music and migration
From years 1505 to 1870, the world underwent the largest forced migration in history. West Africa was soon to be convulsed by the arrival of Europeans and become the advent of the transatlantic slave trade. Ships from Europe, bound for America, appeared on the horizon, and their captains and sailors-carrying muskets, swords, and shackles-landed on the coast, walked up the beach in their strange clothes, looked around, and demanded slaves. A horrific chapter in history had begun, and neither Africa nor America would be the same again. Approximately ten million Africans were brought across the seas to the Americas to be manipulated into slavery. It became apparent that these African men, women and children were meant to generate money. They were meant to work harsh labor, yet they were no longer meant to have a voice. A few Americans took the time to appreciate the hard work performed by the slaves; however, appreciation is a short step in the long road to equality. It was no!t until the late 19th century that America began to repair the damages done by this immoral trading of human beings. Once the slaves were "freed" after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, it did not do much to end the oppression and prejudice against t
Rather than strumming and picking the strings, the man was sliding an open pocketknife up and down the guitar's neck making the notes bend and slide, the strings moan and wail. The sound was so much like a human voice that you could almost say the guitar was crying. Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, a professional vaudeville singer, told a similar experience. She heard a young woman singing outside her vaudeville tent, a strange and "poignant song," about her man who left her. In addition, further away, a white violin player named Hart Wand was playing a melody that an African-American employee of his father's said gave him 'the blues'. heir race. Their freedom did not give them a heart; it did not prove they had soul. This is where their music becomes significant, and this is Blues music. Throughout their music, it took much less time for the black race to prove that they were not unlike the rest of humanity; in fact, they did have a voice, and a haunting one. Once Blues music was not only recognized, but also comprehended, admired and imitated, it opened the gates of immigration, and the nation to this day has matured in its ability to see gray. After Minstrel shows, the Medicine shows then became popular around the turn of the century. They became the first shows to feature and entertain both white and black Americans. This was possibly the most influential in respect to race relations. These shows still offered the whites a chance to put on a black face; however, both the blacks and whites were finally agreeing on something-music. This is where country and blues came together, and both grew to be a highly vital and influential landmark in music history. These shows remained popular after the Civil War and onward after the Reconstruction period, a time span from 1860 until 1877. These shows confirmed the common objective of both races and secured the flourishing business between the two. While both black and white musicians borrowed freely from each other's style of music, the black's Blues music proved to be the most indispensable in style with its grainy vocal texture and its distinctive emphasis on rhythmic m! Although it was socially acceptable for the Blues musicians to write, compose and produce their music, it was frowned upon, until the late 1950's, that the teenage generation is exposed to black Blues musicians. However, white Blues musicians were another story. The distribution of Blues music was eased into the public by using white covers of black artists. Ironically enough, the white covers of these black artist's music never climbed as high on the top-seller list as the ones originally put out by the black musicians themselves. In 1956, white musician Pat Boone did a cover of the black Blues artist Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" that reached number 18 on the bestseller chart. However, when Little Richard put out his own release of "Long Tall Sally" later in that same year, before Boone put out his cover of it, Little Richard already had it at number six. This simply proves that, however attempting to slow the eventual rise of black artists; they were in fact hastening the! It was the Minstrel and Medicine shows from the 1830's that gave the whites their first opportunity to delve into the culture of the slaves and their music- in the beginning with the lingering alibi of show business. A minstrel show was a musical event where white folks got the chance to paint their faces black with burnt cork and perform in the persona of a black man. This gave the white Americans their first taste of the black man's music in a harmless environment free of the black man. Many white American's in blackface and black attire were able to travel around the country, spreading the musical style of the blacks they had heard before to others who may not have had the opportunity. This may have aided in the increasing popularity of a stereotyped black man, however, if it is true that imitation is the utmost form of flattery, then
Some common words found in the essay are:
Emancipation Proclamation, Minstrel Medicine, Klan Playboy, Frederic Douglas, Jim Crow, Louisville Kentucky, Civil War, West African, America Approximately, African European, blues music, blacks whites, blues musicians, black white, black race, black blues, black music, jim crow laws, black man's, black musicians, crow laws, blues musicians white, civil rights movement, appreciation black music, white blues musicians,
Approximate Word count = 3188
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)
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