The Blues, By Bessie Smith And Billie Holliday

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

The blues have deep roots embedded within American history—particularly that of African American history. The history of the blues originated on Southern plantations in the 19th century and was created by slaves, ex-slaves, and descendants of slaves. They were created by individuals who endured great hardship while performing endless hours of arduous labor and blues served as a form of escapism. To these individuals, songs provided them with the strength to persevere through their struggles. Blues songs depicted individuals who persevered in the face of adversity. They were symbols of hope to those squandering in the depths of oppression. In relations to the blues, every song has a story behind it and within every story, there is something to be said. Blues artists, through their struggles, detail how they overcame hardship and laughed at the face of oppression. They defied the rules and in doing so, showed African Americans that they too are beacons of hope for the hopeless. The best blues is instinctive, cathartic, and intensely emotional. From irrepressible bliss to deep sadness, no form of music communicates more genuine emotion than that of the blues. Like many bluesmen of his day, Robert Johnson applied his craft as a lonely traveling musician on street corners and in juke joints. He was a lonely man whose songs romanticized that existence. With Johnson’s unique vocal style, haunting lyrics, and creative guitar techniques, Johnson’s innovation embodied the essence of

Legacies and Black Feminism,'' her study of the recordings of Billie Holiday and the blues

On the other hand, Blues were basically from work songs of African Americans slaves at the time. “It is a native American music, the product of the black man in this country, or, to put it more exactly the way I have come to think about it, blues could not exist if the African captives had not become American captives”(pp.17), said Jones and Baraka. In Jazz – A History, Frank Tirro wisely analyzes and explains the relationship between the unique background and

In black music we can see different genres like blues which originated in the early 20th century; blues can be considered a type of folksong. Many names that are associated with blues music are Bessie Smith,Ma Rainey and Ray Charles. A lot of black music like blues evolved from different spirituals and work songs sung on fields. Blues music although originated in the southern states soon traveled to the east coast where it can be shown during a time called the Harlem renaissance. Many of the music traveled up north due to the great depression. In blues music the artist will make you connect with their feelings as their emotions are expressed throughout the music. During a time of poverty, rascism, and many other problems in the black communities their music was an outlet and told stories of the people living through these times.

An impact on American History, the southern sound of blues has been influenced through years of rich traditions and entertainment legacy. Its origins begin in the Mississippi Delta. From highway sixty-one to forty-nine, since its creation, blues has established a legacy of artists that have paved way for current and future musicians. From Johnny Guitar Watson to Muddy Waters and BB King, the musical sound of blues has developed tremendously creating a platform for upcoming artists to follow. Legendary artists of blues continue to be an impact on the genre; which can be illustrated through novel blues artist’s music. The new era of blues artists continue to pay homage to the numerous contributing blues musicians; however, the southern soul sound

The blues is a musical style of feeling, a style about playing what comes from your heart. It came from work songs, field chants, spirituals, field hollers and revivalist hymns from the African American communities. Blues is associated with the sad times

In about 1903 the blues were slowly becoming popular in Texas. Blues music came from African American slaves who were trying to escape from slavery (PBS). The music originally came from the Mississippi River. The south was home to many blues-man who helped make the blues become more popular. Today the blues music differs from the music back in the 1800 's, there are many different types of blues today (“A Brief History of the Blues”). The tunes of Robert Johnson carry a familiarity that spans generations with famous rock bands covering his songs. Throughout his life, he faced many trials and tribulations rising to the occasion every time and leaving his mark on the blues family.

Bessie smith was another good musician I call her the queen of blues. Bessie Smith was born on April 15, 1894 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She was one of seven children. Her father, a Baptist minister, died soon after her birth, leaving her mother to raise her and her siblings. Around 1906, her mother and two of her brothers died and Smith and her remaining siblings were raised by their aunt. It was around this time that Smith began to perform as a street singer, accompanied on the guitar by one of her younger brothers. Then soon she started writing more music and was the one of the best in that period of time.The background of blues music. Sometime around 1890, the blues emerged as the distinct African-American art form, rooted in the southern U.S. and drawing on work songs and hollers, folk tradition, black spirituals, and the popular music of the time. Looking back from 1890, one can speculate about the African influence in the musical structure of the blues

One of the early types of music that influenced later in blues is mentioned early in the film. Lomax states that picnic music, which was a happy relic of the old times South hidden away in the Mississippi hills just like a reservoir of hot rhythms for the later blues.” The main thing that made the Blues was the men themselves. Mainly men where the ones who were “bluesman.” The hard work and unfair pay was demonstrated through the blues. Especially because it had such soul to it. Another popular topic for bluesman was the relationships they’re were with woman. A lot man who worked on the rivers were known the be playboys. Women would go to see them for the money, which is part of made the society

To understand the part played by the blues in American society, we need to consider what psychological imprints the blacks inherited from the years of slavery as well as what cultural and artistic forms existed during those times. The spirituals, plantation songs, work songs, banjo music, fiddle tunes and dances. All these elements were present, and to understand how and why the blues emerged at the end of the nineteenth century, we must first look at the society of

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).

Below the video is a paragraph explaining that “the blues is a genre a genre of musical storytellers”. Blues were first recorded in the 1900s and was influenced by American folk and country music.

Nowadays the blues revolve around the meaning of sadness but doesn’t have a true message of fighting for survival or deprivation of freedom. In the process of searching for the modern day blues, it was discovered that the music is compiled by mostly Caucasian artist compared to the past where it was conceived by blacks to prompt their practices and beliefs.

The beginning of the Twentieth Century began with Blues music, which has its roots in African American traditions from the deep southern states in the US. Blues from the 1920s was based on a twelve bar structure and repeating chords. Blues music was most often heard from freed African Americans after the Civil War. These newly emancipated peoples often found the time of their freedom more stressful and difficult than when they were