The blues is a musical genre originated in the Deep South by African-Americans. This genre is characterized as a lament or as a melancholy piece of music performed through storytelling. Blues saw a rise in the late 19th century and attracted the attention of many party goers and city workers. By the 20th century, the blues expanded throughout the United States and to various parts of the world. One person that was particularly affected by this movement was Bessie Smith. As a youth, Smith performed throughout the city of Chattanooga, TN to raise money for her impoverished family. Venturing out into the streets of Chattanooga allowed for Bessie to be exposed to what was known as “secular” music. Eventually, Smith was able to launch her career …show more content…
Both Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith spoke of same-sex relationships in their songs but also revered the attention of men. Smith's husband Jack Gee and she often had conflicts due to their infidelities as well as Jack’s controlling behavior. Due to this, Smith’s riveting relationship with a touring girl named Lillian Simpson was kept a secret among the women that Smith toured with (Albertson 1972). Eventually, Smith’s extracurricular activities with women were revealed to Gee, causing their marriage to end. These were aspects of Smith’s life that she put on display through her vocal performances. An example of this is Rufus and Ben Quillian’s “It’s Dirty But Good,” that Smith performed, the lyrics state, “I know women that don't like men The way they do is a crying sin. It's dirty but good, oh, yes, it's dirty but good There ain't much difference, it's just dirty but good. "It's Dirty But Good," (1930). Additionally, Smith paved the way for many African-American artists to express their sexual desires and preferences. During Smith’s career, she surpassed the standard pay rate for both women and African-American musical performers. Smith was the highest paid African-American entertainer during her time. This phenomenon was not the case; at the beginning of her career, much like many other African-American performers, Smith was often cheated out of her pay cut. As she continues to perform and her talents became undeniable, Smith began to make upwards of $2,000 a week. Much of this money went towards her luxury lifestyle which included, her wardrobe, gambling, and drinking
Blues has played an extreme role in todays’ music. The music genre of blues, helps us express ourselves in which you can feel it from the ubiquitous in the jazz to the blues scale and the specific chord progressions. To start off, the blues is musically originated by African Americans in the deep South of the United States. Growing up in a southern household, I was used to listening to a variety music, but blues was always most listened to. Every time I listen to blues, the lyrics often deal with personal adversity, and it goes far beyond pity.
Religion is one point McDowell brings forth in her essay, during the Jazz era she stated that singers such as Bessie Smith, Gertrude Rainey, and Victoria Spivey sung about sexual feelings in their songs. Women during this Jazz era were freer about their sexuality, but due to this freeness, an article called “Negro Womanhood’s Greatest Need” criticized the sexuality of Black women. In this article, the writers criticized Black women of the Jazz era; one part stated “…“speed and disgust” of the Jazz Age which created women “less discreet and less cautious than their sisters in the years gone by”. These “new” women, she continued, rebelling against the laws of God and man” (p.368). Women showing expressing their sexuality is not only an act against God, but also against men.
The blues emerged as a distinct African-American musical form in the early twentieth century. It typically employed a twelve-bar framework and three-lined stanzas; its roots are based in early African-American songs, such as field hollers and work songs, and generally have a melancholy mood. The blues can be divided into many sub-genres, including Classical, Country, and Urban. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the careers of two of Classical blues most influential and legendary singers: Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith.
Rhythm and Blues also known as R&B has become one of the most identifiable art-forms of the 20th Century, with an enormous influence on the development of both the sound and attitude of modern music. The history of R&B series of box sets investigates the accidental synthesis of Jazz, Gospel, Blues, Ragtime, Latin, Country and Pop into a definable from of Black music. The hardship of segregation caused by the Jim Crow laws caused a cultural revolution within Afro-American society. In the 1900s, as a method of self-expression in the southern states, the Blues gradually became a form of public entertainment in juke joints and dance halls picking up new rhythm along the way. In 1910, nearly five million African Americans left the south for the
Eleanor Roosevelt, whose life did not look promising in the beginning with the loss of both her parents early on, ended up changing a worldShe then went to live with her grandmother who sent her to Allenswood Academy for girls. Described as an astute and observant child who had self confidence issues. There Eleanor studied under Marie Souvestre, a dedicated feminist. Eleanor would not finish school there as she hoped. Being called home Eleanor returned, at the age of 19 , as the niece of the president of the United States of America, Teddy Roosevelt. Eleanor began a relationship with her fifth cousin Franklin, the following year he proposed. They married in 1905. Their marriage was tested when Franklin cheated on Eleanor, she offered him a
Musicologists have dated the ‘birth’ of blues to be around 1890 as a West African tradition involving blue indigo in which mourners at ceremonies would wear blue dyed attires to resemble their suffering . Although, blues derived from times of slavery, the Prohibition Era (1920’s), World War Two (1939-1945), and during the Vietnam War (predominantly 1960’s to 1970’s), it has been a continuously evolved form of music in America, in which the similarities have always remained; melancholy and protest.
Blues music emerged as an African American music genre derived from spiritual and work songs at the end of the 19th century and became increasingly popular across cultures in America. The Blues is the parent to modern day genre’s like jazz, rhythm and blue and even rock and roll, it uses a call-and-response pattern. While Blues songs frequently expressed individual emotions and problems, such as lost love, they were also used to express despair at social injustice. Even though Blues singing was started by men, it became increasing popular among women, creating one of the first feminist movements. Ma Rainey, a pioneer in women’s
Flying is a big part of life. We use it for the injured to get them to hospitals, protecting people from criminals, tourists, we also use flying for the army and entertainment on holidays, and more. Bessie Coleman was one of these people who used flying for her own entertainment and to make people happy. Often Bessie would fight for what was right by not using violence. Bessie Coleman was the first Native American pilot. But what makes Bessie Coleman so important?
It is very difficult to determine the exact origin of the blues. Although its earliest roots evolved from West Africa, the blues probably emerged in the United States around the 1800's relative to the African America plight into slavery, as spirituals, work songs, and "arhoolies" (traditional, vernacular, or regional music) (The Arhoolie Foundation). All had some form of influence on the blues as a distinct form of music. The emergence of the blues would have occurred with the social and economic circumstances of the African Americans. (Crosby) Blues was a way of communicating discontent. But it was the spiritual blues that was the music of an unhappy people - the music that told of death, and suffering, and a cry for some hope of freedom and liberation from their torment. Yes, the slaves did get their freedom but were still bound to their "Chains" by racism.
The 20s was a very influential decade with large events such as the end of World War One, the release of F. Scott Fitzgerald's “The Great Gatsby” , “The Jazz Singer” which was the first talking motion picture to ever be shown in the US, and the start of the great depression. Blues music made its grand premiere during the 20s and continues to inspire and be prevalent today. The blues grew up in the Mississippi Delta just upriver from New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz. Blues and jazz have always influenced each other, and they still interact in countless ways today. Blues was played primarily by African American slaves, ex slaves, and the different descendants of slaves. They would sing while picking cotton and digging through vegetable fields all about their troubles. Well-known blues pioneers from the 1920s such as Son House, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Leadbelly, Charlie Patton and Robert Johnson usually performed solo with just a guitar. The targeted effect that the blues and jazz music had on people was to relieve the stress and anger and pain of being in a dramatically changing society. For the first time, more Americans lived in cities than on farms. The nation's total economic wealth more than doubled between 1920 and 1929, and this economic growth swept many Americans into an affluent but unfamiliar “consumer
Bessie started by working small-time traveling tent shows. With the help of Clarence she began her professional career in 1912, and soon became a featured singer. Smith was an established star with the black audiences throughout the south by the time she moved to Philadelphia in 1921. However, two more years would pass before she would begin her recording career. Soon after moving to Philadelphia, Smith supposedly auditioned for Okeh and other...
The Blues started in the late 1800's in levee camps or plantations in places like Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas were many African Americans lived. The blues of that time was called country blues. It was a mixture of African music, field hollers, work songs, religious music, and ragtime.
For Stanley, the blues tell the stories of the African-American community. Some of the stories talk about the harshness of their lives, but they also talk about the good times they had. [People] play the blues to get rid of the blues not to get them." (Lamb, 1). When people play or even listen to the blues, they are letting all of their worries go. They are not worrying about their job, the bills, or their kids. They are just trying to enjoy the moment when the blues are playing. The blues are some people's release from the stresses of their lives.
Bessie Smith is the best blues singer of the twentieth century because the legacy she left behind still affects us today. Bessie Smith is known as the “Empress of Blues”, and this title is well deserved. Bessie Smith is the most influential and significant blues singer of the twentieth century. Bessie Smith's ability to have full control over the genre was amazing because it allowed her to have a soulful but powerful performance ("Bessie Smith Queen of the Blues"). Smith's work ethic that was drilled in by her older sister helped her launch and continue on with her successful career. Because of Smith's work ethic, she was able to rise out of poverty and into fame (Forman). Bessie Smith influenced many other singers like Billie Holiday, Janis Joplin, and more ("Bessie Smith"), and she also had role in changing the musical landscape for African American women (Machado). During her prime, Bessie Smith sold thousands of records and was well paid ("Bessie Smith Queen of the Blues"). She signed with Columbia Records and the focus of her songs were about a woman's control over her body and sexuality (Machado). Smith's success gave hope to
The blues, a uniquely American art form, was born on the dusty street corners of the Deep South in the late 1800s. An evolution of West African music brought to the United States by slaves, created the blues which was a way for black people in the south to express their hardships, heartbreaks, religion, passion, and politics that they experienced in their day-to-day lives. The majority of blues songs were never written down, let alone recorded, but instead, were passed on from one musician to another and played on a variety of instruments including a number of stringed instruments, harmonicas, and horns. Once blues songs began to be officially recorded in the 1920s, the most frequently found instruments were guitars and pianos. However, the basic 12-bar style and three.-chord progression have remained the same throughout the years and continue to be key components of the blues.