The emergence of Blues is interesting and has been covered in gist, and yet comprehensively in this article/piece. WC Handy came across his first experience with the Blues in 1903 in Mississippi, and Gertrude Rainey came across it in 1902. She later claimed to have coined the term ‘Blues’, a claim that is certainly dubious owing to the term being popular already for this genre in different parts of the country. In this paper, we find that the author mentions that the old-timers in the early 20th century were of the opinion that the term itself existed among them, from at least their childhood, circa 1880s. The origin of the blues lay in the lower socio-economic strata of the African American communities in the American South, emerging from the trysts in their daily lives. This article/paper mentions that the earliest singers and performers of blues were people who travelled from place to place taking their music with them. They were people of the earth, close to the earth, whose lives made their music and vice-versa. Blues does overlap with spiritual music in many cases, which we find even these days in many places. However, the main inspiration lies in the daily life, the twists of fate of the person, loss of a loved one, and such reasons. This makes Blues “the music of the people, by the people, for the people”. To perform Blues, one does not need an audience but just the song and emotion in their heart. It is more about sharing and expressing emotions and experiences. The author notes that Hardy had realized that Blues is not about despair, but has an approach like someone wishing fate to mete out whatever it can, almost in a masochistic manner.
Comments