Blues: Historical Origins and Modern Significance

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Blues: Historical Origins and Modern Significance

It may be difficult to deny the significance of creativity in peoples everyday life. Any manifestation of humans creativeness may lead to art origin. Music does not make an exception since this kind of art may inspire, unite and influence people. Composing and performing music makes it possible to absolutely anyone to express themselves. Masterpieces, born by combining notes into one melody, might cherish and ensoul people even in the most challenging life situations.

The blues may serve as an example of such a phenomenon since its inventors were slaves who sang while toiling in the cotton fields. It may be complicated enough to comprehend that people who were deprived of freedom and destined to labor from dusk till dawn had managed to create such cheerful music that remains worldwide popular nowadays. The further analysis of the selected live blues concert will provide a metacognitive reflection on its members, diasporas, and the importance of the blues.

The selected concert constitutes an authentic fun-filled live blues concert. The music band unites representatives of different races. The oldest and the most energetic ensemble member is Afro-American Chuck Berry, who constitutes a guitarist and a vocalist of the band. Further, the ensemble consists of guitarists Eric Clapton and Keith Richards, Afro-Americans drummer Steve Jordan and pianist Johnnie Johnson, organist Chuck Leavell, and bassist Joey Spampinato. The performance takes place in an ambient, picturesque, and racy hall. Most of the audience is made up of adult men and women. The concert ambiance is filled with positivity, delight, and warmth.

The dimmed light of the lamp standing on the stage and the casual clothes of the band members make it look not like a typical musical performance. The fact that the music is saturated with positivity is also evidenced by the constantly repeated refrain performed by Chuck Berry, I feel so good today (Chuck Berry, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards jam 09:3809:48). From the joyful expressions on the faces of the musicians and spectators, one can understand that what is happening in the hall is much more than just music.

As it has been already mentioned, blues as a genre unites people from different ethnic communities. Perhaps no other form of music expresses such strong emotional experiences, from unbridled joy to deep sadness. The expressive voice bends, refrains, and a special connection between the musicians and audience blur any gender or race stereotypes and prejudices. According to Simon (11), the blues may epitomize a living at the moment aesthetic. However, behind the genuine sincerity inherent in blues performers lies a significant number of social issues, such as class and racial discrimination, that they have had to face.

The blues is deeply rooted in American history, particularly in the history of African Americans. According to Henshall (29), the birthplace of the blues is the southern plantations of the Mississippi Delta. It was there that racial oppression reigned with particular cruelty. Blues in the Delta was created by the poorest black people, who lived in virtual serfdom. The Delta remained a feudal region for a long time, stuck in the dynamism of slavery. Henshall (29) claims that namely Mississippi blues became a central strand in the diffusion of Afro-American culture over the next fifty years. The social situation in the South shaped the blues genre as the music of special power and indestructibility, deeply emotive and personal music laced with alienation and anguish, and the sincerest feelings.

Further followed The Great Migration, when African Americans began to migrate from the countryside in the south to more modern and urban living in the north. According to the research from Peddie (353), in the years between 1910 and 1940, millions of black Americans moved from the south to urban enclaves in the north. Most African Americans were seeking security and a better future for themselves and their families. They longed to take control over their destinies and escape from persecution and slavery. Peddie (353) states that the north offered possibilities for advancement, education, and full citizenship. Despite substantial exceptions, it ensured as well equal treatment under the law, at least more than in the south.

As expected, the sharp increase of the African American population within urban centers has led to an exacerbation of interethnic relations. Peddie (354) argues that it involved complex realignments of relationships between the white establishment and other ethnic minorities that reshaped political, economic, social, and musical dynamics. A sharp confrontation between white and black migrant populations had led to the limitations of the housing and business projects for African Americans in most cities. Therefore, African Americans again faced racism and racial inequality such as mistrust and prejudice from the authorities.

One may argue that such a mass migration had led to a transformation in virtually all aspects of life both African Americans and other ethnic representatives. According to the research from Peddie (354), the blues has always been an essential part of such a massive social and cultural conversion, and thus, one of the core manifestations of such a change. Consequently, the given historical process is nothing short of a genuine revolutionary change.

In addition, blues was always the way of self-expression for people. Blues had offered the possibility to enrich ones leisure for both men and women. After the waves of African American migrations, the classic or vaudeville blues began to gain popularity. It was the first successful blues genre, and dominant performers were female singers (Peddie 357). Over time, a substantial part of them performed with jazz bands and managed to gather an audience that embraced the representatives of different classes and races.

The above-mentioned evidence emphasizes the importance and significance of blues within the development of society. Henshall (29) claims that the blues music genre constitutes a driving force in culture and reflects the trials, misfortunes, and hardships of generations of African American people for over 100 years. Therefore, blues may be a crucial part of the social and economic environment of people who originated in the American South. Moreover, blues constitutes an invaluable contribution to the music industry all over the world. A deprived group of people who managed to created, against major hardships and trials, something that has enriched people all over the world and offered them exceptional music pieces.

Despite all the difficulties and social barriers that prevented African Americans to lead a full-fledged life, they were able to create beautiful and emotional music. Henshall (32) states that most of the men and women who sang and played blues could neither read nor write. Nowadays, blues symbolizes music that reunites people, who long to express their most genuine feelings through music. Returning to the analysis of the selected live blues performance after conducting the research on its history, one may argue that blues had made a substantial impact on society. The ensemble unites representatives from different races and offers the possibility to enjoy and share their music with many people.

One may hardly imagine that even in the last century, a white and a black person could go on the stage together. However, the above-considered music video proves that such an action may result in the creation of a musical masterpiece that will delight both its creators and listeners. Therefore, it puts a significant emphasis on the blues importance since the music that has been created by poor marginal black people is able to erase the boundaries of stereotypes and racial prejudices.

Works Cited

Chuck Berry, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards jam. YouTube, uploaded by Brusselmans Brusselmans. 2011. Web.

Henshall, John. Downtown Revitalisation and Delta Blues in Clarksdale, Mississippi: Lessons for Small Cities and Towns. 1st ed. 2019, Palgrave Macmillan.

Peddie, Ian. The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music and Social Class. Zaltbommel, Netherlands, Van Haren Publishing, 2020.

Simon, Julia. Time in the Blues. Oxford University Press, 2017.

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