The Delta Blues is one of the richest musical genres in the world. With it’s racially empowered background and unique upbringing, no wonder why it is one of the biggest inspirations of rock n roll. The Delta Blues has one of the most distinct history and musical styles. The Delta Blues was created in the Mississippi Delta when slaves were striped from their homelands. Then they were forced to work grueling hours in plantations. As a way to distract from the pain, slaves would sing “field chants”. It was also a way for slaves to communicate which wasn’t allowed by their owners. Through the chants, slaves could easily coordinate their labor and interact across fields. On their limited days off, usually Sundays, the slaves would come together …show more content…
to sing and dance. Hand clapping played out most of the rhythms, and were very complex. To slaves, dancing and singing was considered to be spiritual and secular. But many white owners were very cautious of the practices, some even prohibited it in fear that it would lead to rebellion. In 1865 slavery was abolished, and African Americans tried to forget the work songs they sang in their time of slavery.
African Americans started to go to school and became accustomed to American culture, so church became a regular thing. In the church they would sing, clap, stomp, and have a call and response way of singing, called Negro Spiritual. Soon Negro Spiritual became well known and some choruses went abroad to Europe or Africa to sing. But the Delta Blues wasn’t created until 1903, when W.C. Handy overheard a traveler on a train platform in Mississippi. W.C. Handy, considered the “father of blues”, was born in Florence, Alabama, on November 16, 1873. Handy’s love for music showed at an early age. African American folk traditions inspired the blues Handy contributed in.. He had a few up and downs in his life, but his big break came in 1896 when he joined the W. A. Mahra’s Minstrels as it’s bandleader. He stayed with that group for many years until he grew tired of life on the road. He then settled in Memphis, Tennessee; where he would perform at Beale Street clubs. When W.C. Handy overheard a traveler on a train platform, he was immediately interested with man’s unique guitar strumming. The traveler used a knife to mimic the sad tones of the human voice. Handy soon came out with his hit song "Memphis blues". Therefore Handy’s “discovery" led to people accepting blues as a viable musical
form. Early blues artists consisted of Bessie Smith, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Charley Patton. Bessie Smith was one of most famous female blues artist in the 1920’s. She was also one of the most successful, selling thousands of records. Blind Lemon Jefferson was considered “the father of Texas blues”. He was also very successful, and was inspiration to many other younger blues artists. He was born blind and taught himself guitar. Charley Patton was known for his flamboyant personality and has inspired future artists like Jimi Hendricks. He also lived a wild life that consisted of booze and liquor. Blues artists are very different but they have one thing in common. The musical style of their hit songs. The Delta Blues’ musical style is known for its irregular rhythm, nominal melody, and for sounding more spoken than sung. Delta artists often worked alone, accompanied by a lone harmonica or guitar. The rare bands that did immerge had a singer, bassist, guitarist, pianist, and a drummer. A few identifiers of blues are passionate vocals and, rough and intense rhythm. Original blues songs are known for their very simple lyrics and repetition. Early blues songs were passed down from generation to generation.
Sonny’s Blues written by James Baldwin appears to suggest that family and faith are important aspects in someone’s life and that each person has a different way of dealing with their own demons. The author writes with an expressive purpose and narrative pattern to convey his message and by analyzing the main characters, the point of view of the narration, the conflict in the story and the literary devices Baldwin utilizes throughout his tale, his central idea can be better understood.
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
While listening to “Walking Blues” and “Blue Moon of Kentucky” similar instruments can be heard in the background. Both of these songs feature guitars. Son House, while singing, is playing his guitar with bent notes. He also used his notable slide technique to create a unique sound. In “Blue Moon of Kentucky” Presley featured Scotty Moore on the Electric Guitar and Bill Black on the Bass. The instrumentals in this song helped create an upbeat tempo that would lead to sucess. While there are many similarities there are also a number of
Crazy neon lights, crowded walkways, the sweet aroma of Memphis barbeque, and the sound of soft blues and rock n roll is a taste of what Memphis’s Beale Street is made of. Memphis Tennessee is a home for exciting things to do within the surrounding metropolitan area. But first, what specifically brings civilians to Memphis? Memphis is a prime destination for tourist and residents of Memphis because of the great time, inexpensive attractions to visit, but most importantly Beale Street. Beale is a famous street located in downtown Memphis that is connected by three co-joining streets. Memphis’s Beale Street is one popular destination spot in downtown Memphis. On these streets are many tasty places to eat, local shops to visit,
Back in 1951, a young blues guitarist named Riley King had his first hit song titled "3 O’clock Blues.'' The song was so great, promoters whisked the young man from his Memphis, Tennessee home to the big top of New York City, where he shortened his stage name from Beale Street Blues Boy to "B.B.''
A.Freewrite: I am going to write about the point of view used in Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues.” In James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues,” Baldwin does not use Sonny as the narrator but instead uses his brother. I believe Baldwin used the brother as the narrator to give to give readers the idea that Sonny and his brother do not communicate well with each other. While Sonny listens but does not speak, his brother speaks but does not listen. Baldwin uses the brother as the narrator to highlight the idea that Sonny’s addiction to heroin, love of jazz music, and his melancholy are associated to Sonny’s lack of voice as well as control over his own life.
Sonny’s Blues By James Baldwin Sonny’s Blues the author is presenting the past from the perspective of the present in order to understand his own feelings concerning the role of a father. The two brothers in the story had different life choices. Both Sonny and the narrator have found their own mode of escaping the violence and harshness of the ghetto, different though those modes might be. After the death of the mother the narrator feels he is his brother’s keeper, because of the promise he made to the mother. He is not exactly happy about it and especially Sonny’s life style. Nevertheless, this is his only brother and he made a promise not to turn his back on him. Sonny was more like his uncle a music lover. Before the mother died she told him about his father and the pain he went through after the death of his brother. His father’s brother was a music lover and somewhat like Sonny. So, by telling this story it would help the narrator to understand Sonny. Now he knows a little about his family background and roots. At the end the narrator was finally able to see and understand what music did for Sonny; it allow him to be himself and express himself to other. Explore the implications of the allusion to the Book of Isaiah 51:17-23 in the concluding sentence. What has the narrator learned as the result of his experience? All of the desolation, destruction, famine, sword things that we (the narrator) go through in this life, are learned through other who have shared these same experiences. Our oppressor (Satan spiritually, mankind physically) causes a trembling in our lives; but just like Jerusalem, who was and still is oppressed; God has already taken our “cup of trembling”. We are delivered through the sharing of our experiences with one another, freeing ourselves from one who causes the trembling.
Like the blues, soul music originated from the South from the African American community in the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Many artists of the period, refined the era. In soul music, most of it was spirit oriented as far as involving but when the genre got older they removed the gospel message but keeping the same musical techniques, feelings, and
Soul music was developed in the late 1950s from African American church music called Gospel music. After slavery ended in1865, African American were not welcomed in the church of White Americans, so they built their own churches and sang Christian songs with African American vocal styles and rhythm. As the civil rights movement, staged bigger and bigger demonstrations and increase in African American pride “Soul music” became more than party music for young blacks: it became a rallying flag for the Black nationalist movement. Soul music was born thanks to the innovations of continuous post-war musicians who essentially turned Gospel music into a secular form of
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.
Working in the fields of Mississippi Delta, Water’s was brought up surrounded by the “field hollers” that provided blues with its distinctive vocal textures. Amongst these were also a number of musicians who were able to begin to break free from the confines of working the fields. Arguably the most notable being that of Robert Johnson who created a body of work which summed up the Delta culture and sound. At first this received little attention outside of Delta but it did influence other blues musicians in the area such as Muddy Waters and this is evident in his early acoustic recordings such as “Country Blues”. Johnson’s recordings also inspired Alan Lomax to visit Delta on behalf of the Library of Congress in search of similar artists. After recording some early acoustic tracks with Lomax, Water’s was able to hear himself back and he later recalled that the experience of hearing himself on these records convinced him he could be a serious professional.(2)
	For as long as anyone can remember, B.B. King has reigned as the "King Of Blues." With his Gibson guitar named Lucille, along with his unique vocals, king has put out some of the most down-home sounds in African-American music.
The slaves were introduced to this dance on their plantation, and they did it to express their happiness even though they were not accessed to freedom. The black communities started dancing by twisting their feet in a lazy way. The owners would dance to some type of beat they would make when they were on their free time. The slaves will eventually pick it up, and it became a dance they were fond of. The Charleston dance did not need any preparation. It simply was the bringing the right foot back then forward and doing the same for the left foot in a fast motion. The rhythm was popular in the United States by a song called "The Charleston" which was in the Broadway show Runnin ' Wild and it became the most popular hits of the time. Runnin ' Wild ran from October through June. Since the dance looked as if you were flapping your arms, the women were called flappers. Men were once called flappers, but the women took over. Due to its exciting behavior of flapping the arms, many people will damage their bodies and get a bad “charleston knee”, which promoted this dance as dangerous. Overall, the Charleston dance allows for a person to have fun even without out worrying about getting
Humans from the coast of West Africa arrived to the New World as slaves. Stripped of everything familiar, they brought with them their traditional ways of using music to record historic events, expressions, and to accompany rituals. While toiling in the tobacco fields of Virginia, slaves were not permitted to speak to each other. So, they resorted to their African tradition. They sang!
The first country blues that was written and published was "Memphis Blues" by W.C. Handy in the early 1900's. The first recorded blues was " Crazy Blues" by Mamie Smith in 1915. Most country blues were played with an acoustic guitar and with someone singing. It also has a definite call and response between the voice and guitar.