The blues are ... The meaning of the word "blues"

Blues - this is a special musical form that reflects the state of the human soul. Has a pronounced jazz base. Blues music originated in the late XIX century in the southeastern lands of America, on the territory of the "cotton belt". At that time, plantations were cultivated by hundreds of blacks brought by slave traders from the African continent. Work from dawn to sunset was hard, everything had to be done manually, and black slaves suffered. The emotional experiences of slaves demanded an exit, and against this background the first and the main variety of blues appeared - "spirituals".

Blues - this is a true folklore art, rooted in the very depth of human existence. Therefore, from the cotton plantations to the new musical direction , a direct path to the stage was opened. There were first performers in the style of "spirituals". And since the true art is never monotonous, then parallel directions began to develop: "soul", "swing", "boogie woogie" and others. The meaning of the word "blues" became multivariate, new varieties appeared.

New colorful music spread across America, gaining hundreds of thousands of fans. After a while, the blues split into two categories - the deltas of the Mississippi and the Chicago Delta. One style assumed a guitar accompaniment, the other preferred the accompaniment of labial harmonics. Musical instruments organically complemented the song vocals. The orchestra involved percussion instruments, double bass and trombones.

Direction "soul"

Blues style "soul" (Soul) necessarily includes a group of wind instruments. For the most part, these are pipes or saxophones. As the most vivid example of the performance of Soul, you can bring Wilson Pickett's song "She's Lookin 'Good", in which the dialogue between the two guitars is complemented by synchronous tricks of the four pipes.

Singers Soul, the most popular Aretha Fracklin and Anna King, do not allow themselves multilayer instrumental accompaniment. Franklin has the same four pipes and backing vocals, and Anna King has a double crescendo in the middle of the composition. It's about the classic blues - "Night Time Is The Right Time" - in both cases.

Black slaves went to church on Sundays, it was a mandatory ritual. And since the church services became a part of the life of the "Negro working people", then there was music without it. There was "gospel", an interesting direction in the blues. Gospel songs are church songs, mostly Christmas songs . They could be in choral performance or solo. Classical gospel is the Christmas song "Silent Night, Holy Night" ("Silent Night, Holy Night").

Blues - the best way to have fun

But back to the black founders of the blues. In addition to working on plantations and Sunday visits to the church, people wanted to relax, have fun, and dance. Against the background of these simple human desires one more direction of blues was born - boogie-woogie. The style is super-majeur, very expressive, and most importantly - ideal for dancing. Boogie Woogie was based on the repetition of six musical phrases of different layouts, but they were played in a strictly defined order. Thus, the boogie-woogie formula was created. Blues - the best way to have fun, and the best instrument for his performance was immediately recognized as a piano, it worked well on a jazz six-string guitar. The impact instruments were also in place. The contrabass seamlessly supplemented the entire musical picture.

Who performs the blues

By the middle of the twentieth century, the main performers of the blues were defined . They were singers and guitarists from among the black population. The peculiar syncopated rhythm of blues compositions required natural talent - it was impossible to learn. Meanwhile, they did not even try to teach, nuggets in music, especially in folklore, have always been plenty. The blues of talented performers were immediately noticed by the ubiquitous impresario, offered contracts, and thus art developed.

Blues - it's "sadness in the soul," if you use the exact translation from English. Melodies and the truth sound sad and melancholy. But there are also blues compositions in the style of "rhythm and blues," which means "funny rhythms in the shower," and they sound joyful and serene. The variety of the genre is impressive. The blues are also swing, which means "escaping, fleeing." Swinging melodies can be listened to without end, they never get bored. Only experienced musicians can perform them.

Rockabilly

Following the classic blues in the early 50-ies of the twentieth century appeared the style of rockabilly, that particular kind of rock and roll that no longer corresponded to the "black" canons. However, the origin of the new genre did not cause doubts - the source was blues. Rockabilly played and sang mostly white, the most notable performer of this genre is Wanda Jackson, a young singer, protégé of the King of Rock and Roll Elvis Presley. Vanda's voice was characterized by musical critics as "emery", in another way, perhaps, you will not say. And the singer's popularity is still high. She takes first place in any musical rating.

Blues in the USSR

In the stagnant Soviet times, the blues seeped into the USSR with difficulty. Any Western music was banned. Domestic Russian musicians tried to depict blues compositions on their instruments, but the results were more than doubtful. This is understandable: if the culture is alien to the Soviet mentality - how do you play? However, gradually young performers in the post-Soviet space managed to grasp the most important nuances of the blues, and many instrumental ensembles began performing black music. Songs such as "Autumn Blues", "Night Blues" and the like sounded.

Mentality and music

Soviet execution and did not close to the original, and in some cases was the purest water profanity. How else? After all, for example, Ray Charles, the blues singer, it would never have occurred to perform the Russian folk song "In the garden, in the garden." There is a good proverb for all occasions: "Do not go to your sledge - do not sit down." Nevertheless, if the "Autumn Blues" performed by Russian musicians bring joy to someone , it means that it can and should be performed. And the skill will follow.

A whole layer of North American music culture is blues. Songs, ballads, Christmas and Thanksgiving. Blues, sad and reckless, youthful and foolish, and old-fashioned thoughtful. Blues is music in the most grandiose sense of the word.