Every other day in music history, the teacher would tell us that everything comes from something no matter what it may be. When our class got the topic of blues, we watched a documentary explaining how blues brought the many different cultures together and how it was originated. Blues also known as ragtime is a type of jazz created with a twelve bar pattern. It had rhythms and melodies that had a specific style. Blues did not just affect people, but it was added to other genres of music that we listen to today.(“Ragtime and Blues”) Blues has evolved so much over time with how it started, how it affected the world, and how it is now. This genre of music has many stories behind it; when a composer played and song blues anyone could tell the story, (“Blues”) Sonya Baker stated that slaves would use these songs for call and response and work songs. The slaves did not just sing, but they added their own moves and sounds to create what they called Negro Spirituals. (291) Many people that listen to blues would say that the lyrics came from sadness. (“Blues”) The songs were based off the different lives people had and the experiences they would go through. When singing the songs, it was to get people to listen to what may have been happening to them. The songs were heartfelt and the people just wanted their life to better. Blues was for the people to get out things they could not just say so they expressed it in a song. This genre of music was also to give advice to people and help others who may have been going down the wrong path. (Long A female artist from Clarksdale, Mississippi named Tina Turner. Tina was recognized for her unique voice technique, legs, and burst of energy that she gave while performing on stage. Tina was a part of a group with her husband called “Ike and Tina”. They combined country blues, ghetto rhythm, and gospel, but because of the abusive relationship, Tina left the group. On her own, she won four awards and Record of the Year. (Turner) Another famous artist would be Ray Charles from Albany, Georgia. Ray Charles who played music called soul music. What mostly stuck out about this man was that he played the piano and song blind. Ray was not always blind; he lost his sight at the age of seven. Ray Charles invented soul music from rising the emotion expressed through jazz. He won many awards given from National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. (Charles) The King of Blues, B.B. King did not start as a blues singer. He started as a gospel singer then changing over to blues because his was not making money. (Doughty 56) King did write or sing just about his own life. He expressed the different situations going on in the world at the time and how music brought people together. (Wheeler 160) Lucille B.B. King’s guitar had a unique sound to it that paired with his voice. B.B. King became known as the “King of Blues” because of his listeners and the radio stations gave him the name. (Doughty
Typically when they sing using sadness they sing about negative points in their life, negative subjects all workers relate to, or the pain that comes with their work. When they sang using a sad tone it was called a blue devil or sometimes just blues. They used these names to describe their blue mood. A quote describing why blues are sad by Joe louis: “The man says, why I sing the blues is because I lived it. I know how it feels. When your hurt you gotta tell somebody. Somebody must understand how you feel . The only way to do it is to say it loud and clear. Make sure that everyone will hear. Its the truth the way it is. That’s why I sing the blues. “ The reason people sing blues and sad songs during the time is to let off steam, and to get your emotions out of your system instead of letting steam build up to the point you explode.
The blues is also about saying what you feel the moment expressing yourself without even caring what others think which is kind of like modern day rap. In American history, the blues all started on Southern
As time progressed, music had to continue to evolve to keep up with the ever-changing styles. Blues slowly began to morph into Rock and Roll to engage people of a new era. While many changes occurred in creating Rock and Roll, it continued to carry undertones of the Blues. This can be heard while comparing Son House’s, “Walking Blues” and Elvis Presley’s, “Blue Moon of Kentucky.” These two songs show many similarities, while also having their own identities.
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
For example, the 1st song “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Bessie Smith, who of which was nicknamed “Empress of the Blues” was a mainstream African-American female Blues singer. The 2nd song “When you’re smiling” by Louis Armstrong, King of Blues, was an African-American trumpeter, composer, singer, and an occasional actor. Furthermore, he was the most prominent figures in jazz. The final song “East of St.Louis Toodle-oo-” by Duke Ellington is, once again, an African-American composer, pianist, and bandleader of a jazz orchestra that lasted about 50 yrs. Additionally, he was known for his nickname “The King of Jazz”.
Correspondingly, blues was used as labor music, which developed the term ‘call and response’ . Call and response was a way of unifying everyone who was undertaking the same hardship. Blues has thus become a way of bringing people together; they share misery, protest and express themselves through using this genre as their vehicle. The blues has a purpose of making the voice of the people heard by their oppressors, or the social, political or economic hardships experienced.
B.B. King was a blues singer and guitarist. His full name is Riley B. King. He was born September 16, 1925, near Indianola, Mississippi. An important aspect in King's life was, of course, when he was first exposed to the blues. 'I guess the earliest sound of the blues that I can rremember was in the fields while people would be pickin' cotton or choppin' or somethin,' " he told Living Blues . " When I sing and play now I can hear those same sounds that I used to hear then as a kid."
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
Ragtime and Blues are different in that they originated from different places. Blues developed in the south. Blues is mainly a vocal music. It was emotional, in that the earliest form was singing and hand clapping. The blues started out with slaves because they would use it to sing about their pain and problems. However, ragtime was popular among many Americans and flourished. The term “ragged time” came to be used to describe its key trait which was syncopation. Ragtime music is tuneful, but it is primarily rhythmic. Whereas a blues song can be sung freely by one person, or a chorus, without a strict rhythm, ragtime is more like a march. The popularity of ragtime flourished at world fairs and was welcomed by many people. Both styles
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.
He had exposure to several different genres growing up in his St. Louis, MO hometown. He heard country from the whites, rhythm & blues (R&B) from mostly blacks, even Latin music. His family environment set him up well for future success while growing up in a middle class home in the middle of the Great Depression of the 1930s. His parents sun...
James Baldwin is a writer from the twentieth century. He wrote “Sonny’s Blues,” a short story with the image in Harlem, as many of his stories were, was published in 1957. “Sonny’s Blues” is about the narrator, who remained nameless, and how his life changed after he discovers his brother’s drug addiction. “Sonny’s Blues” highlights the theme of light and darkness throughout the story’s good and bad event, the struggles of brotherly love, and the dilemmas that the narrator and Sonny face as siblings by being raised the same but taking totally different routes in their lives.
They were a mixture of story telling and talking with a definite call and response. Religious music was very important in forming blues music. Because most blacks went to Christian churches from an early age and were exposed to Christian hymns. Ragtime was an influence that came later and is a faster blues played with the piano and someone singing which was usually played in bars called barrel houses.
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.