nights, Sundays and other holidays, and their using and carrying wooden swords, and other mischievous and dangerous weapons, or using or keeping of drums, horns, or other loud instruments which may call together.

It is significant that drums and horns were deemed as dangerous as weapons. The prohibition remained in place until the abolition of slavery. Georgia followed South Carolina’s lead in 1740 and restated the ban in 1845. By law or by custom, drums were proscribed all over the South, except in Louisiana, which was French until 1803 and where drumming was documented until the mid 1800s. Interestingly, the largest slave uprising in the United States took place in 1811 in southern Louisiana, where, in a scene reminiscent of Stono, a crowd of men and women marched along the river, towards the city, divided into companies, each under an officer, with beat of drums and flags displayed.


The Strokes - Oblivius
  • Released in: June 2016
  • Duration: 4:59
  • Genre: Pop/Rock

"The Strokes went on hiatus, with each member working on other projects. During this time, Julian Casablancas collaborated with other artists. At the beginning of 2009, Casablancas and Valensi began work on the Strokes' fourth album."

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