“In a 1999 interview in The Paris Review, Mr. Wilson cited his major influences…the blues was the primary influence, followed by Jorge Luis Borges, the playwright Amiri Baraka and the painter Romare Bearden” (NY Times). The blues is different from other forms of music because it was only recorded by memory and was passed down through generations of African Americans. It began in North Mississippi in post-Civil War times. The blues music was influenced by African roots, church music, and rhythmic dance tunes which were called jump-ups. An evolution of African music created in the United States by slaves influenced the blue.
When the fascination for “Negro music” came along many song artist that weren’t African American decided to get into this craze. They started trying to make music that matched the fascination that was
The Life of Muddy Waters Since the beginning of the 1800’s, blues has become one of the United States thriving musical genres. Essentially, blues music has its deep roots in African American history. The first two main types of blues songs known as field hollers and work songs originated on the southern plantations of the Mississippi Delta. While slaves were forced to take part harsh labor, they sang songs that reflected their struggles they were experiencing during that time period.
This kind of music was the source of inspiration for most of the black artists who also played a big role in influencing Michal Jackson and his numerous works. Soul music would be perceived as having an influence on almost every facet present in popular culture. It has its history from Back Power and Civil rights movements that were seen in the 1960s (Soul: a Historical Reconstruction of Continuity and Change in Black Popular Music, 21). Some of the popular genres include blues that are deeply embedded in the black tradition. Blues and specifically country blues has its origin or essence from socially isolated communities in the antebellum period (Soul: a Historical Reconstruction of Continuity and Change in Black Popular Music, 22).
What are The Blues? Where the Blues Started The Blues originated in the early 19th century as a form of a field hollers, a form of singing with quick or jumpy pitch changes, slaves would sing about their troubles, plans, and emotions while working in the fields in a call and response pattern. After the emancipation of the slaves, the genre almost completely vanished because of the lack of record keeping of African American culture during the 18th and 19th centuries. The lack of record keeping should have spelled the end for the Blues; however, all was not lost.
As an African, In spirit and in truth: the music of African American worship answered many questions I had concerning the value of music in African Traditional religions. Traditional music and dance are two of the most cherished elements of the Ghanaian culture, and it is refreshing to know that there is a deep significance behind the music, instruments, and rhythmic movements of African people. When a traveler spends a day in Ghana, he or she would experience a variety of avenues where music and dance dominate. At the market place, in schools, in restaurants, and during weddings, or naming ceremonies, people play music and dance their hearts out. Costen states that Africans express their life experiences through music and dance, and I can agree with the claim.
Various elements, such as creole music, war, blues and slave traditions, blended together and produced jazz. Some of the earliest performers
For those who work to advance the rights and equality of Black people, the music serves as an anthem of inspiration and optimism. For Black Americans, music has always been an essential tool for expressing their struggles, culture, and political action. The African American fight for civil rights and Black liberation is where genres of popular music like Soul and Funk got their start (Maultsby). Soul music has been used to convey the Black American experience and the fight for social justice, according to Maultsby, who calls it "a musical and lyrical expression of African American culture and identity. "
What do you feel when you hear the word “Blues”? Many people believe that the blues is all about sadness, depression, and feeling down. In fact, that is true. Blues music originated during the slavery years in North Mississippi. Its roots came from various forms of African American slave songs, such as work songs, spirituals, field hollers, love, hope, country string ballads, and many other things.
Then, there are the blues, a type of song developed by African American originally that many white American tried to appropriate from African American to only increase their wealth and fame while at the same diminishing the culture of African
The migration of workers to urban areas, prosperity, and the anxiety of social change all contributed to the development of Rock and Roll and Civil Rights. Social anxieties of the Civil Rights Movement such as: institutionalized racial slavery, segregation, discrimination, and the struggle for equality were strongly exemplified throughout African American music, which would soon transform into Rock and Roll. Essentially, Rock music originated amongst the African American culture deriving from jazz, gospel, rhythm, and blues. Ultimately, these genres together corresponded to create Rock and Roll. Seeing that music has the ability to reflect and influence social movements and interactions, the music that becomes popular can gain national recognition (“Concurrent
African-American Music When one states that he or she has the blues they are usually referring to their emotional state of being. The blues is known as unhappy feelings that a person may be experiencing. The blues music as it was known in the late 1800’s came from depression, slavery, and the adversity that African Americans faced in their earlier days.
Introduction African-American pop culture and pop culture in general, may be researched by a lot of researchers but I still get the impression that its roots are badly overlooked. Pop culture isn’t only an entertainment but it has some great depth into it that makes it worth learning the subject. In my thesis, I want to give more attention to the development of the African-American culture throughout all these years from the very beginning. How only one race can make a significant changes, not only in their own nation but in the country they’ve been brought to ruthlessly. It’s amazing how the human race that used to be treated literally like animals, representing the lowest class, benefitted the ones that used them in the past with their creativity
Many modern genres of music have African music roots and are very
Blues music as a genre and form was developed by African Americans in the south of the United States at the end of the 19th century. The genre has origins in many cultures such as in African music, African-American work songs and European-American folk music. Blues music incorporates field hollers, shouts, chants, etc. The blues form, found in jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll, is characterized by the call-and-response pattern, and also the twelve-bar blues structure, which is the most common feature. Early traditional blues verses consisted of a single line repeated four times.
