Reading Response 11/10

In the chapters read from “Blues People” by Amiri Baraka, the evolutionary process of Blues was shown. Baraka emphasized the factors and social conditions that caused a change in the native African music and how that led to the development of Blues. The first African slaves that came to the Americas through the slave ships initially sang about their gods and religion, however the slave masters disliked the fact that they link themselves from Africa and their own gods. The masters tried to resolve this by forbidding the enslaved from speaking anything about religion linked to their heathen roots. Little by little, generations by generations, the new generation of African-American slaves knew less and less about their heritage and with them change their music. Despite the African Americans having their own language and musical instruments such as banjo and xylophone, they had to transition into another language and music instruments in this case the English language and European music instruments, which ironically were influenced by African music instruments. African Americans, due to the language transitioning started developing their own “slang” and even spelling words differently such as “iggle” for eagle. The African Americans were then converted into Christians, during slavery; they went to a praise house. The church banned songs they think are sinful, including "fiddle sings," "devil songs," "jig tunes," and the "corn song." And further ban their music instruments such as the violin and the banjo, which was considered as evil. The church completely transformed the African American culture and their music.

            The African Americans try to maintain an ethnic viewpoint that is deflected onto their music, White masters did a lot of influence on the Blue as well, but they influence it more by oppressing the African Americans, depriving them of their own culture, which initiated the evolution of their music that was all about folklores and religion into Jazz which further evolved into Blues. Music is able to express and preserve a cultural identity, despite most being forgotten, and pass it down to evolve further more in the future. According to Bakara, cultural products are based on and determined by outside and inside force. In this case the African American started with their own songs to communicate with their god and the white trying to erase their culture.