The blues It originates, like jazz, from the songs of African American slaves deported to North America from Africa. Born in the last decades of the 19th century, the Blues affirmed himself especially after the First World War, giving rise to various subgenre. More specifically, to the traditional country blues The most “modern” gradually took over Urban Blues. In the years between the two wars, the Blues also spread outside the United States, but in Italy it was hindered by the fascist regime. After the Second World War the genre, also called “Music of the Devil“, he met a new evolution, influencing the birth of other genres, such as rock. The blues is based on the use of Blues scale; on the prevalence of singing; On the presence, sometimes, of antifone and the structure a twelve jokes.
What is the blues
The term blues derives, most likely, from the expression “to have the blues“(Or”to have the blue devils“), Which means having sadness, melancholy. In the United States of the 18th century the word “Blue”, which literally is only the English translation of “blue”, was used as a synonym for drunk; Over the years he lost this value to take on the meaning of suffering, melancholy, no longer connected to drunkenness. The blues was born in the United States in the second half of the 1800s And he affirmed himself all over the world in the following century; He had great impact on the birth and development of other musical genres, such as jazz and rock, to the point that some scholars consider it the “father” of modern music. Although very varied, the blues has some specific characteristics. First of all, the singing is more important than musiceven originally the blues was only sung. In addition, the songs are based on a particular rhythm, determined by the use of the blues scale, different from the other musical stairs. The texts often have one structure with twelve jokes and may contain antifone, That is, questions from the singer and answers of a choir or soloist himself. These characteristics, however, are not fixed, because the blues is a very varied genre.
How the blues was born
Blues originates from the songs of the United States African American slaves who had developed a musical tradition that included the Work Songsung during work, and the spiritualperformed in moments of prayer. The songs of the slaves expressed melancholy for the conditions in which they lived, but also hope for the future and for the otherworldly life. After 1865, when slavery was abolished in the United States, some African Americans continued to carry on their musical tradition for entertainment, often moving from cities to the city To sing on occasions of private ceremonies and public parties. Thus was born the blues, which proposed some recurring themes: the difficulties in which the blacks were found after emancipation from slavery, because they subjected to heavy discrimination and very precarious social and economic conditions; the myth of the train, which was increasingly widespread in the US territory; Nomadism. The blues of the origins was only sung or, at the most, accompanied with “poor” tools: among the most used, the “Cigar Box”, A guitar whose main body was built with a box of cigars, to which were added the ropes. Sometimes, the songs were also accompanied by the harmony and other tools.
The songs were neither published nor recorded, but gradually the blues perfected and became a Musical genre in all respects. The first songs were published between 1908 and 1912. The “title of first Blues song published” is disputed between The Got the Blues by Anthony Maggio (1908) e Dallas blues by Hart Wand (1912). The first incision arrived in 1920, when the singer Mamie Smith register Crazy Bluesa song that had been published two years earlier.
Country Blues and Urban Blues
The blues of the origins, born in the rural areas of the South of the United States, it was known how country bluesthat is, country blues. During the 1920s, the country became one of the most popular popular music expressions in the United States and was appreciated not only by African Americans, but also by white citizens. Among the main interpreters there were renowned artists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson And Robert Johnsonthe latter considered one of the founders of this muscle genre.
In the period between the two wars, however, another subgenre also developed, theUrban Bluesthat is “urban blues”, favored by the migrations of African Americans by the South States towards the City of Northern States. In urban centers the musicians addressed a different audience, usually more heterogeneous and more demanding than that of rural areas. THE’Urban Blues it was therefore more “structured” and provided for the use of electrical tools and amplification. From the blues, moreover, a new style would originate, the Boogie-Woogiefaster and rhythmic, which became very popular in the 1930s and 1940s.
The blues in Italy
The blues crossed the boundaries of the United States to spread, such as jazz, even in Europe. He also reached the Italian peninsula, but its diffusion, like that of other American cultural products, was hindered by fascist regimewhich accepted the presence of blues songs only if “Italianized”. To give an example, the famous song Saint Louis Bluespublished in 1914 in the United States, in Italy it was recorded in the 1930s by some artists with the title “The sadness of San Luigi “. In our country the blues will spread to a greater extent during and after the Second World War, also thanks to the presence of American soldiers.
The blues in recent years
After the second post -war period theUrban Blues He definitively took over and encountered new changes, including the addition of new tools. In the 1940s, musicians have emerged like Muddy Waters And Howlin ‘Wolf, who gained great popularity.
The blues spread to many countries, but over the years he had to deal with the evolution of musical styles and with the development of new genres, First of all The rock, which, at least in part, originated from the blues songs. Despite these challenges, the blues continues to grow both in traditional forms and in more modern styles, becoming even more heterogeneous and diversified.
