JAZZ 3000 YEARS OLD

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 185, 22 May 1939, Page 4

JAZZ 3000 YEARS OLD

EGYPTIAN REV ELATION Jazz music is generally believed to bo of negro origin. Rut members of the Robert -Mend Expedition of the JEjgypt Exploration Society, excavating at Armant not so long) ago, brought to light huge slabs of stone which once formed the entrance to the temple of Tliotmos m. On these stones were carved figures performing intricate ceremonious dancing steps that, upon close study, proved to be jazz as it is danced today, showing that this form of music existed 3300 years ago. What is the origin of the word “jazz”? It is possible that it is of Greek origin, coming from the word “deos,” meaning God, which is in Latin “dens” and in Portuguese “dios.” The Portuguese colonists may have carried the word to the African coasts, where Africans, describing the God-house, corrupted it to “Josshouse.” The music used for primitive African ceremonies was called “Jossmusic,” and it is an easy transition from that to “jazz-music.”