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Hello fellow musicians of the world. My question is primarily a historical one. As an admirer of both Latin music and blues/jazz, I always wonder why United States music with African roots isn't as rhythm centered as Latin music. I mean, there are a lot of different claves in South America: merengue, salsa, cumbia etc… and flexible claves: samba, bossa nova, etc.… In all these styles, the percussion seems to come from an African origin.

It is not the same in jazz and blues. There is syncopation, but it seems that the concept of clave is not that strong, nor is the use of a variation of percussion instruments of African origin (with some exception - New Orleans, etc.). Why is it like that?

I already got an answer to this, but I'm looking for confirmation from someone who has studied the subject more seriously. The hypothesis suggested to me is that African slaves in South America were allowed to play percussion and that in the United States, it was instead prohibited, so the music developed through singing and later in church chorales and blues.

But then, who was behind that prohibition? Was it the authorities, or was it more a cultural thing: the majority of slave owners had that mentality? Do we have a record of that? Why was singing allowed then? Is that something to do with the model of colonization?

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    I tried to look up something I read long ago, but could not find it. In the process I found this book books.google.com/books?id=SN3bEAAAQBAJ, a lot of the text is available as a preview and should interest you. Personally, I don't know enough to provide a real answer.
    – Michael Curtis
    Commented May 30 at 16:20
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    Great question, I will comment because it’s just a theory but I think North America was ultimately colonized more by Anglo Saxons and the Caribbean, central and South America more by the Spanish and Portuguese, who were probably more used to and tolerant of percussion because of their proximity to Northern Africa.
    – John Belzaguy
    Commented May 30 at 17:33
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    I guess the prohibition on drumming is a significant factor but not the only one. My understanding is that slaves were using drums to coordinate resistance and/or rebellion with slaves on neighboring plantations, and once the plantation bosses realized this they put an end to it. Singing doesn't carry far enough for that (and was probably required to be in English so it could not be used for secret communication).
    – phoog
    Commented May 30 at 17:33
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    @JohnBelzaguy indeed -- not only proximity, but much of the Iberian peninsula had been ruled by North Africa, and musical and linguistic evidence of this survives to this day. It's also possible that Iberian colonizers were more open to musical influence of the colonized people -- for example, the chaconne "reputedly" came from the New World.
    – phoog
    Commented May 30 at 17:39
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    In the book I linked above, which I scanned through, a distinction was made about slave to non-slave populations and the practicality of prohibiting drumming. In the Caribbean, where the population was predominantly slaves, strict prohibition was not practical. The book also points out a connection between slave music making and uprisings.
    – Michael Curtis
    Commented May 30 at 18:44

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One factor that I have read about, although I can't remember the source, is military service in wars like the American Civil War and the Spanish-American War. There were many military musicians, and there were many band instruments available to the general public in pawn shops. Note that the structure of a Scott Joplin rag is very similar to the structure of a Sousa march.

Behind the syncopation in ragtime and the swing in jazz, the accompanying rhythm is usually a straight 2/4 or 4/4 like a march, <1> 2 <1> 2. This contrasts with Latin rhythms that can have irregular beats, <1> 2 3 <4> 5 6 <7> 8 <1> 2 3 <4> 5 6 <7> 8.

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I think a crucial point is contaied in your question: the spanish culture! USA music is a mix of Afro-north-European roots, Southamerican music is a mix of Afro- and South-European roots.

The migrants in the North have been often protestants, while those in the South have been Catholics.

Everyone would agree that the Spanish language is more temparamentful than the Swiss

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