The Meaning of the Legend of the Blues

[wolferock]

Hi All

In the 1920's Blues records appeared on the fledging record industry in the Southern States of American. Today these recordings are known collectively as 'race records'and as the name suggests the marketing for these records was targeted at the African American communities in the South.

Just like much popular music today - 'race records' started off as dance tunes and songs - Women like Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith sold large amounts of these records and both artists and record promoters began to realize that large amounts of money could be made. Many of the first to record in the 20's were women and Jug bands (small string bands)

However the success of Race Records percipitated a 'race to roots' amongst competing companies and many less known artists guitarists/singers were recorded also. The new 'blues'indusrty was looking for little known original talent - much the same as it does today.

Artists like Eddie Son House, Tommy Johnston, John Hurt, Willie Brown, Robert Johnson and Charlie Patton were all recorded during this period.

By insisting that artists played 'original' blues and because success was often the only means of escaping the hard segegrated realities of the South - the real origins of the blues were side lined and I believe actively obscured .... by artists and promoters alike, all be it for different reasons.

In the early 1940's before World War II, blues had become well established in Urban areas like Memphis and Chicago. There was an interest in the origins of the music. In fact two men, a father and son, Alan and John Lomax, funded by the Library of Congress, carried out an extensive research on the links between the blues and earlier forms of ethnic african american music both in Mississippi but also in west africa. They believed that the blues has distinct tribal roots and went looking for the link amonsgt older african american's. They recorded prison work songs and field hollers intimating that these type of áuthentic ethnic tunes formed the link bewteen blues and some earlier (or ancient) west african tribal music mostly lost over 300 years of slavery.

While the Lomax collection - available on CD - is a fascinating record of american ethnic music - they never really came close to establishing the 'tribal link' they were looking for.

Later in the 1960's interest in the Blues and it's origins but started by a kind of hippie revival. People like John Fahey, Sam Charters even Bob Dylon started to revive the Delta Blues recordings and artists if they still lived. The attraction as largely a reaction against the establishment and sought to identify the early bluesmen as the primitive tortured geníus' who because of injustice and segegration had never been given the recognition they deserved. It all fit in nicely with the civil rights movement and the general anti-establishment views of the college campus politics.

to be continued ......

The reality was quite different. The grandfather of delta blues wasn't Robert Johnson - it was a man by the name of Charlie Patton. Patton was a Choctaw Indian from Mississippi. His mentor was a man by the name of Henry Sloan - also believed to be a Native American.

My believe is that African Americans and Native Americans originally socialized and mixed together at Pow wows and barebues. Over time these social occassions broadened and musicians used to play in 'junk joints'

As well as playing popular tunes, dances like watz's, jigs and reels - some of the musicians also played native america dances such as round dances and stomps. The interpretation of these dances my string/jug bands and solo musicians - while not remaining absolutely faithful to the original Native Tunes - lay the seeds for that music which we know today as the blues.

The characteristic '' blues or harmony shuffle " - the blues beat - is in fact identical to the Round Dance beat and the "call and response" pattern of blues lyrics is essentially an individualistic interpretation of the Stomp Dance.

To hear this for yourself - refer to the Library of Congress website - where you can down load both old blues and native american recordings.

Another very interesting signpost to the Native American roots of the Blues is Hokum.

Hokum today describes a particular type of up tempo blues - which was played mainly by string bands in the 20's and 30's. Scrapper Blackwell a full blood Cherokee was one of it's most famous proponents.

What is interesting is the name Hokum, which in the dictionary is defined as 'meaningless'or 'non-sense'. HOwever I believe that the word is derived from Hokan or Hoka - a native american linguistic style. IN other words Hokan or Hokum was what the white settlers called Native American language.

My theory is that the very earliest blues tunes - where known simply as Hokum because originally they were sung in the native language. So Native American language Hokan - not being understood by Whites or African Americans became synymous with 'meaningless'. Over time however, a pool of lyrics (calls and responses) were translated into english - and started to replace the native lyrics. Many of the early blues lyrics have distinctive native american themes - especially Charlie Pattons lyrics. References to Riders (woman) - originate from the native tradition taking your girl for a horse ride ( like bikers today) . The constant references to walking and the entire concept of 'home'all I believe relate back to the 'Removals' and the Road of Tears.

How the Blues became associated solely with the African Americans however is probably the most interesting and enlightening part of this story

... to be continued ...............