Multifarious Music of the African in America.
The Blues Had a Baby and They Named in Rock-n-Roll
Black History and Music
Learning to play the blues changed my life. I was captivated by the rich history and mystery of the music. What seemed simple was not. The challenge to learn it and learn its roots touched my own. I love this stuff.
African American histories can be associated with music. Music cataloged the dreams, struggles and journey of the African in America. Beginning with the drum which was a method of communication, and recreation. The beat goes on. It has sped up and slowed down over time. It has been used in different cultures but the origins are almost always Africa.
As enslaved Africans, they participated in African rituals and music-making events. They told stories, sang, danced, played African and African-derived instruments, and more broadly, celebrated life as they had done in Africa. In North America, their introduction to European culture and music came from participating in or witnessing the religious and social activities of slaveholders, which they reinterpreted to conform to their own cultural practices and musical values through processes of adaption and resistance. As freed people, Blacks and their descendants continued to create new and distinctive styles of Black music in the tradition of African music-making that defined their unique African American identity.
Music was used to in many elements during the American institution of slavery. It was used to keep time, in slave labor and pacing the day. The Call and Response was used to keep us sane. It was used to anchor us. From field hollers to Negro Spirituals; it lives. It lived in church as the preachers used it to ensure that the Word was communicated. It was used as code, to help the slave get free.
African American music shared the fantasies of the downtrodden and poor who just wanted to be consider a human being.
Music included the sounds and mentions of freedom. Sometimes freedom only came from death. Freedom from evil, the devil, freedom from prison and work camps. Sometimes it was a train.
The train helped the Great Migration from plantation to big cities where the allure of a more sophisticated life than a share cropper changed lives.
The Great Migration was a relocation of African-Americans from the rural south of the United States to the cities of Northeast, Midwest, and West between 1910 to 1970. More than 90% of the African-American population lived in Southern America before 1910. By 1900, fewer than 25% of the African-Americans were reported to have been living in urban areas. However, by the end of the Great Migration, over 80% of African-Americans had moved to urban areas, the majority of which were in the North. The majority of the African-Americans were driven out of the rural areas by the low economic opportunities and discriminatory segregationist laws.
African music was central to all aspects of social life in multifarious ways, from lullabies to life-cycle events; from storytelling and games to social criticism; from agricultural pursuits, fishing, hunting, to kingship; from harvest to annual festivals, musical performances express a wide range of emotions, embodied experience, and social values.
As enslaved Africans, they participated in African rituals and music-making events. They told stories, sang, danced, played African and African-derived instruments, and more broadly, celebrated life as they had done in Africa. In North America, their introduction to European culture and music came from participating in or witnessing the religious and social activities of slaveholders, which they reinterpreted to conform to their own cultural practices and musical values through processes of adaption and resistance. As freed people, Blacks and their descendants continued to create new and distinctive styles of Black music in the tradition of African music-making that defined their unique African American identity.
African American blues is a genre of music that has its roots in the southern United States after the American Civil War. It was influenced by work songs and field hollers, minstrel-show music, ragtime, church music, and some folk and popular music of whites. The blues is derived from and was largely played by southern Black men who came from the surroundings of agricultural workers.
The history of African American blues is a story of hardship, isolation, and sorrow, but also of resilience, creativity, and hope. The blues was a way for African Americans to express their feelings and experiences, and to connect with others who shared similar struggles.
In the early 20th century, blues became a secular folk music created by African Americans in the South. The simple but expressive forms of the blues captured the spirit, pulse, and tempo of the city, and often incorporated new technologies such as electric instruments and amplification.
The blues has evolved over time, and has been influenced by many different styles of music. It has been an important influence on the development of popular music, including rock and roll, soul, and hip-hop