BEAUTY IN THE SADNESS OF BLUES

I started being interested in blues recently and in this post I’d like to share my newly found passion with you. Are you ready?

 THE STORY OF BLUES

 The word “blues” comes from the expression “to have blue devils” used after the American Civil War  by the Afro American slaves to indicate the consequences of the hangover (“blue” is a synonym of “drunk”)   and, in particular,  the state of sadness, loneliness and melancholy. In this sense, to sing blues meant to “get rid of the blue”, that is getting rid of  those states of mind.

Musically, its origin is similar to that of the gospel and spiritual music (the typical music played in the centre of Africa), with a cyclic scheme of  “call and response” divided in 3 phrases, of which one is a refrain. Since it was sung by slaves,  the lyrics were generally about the work in the fields, the longing for their families or simply their sadness.

In 1865, with the abolition of slavery the blues started spreading in the USA, and what was before especially sung was now expressed by instrumental music (especially piano and guitar), keeping its simple scheme and the same themes.

 Until the 1960s blues was considered “the black music”,or better, the music of the black people, which were still considered  inferior and strongly discriminated, but thanks to important bluesmen like B.B.King and Steve Ray Vaughan those prejudices were little by little overcome   (in music at least!) and nowadays blues is played all over the word.

 

 

THE BLUES AS A SOCIAL PHENOMENON 

Blues wasn't only a kind of music, but a social and cultural phenomenon. It had an important role in the campaign for equal rights in the US, giving to black people the possibility to demonstrate their skills, talents, feelings and thoughts to the white.

Telling their terrible stories in the lyrics of their songs, they show a positive reaction to painful events. Lots of modern psychologists have demonstrated the importance of  sharing our own pain to overcome a traumatic event. So that was truly important to them.

This helps us acknowledge once again the power of music to “heal” society and to unite people regardless of race, religion and beliefs.

 MY FAVOURITE BLUESMEN

1)      B.B.KING

Also known as “Mr.Blues”, he is the pioneer of the modern blues. Beyond his original songs, he re-arranged a lot of traditonal blues songs, contributing to their popularity all over the world. Famous for his unique way of playing the guitar and for  his funny faces, he is an icon of  blues.

 

2)      ERIC CLAPTON

 If I discovered blues, it is no doubt thanks to Eric Clapton, an excellent guitarist that between hard rock song and a romantic ballad found the time to write some important pages of  blues in the second half of the 20th century. With his delicate style, he is one of my favourite musicians.

 

 

3)      JOHN MAYER

He isn't a real bluesman, because his music is mostly country and soft rock, but he played some covers of blues songs, and I definitely love his adaptations of those songs, so he always comes to my mind when I think about blues.

 

 

4)      PINO DANIELE

 I can’t avoid mentioning  an Italian musician like  late Pino Daniele. He was a Napolitan musician considered by his black colleagues “half-black”, because he brought  blues to Italy, and the Italian “Canzone” in America. Thanks to his availability to collaborate with many, he was the link between Italy and the rest of the world, not only as for music, but  for  culture.

JACO, 5sc