Wow - my Viking ancestors are responsible for spreading "the funk" amongst the white folk. That's awesome.
And to pick up again on the earlier thread of writing about music, there is a fascinating book that digs into the way our brains deal with music (tempo, meter, syncopation, etc, etc...). "This is Your Brain on Music" by Daniel Levitin is a cool read, especially for those of us who are prone to ponder and obsess about such things.