Blues People

In the chapter reading from Blues People, by Amiri Baraka he writes about the origins of Blues and Jazz. He also writes about their struggles and how this produced a different genre of music. I found it particularly interesting that Jazz, something so upbeat and fun could derive from something so much more such as the blues.  The blues technically came from sad songs slaves would sing while working on the fields. The masters altered many of these songs, because they didn’t want the slaves practicing any type of religion. They were pretty much stripping them away from their own culture because they were afraid that it would lead to rebellion. So they had to change some of the words in their songs, incorporate different languages and stop using instruments such as drums.  The whites thought that they would use the drums to revolt. So the slaves had to use different types of things to create beats for their songs. Many of the lyrics in the blues are used to tell stories and are used to teach the younger generation. Baraka writes about all of these facts that have lead to the creation of the blues from songs that were initially African-American slave songs. Religion is also something that is mentioned in this reading. Most of the Negros were Christians but they weren’t allowed to practice their religion. Some of them were killed when they even spoke about spirits and devils. After slavery the slaves didn’t really have a place of their own in the “white world.” It was a hard struggle, with hate groups such as the KKK. These conditions brought on more songs that included “shouts, hollers..” So in other words, the songs would usually describe their current situation. Music is a way of expression and that is just what the African Americans tried to do. Although they were opposed and had to make many changes, they were able to create music that expressed who they were. They were able to create spiritual songs and church songs to keep their traditions alive in new generations. The fact that we still listen to some of these songs and understand them shows just that.