Various authors have varyingly explored the origins of the blues, as a genre, possibly because of its influence in modern-day music world. In fact, the blues significantly influence today’s music scene and it is common to find other music genres borrowing from the blues in terms of style, tunes, as well as other features. Nevertheless, the blues have emerged as a widespread genre since its inception in the United States in the early 19th century. It is believed to belong to the popular (commonly
Blues is a popular music style even today. It is popular because of its characteristic style that later developed other styles and subsets of the primitive blues style and its ability to appeal to a larger audience; therefore, placing the music style into the light of mainstream society. Amiri Baraka, in his work Blues People, says that the blues is a product of the “Negro’s American Experience.” In addition, he adds that the blues “developed as a response to the Negro’s adaption to and adoption
Jump Blues and Chicago Blues Musical Analysis Jump Blues and Chicago Blues are derivatives of Blues music that arrived in the 1940’s although they arguably reached their peak in the 1950’s. Being Blues genres they both have similarities that tie themselves together such as time signature, chord and song structure but there are differences in tempo, lyrical content and instrumentation that
other forms of music, blues was only recorded by memory and passed down through generations through live performances. The blues began in the North Mississippi Delta post Civil War times. It was heavily influenced by African roots, field hollers, ballads, church music and rhythmic dance tunes called jump-ups. This eventually developed into music that was set up in a call-and- response way so that the singer would sing a line and he would then respond with his guitar. The blues, a uniquely American
Blues music originated in the cotton fields of the southern United States where the majority of the slave hands were put to work. “The earliest folk-blues were sung by nameless African-Americans living and working in the South’s cotton belt in the early 1880’s and 1890’s- in particular, the region from the Mississippi Delta to East Texas”(Barlow 3). It was believed that this began as a call and response style, which matured into the work song. From that standpoint, after the release of the slaves
In both “Sonny’s Blues” and “The Weary Blues”, music serves as a form of catharsis; in “SB” Sonny is able to escape his troubled life, and in “WB” the Negro man expresses his sadness about his difficult life. The portrayal of music differs in that it’s more of a joyful presence in “SB” but a grim and depressing one in “WB”. Music is something that allows people to express feelings and emotions that can’t be easily said out loud. Sonny in James Baldwin’s “SB” turns to music as a temporary getaway
In one way shape or form Blues music has influenced almost every music artist and their work. Jazz and Blues gave way to such artists as Elvis Presley and Chuck Barry. The history and origins of Blues traces back many generations. Many articles have been written over the years helping readers better understand the history and importance of Blues music. All the articles have a similar attitude toward The Blues. Each article makes Blues Music's social and musical importance and impact blaringly
In James Baldwin's, Sonny's Blues, the title itself is symbolic of the blues in the matrix of the African-American culture of music and suffering. To understand the significance of the blues, one must first define the blues, where the blues originated, and how it is related to suffering and how it is communicated in music. The American Heritage Dictionary defines blues as (1) a state of depression or melancholy, and (2) a style of jazz evolved from southern American Negro secular songs. It is
The Blues: in Hughes' The Blues I'm Playing and Baldwin's Sonny's Blues In Langston Hughes' The Blues I'm Playing, the blues are the source of Oceola's life and her choices. Langston is trying to illustrate the conflict between life and art. The art in this story is represented in a confined manner, as a disciplined career with a white woman acting as the overseer in the young lady's life. Art to Oceola, with its profit, convenience and privileges offers an array of benefits, but being embodied
Discuss place and how James Baldwin uses elements of setting to convey Sonny’s Blues’ larger message or theme. Establishing and maintaining a certain identity mostly depends on the setting. The setting allows us to analyze someone at a deeper level. Considering the time, place and the circumstances around under which they respond allows us to explore them and determine their identity. In the short story “Sonny’s Blues”, James Baldwin conveys the message of how one goes about establishing and maintaining
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida (BCBSFL) Operating Services is Florida’s largest insurer, serving more than 6 million residents in total. Three trends that redefine how Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida brings value to its members are through consumer empowerment, E-business, and financial services modernization. BCBSFL holds approximately 30% of the HMO market share in Florida, which is twice the share of its nearest competitor. BCBSFL offers a BlueComplements program filled with discounts and
influential forms of modern music that the world had ever seen or heard: the blues. What the blues did for music is reflective in almost every piece of modern music heard throughout the world today. From rock and roll to country music, all the way to hip hop, the blues is deep down inside shining like a beautiful light that makes that music glow forever. Weather a person is happy or sad, compassionate or indifferent; the blues will always be there to light the way. Right at the turn of the century a
Listening to blues music is like listening to the artist’s soul. Early blues music had an influence on a large number of artists in Texas to make music that is still heard to this day. There are many noteworthy blues musicians in Texas. Some of the greatest include Stevie Ray Vaughan, Janis Joplin, Freddie King, Billy Gibbons, and T-Bone Walker. Stevie Ray Vaughan is a legend and was a leading figure in the blues-rock genre. Vaughan was born in Dallas, Texas in October of 1954. (Dutton) He was exposed
RnB, abbreviated for rhythm and blues, is one of the most popular genre of African American music since the late 1940s during the end of World War II and the early 1960s. The earliest forms of the rhythm and blues and soul genres is from a combination of gospel, jazz, and the blues. This combination of music grew into becoming one of the most dominant forms of entertainment in the latter half of the 20th century, creating the groundwork for everything from rock music to funk to hip hop. From the
In folklore writer Sterling A. Brown’s most renowned poem, “Ma Rainey,” the music of the blues (specifically, the abridged version of “Backwater Blues” found in-text) validates a number of hardships seen in African-American daily life—from problems of poverty and segregation to issues of identity formation—and unifies African Americans in the validation of their shared histories. In his 1932 poem, “Ma Rainey,” Brown uses Rainey’s music to fulfill both of the above purposes and immerse and implicate
‘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. Correspondingly, blues was used
Genre History: Blues The musical genre of blues is one that has continued to be a prolific style of music for many years. The blues began as working songs and field hollers sung by African American slave communities, beginning in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. The blues genre has since become a major influence on other developing genres. Most modern genres can be traced back to the genre, originating in the deep south of the United States. The musical style of blues is very distinct, and is
The contribution of Blues music to the development of many other genres of music is very significant. Jazz, rock music and country and western are just some of the styles that owe a lot of their progression from the original blues. Blues was originally grown out of the hardships endured by many generations of African Americans, and first arose from the rural Mississippi region, around about the time of the dawn of the 20th century. The style developed from work shouts (known as arhoolies), and became
Blues, a genre of music originated by African Americans around the end of the 19th century. This genre used many musical aspects from African-American work songs, African musical traditions and folk music. In order to determine what characteristically is deemed a ‘blues song’, stylistic components of blues as well as mood or emotion are the main corresponding influential factors to illustrate the blues musical genre. Blues form is also characterised by call-and response, meaningful lyrics of hurt
The blues is a musical genre that was created in the fields by slaves as a way of communication that was not understood by their master’s and overseers. Slaves sang about their misfortunes, the sadness and abuse they received on the plantations. This music would eventually evolve into lyrics that had a one line stance that would repeat four times. Blues were more of an emotion driven by long lost love, betrayal, adultery, and sadness. The blues progressed in the Mississippi Delta to New Orleans