How did the blues get its name?

The name of this great American music probably originated with the 17th-century English expression “the blue devils,” for the intense visual hallucinations that can accompany severe alcohol withdrawal. Shortened over time to “the blues,” it came to mean a state of agitation or depression.

Who coined the term blues?

One of the first professional blues singers was Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, who claimed to have coined the term blues. Classic female urban or vaudeville blues singers were popular in the 1920s, among them Mamie Smith, Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Victoria Spivey.

When did blues first become known?

The origins and birth of the blues

Although the blues evolved in the southern states of the USA from the late 19th century, it has lots of musical influences from Africa. African enslaved people brought their musical traditions with them when they were transported to work in the North American colonies.

What does blues mean in music?

The blues is a type of music which was developed by African American musicians in the southern United States. It is characterized by a slow tempo and a strong rhythm.

Where did the blues originate?

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.

The History and Evolution of the Blues p.1 [16th-17th century]

What blues means?

Definition of blues

1 : low spirits : melancholy suffering a case of the blues. 2 : a song often of lamentation characterized by usually 12-bar phrases, 3-line stanzas in which the words of the second line usually repeat those of the first, and continual occurrence of blue notes in melody and harmony.

Is blues the mother of all music?

The blues are often referred to as the mother of modern musical forms.

Which came first jazz or blues?

Both genres originated in the Southern United States around the late 1800s to early 1900s, with blues arriving first, then jazz a little later. Both were inventions of African Americans, who combined African musical concepts with European musical concepts, thus making these both uniquely American music genres.

Did slaves make blues music?

Contrary to what some people believe, the blues is not “slave music.” Although it was cultivated by the descendants of slaves, the blues was the expression of freed African Americans. The Great Migration directly influenced the blues' many evolutions.

Why is the blues considered the devil's music?

Later on, blues developed in the seedy parts of towns, in Juke joints (bars), speakeasies (illicit nightclubs) and brothels. And because some of the lyrics were raunchy, and most songs were about man-woman relations, drinking, lust, love, loss and longing, blues was considered sinful.

Does blues come from Africa?

Although many would point to the blues having come from places like the Mississippi Delta, the blues really originates from West Africa. It began with the musical cultures of African people who were brought to American due to the slave trade.

Did blues come from Africa?

Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s by African-Americans from roots in African-American work songs and spirituals.

Where in Africa did blues originate?

Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. African blues is a genre of popular music, primarily from West Africa. The term may also reference a putative journey undertaken by traditional African music from its homeland to the United States and back.

Where did blues originate in America?

The story of the Blues began in northwestern Mississippi in the late 1800's. It was initially a folk music popular among former slaves living in the Mississippi Delta, the flat plain between the Yazoo and Mississippi rivers.

How many blues scales are there?

There are 2 kinds of blues scales: the minor blues scale and the major blues scale.

What makes blues different from other music?

The main features of blues include: specific chord progressions, a walking bass, call and response, dissonant harmonies, syncopation, melisma and flattened 'blue' notes. Blues is known for being microtonal, using pitches between the semitones defined by a piano keyboard.

What music influenced blues?

Source, Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues Blues musical styles, forms (12-bar blues), melodies, and the blues scale have influenced many other genres of music, such as rock and roll, jazz, and popular music.

Is jazz and blues the same?

Jazz music is often much more lively and upbeat than blues music. Jazz is often associated with swinging and swaying movements, lively atmospheres and even abstract, unpredictable noise. Blue however, is melancholic, sharp and slow – and the format of the music can often sound very similar from one song to the next.

Who is the oldest blues singer?

Bessie Smith (1894)

Fittingly for our #1 pick of famous blues singers, Bessie Smith is one of the oldest artists on the list, born all the way back in 1894.

Why is there a link between African music and the blues?

In the United States, African music evolved into what we now call Blues. Blues music is the product of African and European influences during slavery times. It is a fusion of African musical traditions, African American field hollers and work songs, spirituals, and European-American folk music.

Why did African Americans sing the blues?

The Blues really started when African people were taken to America to work as slaves on plantation fields. The slaves would sing songs of their despair and suffering to make the time pass more quickly.

In what ways are Chicago Blues different from Delta blues?

Delta Blues was created in the Mississippi Delta and was predominantly acoustic, often played in bottleneck guitar style. Chicago Blues pioneered by artists like Muddy Waters is an electric guitar style developed to be heard above the crowds in noisy clubs.