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Blues is a music genre [3] and musical form that originated amongst African-Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. [2] Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the African-American culture. The blues form is ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues ...
- 1860s, Deep South, U.S.
May 8, 2024 · blues, secular folk music created by African Americans in the early 20th century, originally in the South. The simple but expressive forms of the blues became by the 1960s one of the most important influences on the development of popular music —namely, jazz, rhythm and blues, rock, and country music —throughout the United States.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- What is the blues?The blues is a form of secular folk music created by African Americans in the early 20th century, originally in the South. Although instrumental ac...
- Where did the blues get its name?In the 19th century the English phrase blue devils referred to the upsetting hallucinations brought on by severe alcohol withdrawal. This was later...
- How did the blues begin as a musical genre?The origins of the blues are poorly documented, but it is believed that after the American Civil War (1861–65), formerly enslaved African Americans...
- Why is the blues considered the “Devil’s music”?In the early 20th century the blues (among several other popular genres of music) was considered seductive and destructive by parents and clergy wh...
- How does blues music sound?The blues has a distinct melancholic and somber tone, which is achieved through vocal techniques such as melisma, rhythmic techniques such as synco...
Jan 26, 2024 · What is the blues? Blues is a cornerstone of American musical heritage that has influenced music and artists worldwide.. Definition of Blues. Originating in the Southern U.S. close to the 20th century, blues is a musical style with certain characteristics such as soulful melodies, moving lyrics, and unique harmonic progression.
- Musicnotes
Blues - African American, Delta, Jazz: The origins of the blues are poorly documented. Blues developed in the southern United States after the American Civil War (1861–65). It was influenced by work songs and field hollers, minstrel show music, ragtime, church music, and the folk and popular music of the white population. Blues derived from and was largely played by Southern Black men, most ...
Sep 3, 2021 · Blues music is an American popular music form derived from the music of enslaved Africans, Black Americans, and sharecroppers in the mid-nineteenth century. In the early twentieth century, the blues entered the mainstream consciousness, thanks to musicians such as W.C. Handy and Ma Rainey, as well as father-son archivists John and Alan Lomax.
The blues band is a fundamental element of blues music, providing the basis for the sound and allowing for improvisation and artistic expression. Each instrument in the band plays a specific role in creating a unified sound, with the drummer maintaining the tempo, the guitar and bass providing accompaniment and solos, and the harmonica and ...
Many of these blues elements, such as the call-and-response format, can be traced back to the music of Africa. The use of melisma and a wavy, nasal intonation also suggests a connection between the music of West and Central Africa and the blues. The belief that blues is historically derived from the West African music including from Mali is ...
