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The Influence Of African Americans In Music
The Influence Of African Americans In Music
The Influence Of African Americans In Music
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Nina Simone sang songs of love, protest, and black empowerment in a rough-edged voice. Nina was one of the most extraordinary artists of the twentieth century. She was an icon of American music and some people called her a griot. She used her remarkable talent to make a legacy of liberation through empowerment, passion, and love through bodywork. She was a musical trademark.
Anne Moody in her book “Coming of Age in Mississippi” recounts growing up within the Jim Crow ’s law south where she was involved in a Civil Rights movement as a young adult. While reading this book we get to check her first-hand thoughts and recollections of the struggle while growing up encircled by racial discrimination that existed in the society and the difficulty one had to go through to fight it. The book includes a personal touch pertaining to instances from Anne’s life.
Her song, “Mississippi Goddam,” (written about the assassination of civil rights leader, Medgar Evers) was her first protest song, soon following with “Four Women,” and “Young, Gifted and Black.” However, she was reluctant to write protest songs at first, as shown in her autobiography, ‘I Put A Spell On You.’ She wrote, “How can you take the memory of a man like Medgar Evers and reduce all that he was to three and a half minutes and a simple tune? That was the musical side of it I shied away from; I didn’t like ‘protest music’ because a lot of it was so simple and unimaginative it stripped the dignity away from the people it was trying to celebrate. But the Alabama church bombing and the murder of Medgar Evers stopped that argument and with ‘Mississippi Goddam,’ I realized there was no turning back.”
In “The Coming of Age in Mississippi,” Moody demonstrates her independence by confronting racial hatred without fear and playing a key role in the American civil rights movement in the 1960’s.
Although a poet rooted in the folk tradition of the African American South, Finney’s work relies upon the spiritual and aesthetic influence of West African tradition, the womanist wisdom of her maternal grandmother, Beulah Lenorah Davenport, and her family’s political commitment to equality and social justice (Beaulieu 333). She mingles the personal with the public in order to share the experience with her readers and therefore truly express their feelings. “I think that my putting myself in my poetry is me saying to my readers and my listeners “I’m willing to stand here and be as vulnerable as perhaps I am making others and situations vulnerable in my work. I have to be willing to do that” (Finney, “Interview with: Nikky Finney.”).
The purpose of “Why, You Reckon?” by Langston Hughes is to accurately display, through the times of that century and human emotion, that despite money, power, and the color of your skin there can still be an unhappiness of the soul. There is evidence in the beginning of the short story of two men’s unhappiness in life the symbol of them being uncontent was their hunger. “Man, ain’t you hongry.... Well, sir, I’m tellin’ you, I was so tired and hongry and cold that night.” (253- 254).
In Anne Moody’s Coming of Age in Mississippi (1968), there are many situations that arise throughout Moody’s life, which show hope prevails supporting her ending statement “I WONDER. I really WONDER.” Although there are many stories of murder and racism scattered throughout this story, these events keep a young Essie Mae curious and a young adult Anne Moody determined. Since the curiosity and determination Moody possesses stems from these acts against the Negro population, it ultimately gives her the hope to look forward to the rights she will gain after testifying to the events that have taken place in Mississippi. Every sit-in and protest Moody participates in shows the underlying hope she has that Negros will one day have the same rights as white people.
In 1971, Alvin Ailey choreographed Cry, a three part work solo dance set to gospel music that describes an emotional journey filled with struggle, hardships, defeat, survival and joy. It was intended as a birthday present to Alvin’s mother and a dedication to all black women everywhere. The first part of the dance is the struggle of trying to maintain pride irrespective of the opposition faced from outside. The second part reveals the sorrow within after the woman’s pride has been shattered into pieces and finally the third part is a spirited celebration of finding strength and joy in God. Even though cry was dedicated to only black women, i argue the notion that all women both black and white of the nineteenth century could relate
She contrasts two images to show how segregation between white people and people of color still exists. There are numerous protests ongoing in response to the events in the USA and other apparent racist incidents, making this poem pertinent to our current cultural circumstances. Additionally, millions of people use the trending hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on social media to express their belief that people of color face discrimination. However, the significance of this poem does not stem from the history lesson we are taught. The image of the poet having full access to the Mississippi beach in 1970 serves as a symbol of hope that things will improve and that the world will one day be a better
As Hughes’ works were well published, African Americans, not just from Harlem, started to follow in his footsteps and create art that celebrated their skin colour. Professor Bercovitch argues that The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain “embod[ies] the voice of the community”, attributing his popularity during the Harlem Renaissance to this communal voice that speaks for those who cannot (Bercovitch, 2003). In addition, in the 1960s, Hughes befriended the popular singer Nina Simone, encouraging her to use her music to further the civil rights movement. Hughes was an inspiration to Simone, who was already an established voice in popular culture and the civil rights movement. Hughes even wrote The Backlash Blues for Simone to perform as a protest song.
His song “Alabama,” which was released on Coltrane Live at Birdland , was especially gripping, both musically and politically (Tramell). The notes and phrasing of Coltrane’s lines are based on the words Martin Luther King spoke at the memorial service for the girls who died in the Birmingham bombing. Coltrane's “Alabama” sheds its sad mood for igniting energy in listener and reflecting the strengthened determination for justice. In a way, Coltrane’s music impacted people’s emotion and led them to join the
A component in Beyoncé’s song Flawless is a speech by feminist Chimamanda Ngozi Adiahie. Feminist Chimamanda Ngozi Adiahie is a highly educated novelist writer whom has won many award in her profession. Beyonce included Chimamanda Ngozi Adiahie speech in her song as it involved and covered many important factors that go along with the feminist context of the song. Both Beyoncé and Chimamanda Ngozi Adiahie are passionate active feminists. Implied was he use of first person i.e. “I am” in the speech plays a very important role in the speech as it adds additional emotion and coveys the feminist attributes and attitude from a personal level and perspective coming first hand.
However, to black listeners, the lyrics represent actual freedom- from slavery or from discrimination. Protest songs during the Civil Rights Movement also often utilized double meaning, but “Mississippi Goddam” broke away from this structure in the traditional sense. Instead of lyrics with multiple meanings, Simone made the meanings of her lyrics very explicit . The double meaning of the song lay in the tune, which was upbeat and resembled a traditional show tune, thereby making it accessible to a wide range of listeners but yet still with a clear message to convey.
Based on Simone's intimate performance, I can relate to her situation through her longing vocals. Allowing myself to express my feelings of unrequited love through her words. 0:00 Introduction: The piano, playing in low-key, sets the tempo in a brief opening. 0:08 Chorus 1, Section 1: Nina begins singing the lyrics. Simultaneously, the piano sets the motive in which
1. Comparative Abortion Policy Analysis ( Case Study on Poland and Ireland ) In the research field of comparative social and public policy, the most important feature is that the paper examines the specific institutional, historical and political features of the countries covered, instead of offering a “standardized” approach and framework where only carefully selected data are accepted for incorporation into the analysis. The object of looking abroad is not to copy but to learn under what circumstances and to what extent programmes effective elsewhere may also work domestically .Moreover, the failures of other governments offer lessons about what not to do at far less political cost and expenditure than making the same mistakes yourself.
