Lyrics were centered around things seen in the country—fields, trains, manual labor, etc. Out of the relatively few recordings that are still in existence from this time, many were done in the field by researchers like Alan Lomax instead of commercial recording companies. Robert Johnson is one of the most famous American artists of all time.
He was a mysterious delta blues singer and guitar player who allegedly sold his soul to the devil at a crossroads in order to play guitar better. Very little is known about Johnson, who died in at age 27, so his music and persona have developed a legendary mysticism in American folklore. During the same time, blues music existed in the northern U.
The ensembles resembled early jazz instrumentation, the locations were in cities, and some artists experienced commercial success. Northern blues music contained characteristics derived from African music, but overall sounded much more refined and European when compared with delta blues.
Watch Handy perform that song on the Ed Sullivan show in Out of these early types of blues music, the delta blues would be the one with a more lasting impact. The first major development of the blues came in the middle of the 20th century. Urban blues is the term used to describe blues during that time, which resulted from several changes.
Secondly, by the mid-twentieth century, technology had changed the musical landscape. Electric instruments, vocal amplification, improved recording techniques, record players, and radio revolutionized the way people created and experienced all music, including the blues.
The urban blues introduced a new type of blues ensemble. Piano, harmonica, and especially drums and bass were frequently seen during performances instead of only a single voice with a guitar. The guitars that were being played were now electric instead of acoustic. Following the evolution of the blues, Muddy Waters was born in Mississippi and became a prominent blues musician in Chicago. With his modest guitar playing and unforgettable voice, Waters was an embodiment of the urban blues that would inspire countless other artists.
King , who was mentioned above, was another blues artist who followed the Great Migration from the south to the northern U. For roughly half a century, blues music had remained exclusively within black American culture.
The blues was no longer the most popular genre for black Americans. However, beginning in the s, many white musicians in the U. Although blacks still played the blues, its popularity amongst white audiences and musicians brought the genre to the foreground again, but in a different cultural context—hence— blues revival.
Search for free courses, interactives, videos and more! Free learning from The Open University. Featured content. Free courses. All content. Course content. About this free course 6 hours study. Level 1: Introductory. Course rewards. Free statement of participation on completion of these courses. Create your free OpenLearn profile. Course content Course content. Discovering music: the blues Start this free course now. Hill country, an area east of the delta, created its own sound that relied more on percussion and the foot-tapping beats that often reflected complex African polyrhythms.
People outside the region began learning of these early traditions when folklorist Alan Lomax came to research and record this music for the Library of Congress and in the process making the only recordings that exist of some of these songs. Then later, as African Americans migrated north, the true sweep of blues across the country began, leading to the creation of numerous other regional blues styles. When African Americans moved north for a better life, many settled in Midwestern cities like Chicago.
They took the blues with them, but soon began adapting it to their new urban lives. One such musician was Muddy Waters, who had mastered the Delta blues sound. When he moved to Chicago in the s, he plugged in that blues guitar and helped launch a whole new style of blues—Chicago blues, also known as electric blues. Chicago blues musicians also took the classic blues performance duos of guitar and harmonica and expanded them into full bands with bass drums, drums and sometimes a saxophone—and amplifiers!
There are also longer variations of the blues scale that use further chromaticism, most notably flattening the third, fifth and seventh notes. The most common blues form is the twelve-bar blues, though musicians will sometimes favour the eight or bar blues forms. This is normally accompanied by an AAB structure for its lyrics, utilising the popular call-and-response element that blues originated from.
As blues has developed over the years, it has encouraged a number of subgenres to flourish, often including hybrids with other genres, including blues rock and country blues. Other subgenres are defined by their development within a certain place, such as Chicago blues and Delta blues. Blues originated in the Deep South after the US Civil War in the 19th century, evolving from the oral tradition of African American work songs and spirituals, which featured the call-and-response patterns that are still prominent in blues today.
It came into mainstream popularity in the s when it also developed its common AAB lyric pattern.
0コメント