African American People Have Had It Rough For Years

Blues is an African-American music that covers a wide range of emotions and musical styles. “Feeling blue” is expressed in songs whose verses lament injustice or express longing for a better life and lost loves, jobs, and money. But blues is also a raucous dance music that celebrates pleasure and success. Central to the idea of blues performance is the concept that, by performing or listening to the blues, one is able to overcome sadness and find hope.

One of the first genres that developed post-abolition was Blues. The name was derived from the common perception of the sound that made blues music ‘blue’: the flat third and fifth degrees. Which just means that the pitch of the third and fifth note in the scale used

Originating from the deep south, blues and jazz music is rooted from the African American culture. Blues is a musical genre that has its own musical progressions. There are many types of blues, as times moved ahead it developed more sounds. For example, there is Country blues, Delta blues, Chicago blues, Jazz blues and more. The central idea of blues is that one is able to overcome sadness and personal adversity. Blues originated on southern plantations, creators were slaves in the nineteenth century. These slaves found that this music was not always about their self-pity, but about saying what you feel and “letting your hair down.” It was away to have fun and escape the everyday life that slaves had to endure. Blues originally came upon the Mississippi Delta near New Orleans, but spread to other urban areas. After a while, blues became one of the biggest elements of African Americans well known music. Blues evolved from performances on the streets and juke joints to entertainment in theaters. People like Etta James, B.B. King, Billie Holiday and John Mayer made blues popular among the world.

The blues began as a product of African American culture, today it has evolved passed the boundaries of its African American roots. This happened because of over 30 years ago, blues emerged into the mainstream American culture. Through its mainstream appeal, it was able to spread across the globe, and become what it did. Its rise to popularity can also be attributed to the many talented acts associated with blues, such as Eric Clapton, Jimmie Rodgers and Bessie Smith. Blues itself also played a major role in British rock in the 1960’s, as bands such as the Rolling Stones, the Animals and the Bluesbreakers participated in the blues revival, that of which was in part due to white Americans and a white audience, in general, taking a large interest

However, after significant evolution, music enthusiasts engaged in production of blues, revised what message was to be emphasized on. Eventually blues became an identity of hard work and accommodation of diversity. In accordance with Jim Crow`s blues era, blues assisted the African American community to resist against and agree with white supremacy. The author focused on a five and a half decades period of music evolution. The book studied blues produced during the last decade of nineteenth century as resistance, and reveals it as developing to achieve a sense of accommodation for white people in the mid-twentieth century. The author reveals evolution of blues from initially being a form resistance. It helped transform African American attitude towards national development, and discredited theoretical approach that blues were, or are racially biased against the whites. The agenda of this book was to portray the development of African American culture, because it looked at blacks` as gaining recognition through blues music, use of blues to express social injustice and as a political activism tool.

and cultural life. The process by which it has earned a place in the folk

The Blues had an influence on the development of jazz blue style songs it is part of the vocal tradition that expresses emotion in African Americans during the early 20th century they sang with the instrumentation of guitar piano and harmonica.

Much of the total development of African pitch was based upon quarter tone scales quite beyond a half tone unit, confusion about certain tones of the diatonic scale, particularly the third, fifth, and seventh, resulted in the creation of the blues. Specific aspects of this evolving Negro music were represented at first by folk blues, gospel music, spirituals, and stomps; later by boogie-woogie, struts, rags, one step, and finally jazz evolved. During this evolution one basic characteristic has always been there, a fundamental pulse of quarter notes joined with a harmonic fabric moving in unit with half notes, whole notes, etc (World of Music 200). The first combination of musical ideas to achieve popularity among both blacks and whites was called ragtime. In its heyday, between 1896 and 1918, ragtime overshadowed all other forms of popular music. The music was in the style of European popular song, but with a ragged rhythm. It was usually played on solo piano, with a left hand setting down a steady march beat accompaniment over which the right hand played a melody that was syncopated, with stressed notes off the most important beats of the bar (The story of Music 42).

What are the blues? Well according to Wikipedia, the blues is a genre of music and musical form originated by African-Americans in the Deep South around the end of the 19th century. The blue are derived from roots in African musical traditions, chain gang songs, Negro spirituals or what is called Gospel music today and folk music (Wikipedia). The blues are omnipresent in jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll. Additionally, the blues are characterized by a call-and-response pattern, the blues scale, and specific chord progressions, of which the twelve-bar blues is the most common (Wikipedia).

Blues music was described as an African folk music harmonized with Western chords. It was the main influence of the development of rock and roll and basically every other sub-genre of rock and roll. Its rhythm comes from African traditions. A variety of the melodies found in this genre of music come from slave work songs, and the main source of music that was very influential to it was Southern religious music.

Elvis Presley, Macy Gray and many other players have conveyed the value of blues. They tried to attract the audience by using the devise of early blue practitioners. Blues have finally spread the globe. In Japan, Brazilian and many other countries, there are blue bands. Blue contains some properties such as honest and enduring. Since blues initiated from people’s struggling and personal identifying, it represents the American story. That is the reason that the blues is convincingly and having strong beats

If one is to discuss the origins of Afro-American music and its influences on American music and society, the issue of slavery and slave culture must first be considered. First generation slaves arrived in America coming from a diverse set of African backgrounds. Many did not speak the same languages or have similar cultures. This fact, in addition to European cultures, resulted in a mix of the different African and European traditions that synthesized into a new identity. This process is formerly known as “creolization” (Starr and Waterman, 26). These creolized cultures varied widely and produced different musical styles. Religious styles, stringed instruments like the banjo, and field hollers differed

Funk was another music style created by African-American to release them the slavery. Music by African-American in the USA in around nineteen centuries or earlier have given a great contribute for the rights, privilege and the daring they have today. The music was related to different area such as education, religious and politics. Many civil right movements were directly connected to the music; the members produced music to manifest about a situation they would like to finish. Some singers used music to criticize the presidency of their country or the government in general since that was the only way the message could be hear without facing the them; for example, James Brown, used the music “Funky President” to demonstrates its discontent with social and economic policies.

In Encyclopedia of the Blues, editor Edward Komara defines the blues as “a type of music that may be notated in eight, twelve, and sixteen-measure forms, using one of a select number of melodic scales and rhythm schemes, and sung and/or performed with musical instruments, with the melody as the primary component.” (Komara) The blues has been widely associated with Africans, but according to Katherine Charlton, author of Rock Music Styles: A History, “the earliest roots lie not only in Africa, but also…from parts of Arabia, the Middle East, and even Spain during the Moorish occupation.” (Charlton) She further explains some of these countries influence on the blues. The Arabs contributed the scale structure and melodic sequences. The Turkish, melodic and rhythmic patterns used in ceremonial music. The Spanish contributed a sense of rhythmic freedom.

The blues are a new sound according to nps.gov: The success of blues music, however, is a relatively recent phenomenon. Originally a rural sound, strongly connected to place, blues went unrecognized as commercially viable for years, due to racial prejudice and the subsuming of the blues under other types of music, such as jazz and rock and roll. As the Mississippi river facilitated