Transcript Diapositive 1

The blues is the
roots,
the rest is the fruit
The blues comes from Africa, it was born in the North Mississippi Delta following the
Civil War in the course of the XIX century. In fact it is a fusion between the culture of
this continent and the history of the slavery. Blues was invented by the slaves who
were deported to America. It expresses their suffering. Music was the only way of
expression. They could resist with the lyrics which told about their problems but this
real meaning was hiding, they spoke always with metaphors. This music could be very
melancholic but it expresses also the hope of this population.
Influenced by African roots, field hollers, ballads, church music evolved into music for
a singer who would engage in call-and-response with his guitar.
The blues have strongly influenced almost all popular music as jazz, country, and rock
and roll and continues to help shape music worldwide. In which way, the Blues is the
roots of the different kind of music, the current musicals genres?
I.
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The Blues is the roots…
The blues form was first popularized about 1911-14 by the black composer W.C. Handy, in
particular with the song “Memphis blues” which got the heart and the soul of the black people.
The Blues is the essence of the African American laborer, whose spirit is mixed with these songs,
reflecting his soul to all who will listen.
W.C Handy, blues’ father
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Nevertheless the structure of the blues is very simple and the ideas conveyed by the blues are
very attractive. Young people stemming of an education very strict find in this music a way of «
emancipation ».
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During the twenties, the blues became a national favorite music. In northern cities like Chicago
and Detroit, during the end of the forties and early fifties, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, John Lee
Hooker, among others, played what was basically Mississippi Delta blues, with instruments like
bass, drums, piano and occasionally harmonica, and began to make success in United states with
blues songs.
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The main themes evoked in the Blues’ lyrics are the depression, the love (the woman
leaving her husband). The political aspect is also very present in some songs, as well as a
lot of sexual allusions
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B.B. King, in Memphis, invented the concept of lead guitar, now standard in today's Rock
bands. Leadbelly, and Son House, left Country Blues to create the sounds most of us think
of today as traditional Blues.
II.
… the rest is the fruit.
•
Blues was played with simply instruments like the jug, the diddley bow and little by little,
news instruments appeared (piano, guitar and harmonica).
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The blues and his artists like Muddy Waters, Robert Jonhson, Son House, John Lee Hooker had
a major influence on the news kinds of music, on the American popular music, in particular
on the jazz, the rock n roll, the rhythm and blues…
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The blues is the root of the music of the Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, the Beatles. These new
groups made an evolution on the blues.
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Since the sixties, rock has undergone several blues revivals. Some rock guitarists, such as Eric
Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, and Eddie Van Halen have used the blues as a foundation
for several styles. While the originators like John Lee Hooker, Robert Johnson and B.B. King
and their heirs Buddy Guy, and later Eric Clapton, among many others, continued to make
fantastic music in the blues tradition.
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Jazz
The jazz was invented by the American black people stemming from the slavery. It is clearly
influenced by the gospel, and the blues. The Jazz is much more given rhythm than the blues.
Blues and Jazz have much in common, from their origins in the African-American
communities of the southern United States at the beginning of the 20th century to their
spread, in particular from a point of view of the musical structure. Jazz as we know it would
not exist without the blues.
Jazz giants as Louis Armstrong or King Oliver used blues songs as the foundation for many of
their most important creations.
Diana Krall, Joshua Redman and other young jazz stars of the day still play the blues.
Louis Armstrong- What a wonderful world
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzJY96m3lkg
Diana Krall- Almost blues
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z7X8fbNIkI&feature=related
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Rock
The blues is, at first, the main element of the "marriage" with the country music which gave
birth to the rock 'n' roll, to the United States, in the middle of 1950s. When USA were divided
by racial problems many people find a spirit of equality in Rock n’ roll it was caring the same
values as the blues some decades previously. The term of rock was invented by the white
artists to avoid meeting in the same tubs that the black artists. Like jazz, rock and roll draws
upon gospel spirituals and the blues
Robert Johnson and Elmore James were huge influences on 60’s rockers like Eric Clapton and
The Rolling Stones, who listened religiously their music.
Rock bands as the Rolling Stones or the Beatles were inspired by B.B King, a bluesman who
invented the concept of lead guitar. So, the Blues is really the root of many music styles.
Jimi Hendrix was really influenced by great bluesmen like John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters
and Robert Johnson that he quotes during his concerts. The blues constitutes the base of the
guitarist vocabulary used by Jimi Hendrix.
Robert Johnson- Sweet home Chicago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8hqGu-leFc
Eric Clapton- Sweet home Chicago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moAR4Bb2QHI
Jimi Hendrix- Voodoo Child
Little wing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoAXW30mMAg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=056JWqofZ7M
The blues is the roots, the rest is the fruit. This is the main movement which
inspired most of the current kind of music: by techniques, rhythm, themes of
lyrics... Blues, invented by black communities, was spread all over the world, in
Europe, and White people appropriated this music. So themes evocated by the
Blacks in the birth of Blues took another sense as time goes by but the theme
of love, lost love, will be still present. Blues will always have an influence on
current art movements.