Country artist Tim McGraw once said, “Music has the power to change people.” There is no better example of this than the roles that both Mardi Gras Indian music and Rhythm and Blues have had in fighting for the oppression against African Americans. Through the assessment of the musical and cultural impacts of both styles, it is possible to determine the roles each has played in fighting racism towards African Americans and, in the case of Mardi Gras Indian music, Native Americans as well. Mardi Gras Indian Music and Rhythm & Blues share many similarities and differences in the musical influences that lead to their foundations, their musical elements and the results that came from their formation.
The influences that led to the formation of
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Both styles have always shared some elements such as second line rhythms and ostinatos. This similarity in elements likely served as the starting point for the overall integration of these two styles. Alternatively, prior to the “second wave” of Rhythm and Blues, only Mardi Gras Indian music incorporated elements such as chant like vocals, secret languages, syncopation. As the new era of Rhythm and Blues, often referred to as the “second wave” rolled in, artists began experimenting with some of these elements that were previously exclusive to Mardi Gras Indian music. For example, artists like Dr. John picked up elements like syncopation and began playing with “that syncopated New Orleans feel”(New Orleans R&B- The “ Second Wave”.) On the other hand, R&B has elements such as horns and a heavy emphasis on the piano. Considering how unchanged the styles of Mardi Gras Indian music have been, it is unlikely that these stylistic factors will ever be included in the style. Never the less, contemporary R&B music has conformed with Mardi Gras music so much that “Mardi Gras Indians often perform onstage with R&B/funk groups.” An example of this is when “the [Neville Brothers] backed their uncle ,
In Matt Sakakeeny’s Roll With It! Brass Bands in the Streets of New Orleans, he explores the brass band tradition through the lens of social justice. Along his exploration of the vibrant tradition that is engrained within New Orleans musical history a reoccurring theme surfaced: the “expediency of culture”. Through Sakakeeny’s portrayal of the tradition, the idea of making art for the purity of the art contrasts with that of art for the sake of the economy and the question arises of whether or not the second line is truly a part of the city or a regulated part of a larger dog and pony show put on for tourists. Despite New Orleans being known as cultural capital for the trifecta of fun: music, food, and architecture, the culture that it’s famous
In this particular article, Ivan Fernandez discusses the unique connection between hip-hop and indigenous people. In the past few years, many more indigenous music artists have begun to voice out their stories of oppression and their traditions that have been suppressed for such a long time through hip-hop. This is because hip-hop is utilized as a medium for indigenous artists to take back their culture and tradition. This is connected to the historical material that we have studied because it pertains to the history and background of hip hop. Hip-hop and its culture originated in the rough neighborhoods in South Bronx.
As history progressed, music did with it, allowing for development changes based on surroundings and circumstances. “The final topic I want to discuss is black-white musical interaction. In the narratives, one finds references to blacks listening to white music and, as just noted, whites listening to black music. One can also find a few references to whites teaching blacks how to play an instrument, mostly the fiddle,” in this quote, Robert b. Winens highlights how the interaction between two different cultures can pose different sides. Although learning about and respecting other cultures is valuable, especially in the hopes of gaining a better understanding and creating community, this usually fails to be the case between African American and white cultures.
I believe that “American Bandstand” is important to African American music culture because it helped to break down the prejudices that Whites felt toward African Americans. Rhythm and blues music written and performed by
Annotated Bibliography: Title: Robert Johnson and the Musical Innovation of the Delta Blues Guitar Style in African-American Culture Primary Sources: House, Son. 2017. "Interview; Son House And Robert Johnson(Experience).". Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxMYwFA2liU. This interview with Son House defines the early days of Robert Johnson’s development from an amateur musician to a highly developed musician in the Delta Blues style.
Why even waste the energy to create a category if it serves no useful purpose in the real word?!” It is remarkable because very few if any African Americans recorded hillbilly music and with the exception of a few white jazz bands, very few whites recorded race music. Karl Hagstrom Miller addresses the reasons and history for this partition between black and white vernacular music and musicians
David Davis MHIS-332 Prof. Vera Flaig 09/29/17 Listening Journal No. 1: 1940s R&B The trajectory of black music in the 1940s is an interesting and loaded one. Initially sparked by the gradual migration of many African Americans to the north, and followed by the incorporation of new, jazz-influenced elements into traditional African American music, as well as the shrinking of big jazz bands eventually led to the creation of new genre called “rhythm and blues.” Represented by musicians, such as Louis Jordan and Nat “King” Cole, the genre proved to be just as much of a commercial hit as classic blues, a female-dominated sub-genre of the blues that was able to appeal to white audiences, due to more universal lyrical content. In the late 1940s,
In the beginning African American musicians all got together in New Orleans to create a new music. Jazz. Throughout the 1920s and 30’s, jazz music became an important part of American popular culture. The jazz sound that had originated in New Orleans became more diverse, and appealed to people from different classes.
This kind of music was the source of inspiration for most of the black artists who also played a big role in influencing Michal Jackson and his numerous works. Soul music would be perceived as having an influence on almost every facet present in popular culture. It has its history from Back Power and Civil rights movements that were seen in the 1960s (Soul: a Historical Reconstruction of Continuity and Change in Black Popular Music, 21). Some of the popular genres include blues that are deeply embedded in the black tradition. Blues and specifically country blues has its origin or essence from socially isolated communities in the antebellum period (Soul: a Historical Reconstruction of Continuity and Change in Black Popular Music, 22).
This rhythm and blues music has not yet gotten onto mainstream radio, but would soon be played by disc jockeys all over the country under the
Many listeners of the “ Creole Band” would confirm their music was basically for dancing as well as novelty. Also, the band’s music acknowledges the traditional style New Orleans style. This style is “an early jazz style featuring traits such as swing feel, polyphonic ensemble textures, two-beat meters, stop-time and solo breaks. Many Die Hards would say, “ every chorus seemed to swing more than the previous one, until every bit of tension in you seemed to leave your body. With that being said, Oliver and his band generated a great amount of rhythmic momentum which lead them to the top.
Jazz is most often thought to have been started in the 1920s as this explosive movement, but that is in fact not the case. Starting in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century many African American musicians have started to explore their taste in improvising, and where better to do that than New Orleans (Anderson). Before the 1920s these jazz musicians have already been going around sharing the unique sound, but up until then, jazz had remained majorly in New Orleans. Interestingly during this period, a common jazz band would consist of a cornet, a clarinet, a trombone, and a rhythm section when at this period of time the clarinet is not commonly associated with being a jazz instrument, it moved into being the saxophone rather. A big
In 1929, Cab Calloway and the Alabamians would tour to New York City, where they were hired to play at the Savoy Club. Unfortunately, their opening night went horribly. They blamed the failure on not being familiar with the dance music that was popular in Harlem. In a ‘Battle of the Bands,’ the Alabamians were thoroughly stomped by the Midwestern band the Missourians. Calloway’s band would disband soon after.
Throughout the history of this country, the music of African-Americans has had a strong influence upon our society as well as our culture. This music started by carrying the slaves from Africa and is still with us today. The youth of today have retained certain elements within the music to form other unique styles of music. Jazz and hip-hop are two of the most widespread and popular forms of black music ever created. They were both strictly created by black musicians.
Different artists started experimenting and trying out electrical instruments for the very first time. Jazz-Rock is quite different from earlier Jazz in a number of ways: • Jazz’s rhythm is renowned by its “swing”, while on the other hand Jazz-fusion is more based on eighth or sixteenth note rhythms. • Jazz mostly uses acoustic instruments such as piano, double bass, horns but jazz-rock mostly uses electronic instruments such as electric guitar, bass guitar, electric piano etc. •