Black Southerner’s World in the US Before Civil Rights Part 1 A Conversation with Amari Baraka

A I agree that blues is a non-diatonic music and does slur and slide the notes, which is the style that came from West Africa—but I also think that the blues is more than just that. There are a lot of things happening in blues and a lot of different styles that are incorporated into it, such as the style of gospel music, the harmonies of the southern church choirs and spirituals were incorporated into blues music. The black southerners turned these gospel songs into spirituals along with the instruments of the time such as fiddles and guitars, which they would use for its strings as well as a type of drum on which they would tap out the rhythm of their songs. Or there was Buddy Bolden with his brass instruments, infusing the blues with new sounds this way. So I feel the music was a lot more eclectic.

B I believe that rhythm is very important to the blues but again I do not think it is the only characteristic or main element of the music that can be isolated. Blues has harmony, it has melody, it has a gospel quality to it, and it is also based on personal experience in a lot of cases or at least is a personalized style of music in which a narrative is constructed and conveyed. African music have survived in its rhythms which can be found in the blues, but blues has a lot of styles of music in it because it comes from an eclectic place in the south where many different...

For example, the blues songs by Gertrude Rainey and Bessie Smith from the early 20th century show a lot of personality and individualistic qualities, which really display an American experience for southern blacks, though of course the rhythms of Africa may be said to be present: I just do not think that’s all that is happening here.
C I definitely agree with the statement that the Negro’s way in this part of the Western world was adaptation and reinterpretation. Buddy Bolden, for example, was definitely adapting and reinterpreting the gospels and sounds that were all around in New Orleans in the 19th century during Reconstruction. He was expressing in his music a personalized account of what it was like to be free and black in the south yet still having to face the Jim Crow laws of the police. In many ways Bolden’s music was like a protest against the oppression that still lived, but it was also grounded in the musical traditions of the south—the brass bands, the gospel, and African roots.

D I agree that blues is formed out of the same social and music fabric that the spiritual issued from, though there is also more to the blues than just the spiritual or gospel strain. The blues is also cut from the personal experiences of its writers and performers. For example, the female performers Gertrude Rainey and Bessie Smith wrote songs about their relationships, having to live in the south, and all kinds of experiences…