BLUES
MUSIC
THE BLUES
TRADITIONAL BLUES VERSES
BLUES RADIO STATIONS
BLUES MUSIC LINKS
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SECTION 1
THE BLUES
Blues is a genre and musical form that originated in African-American
communities in the "Deep South" of the United States around the end of
the 19th century. The genre is a fusion of traditional African music
and European folk music, spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts
and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads.
The blues form, ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll,
is characterized by the call-and-response pattern and specific chord
progressions, of which the twelve-bar blues is the most common. The blue
notes are also an important part of the sound. Blues shuffles or walking
bass reinforce the trance-like rhythm and form a repetitive effect called
a groove.
Blues as a genre possesses other characteristics such as lyrics, bass lines,
and instruments. The lyrics of early traditional blues verses consisted of
a single line repeated four times. It was only in the first decades of the
20th century that the most common current structure became standard: the
so-called AAB pattern, consisting of a line sung over the four first bars,
its repetition over the next four, and then a longer concluding line over
the last bars. Early blues frequently took the form of a loose narrative,
often relating troubles experienced within African American society.
Many blues elements, such as the call-and-response format and the use of
blue notes, can be traced back to the music of Africa. The origins of the
blues are also closely related to the religious music of the Afro-American
community, the spirituals. The first appearance of the blues is often dated
to after emancipation and, later, the development of juke joints. It is
associated with the newly acquired freedom of the enslaved people.
Lyrics
The lyrics of early traditional blues verses probably often consisted of a
single line repeated four times. It was only in the first decades of the 20th
century that the most common current structure became standard: the so-called
AAB pattern, consisting of a line sung over the four first bars, its repetition
over the next four, and then a longer concluding line over the last bars. Two
of the first published blues songs, "Dallas Blues" (1912) and "Saint Louis
Blues" (1914), were 12-bar blues featuring the AAB structure. W. C. Handy wrote
that he adopted this convention to avoid the monotony of lines repeated three
times. The lines are often sung following a pattern closer to a rhythmic talk
than to a melody.
Blues
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues
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SECTION 2
TRADITIONAL
BLUES
VERSES
In the folk tradition, there are many traditional blues verses that
have been sung over and over by many artists. Blues singers, who
include many country and folk artists as well as those commonly
identified with blues singers, use these traditional lyrics to fill
out their blues performances.
Artists like Jimmie Rodgers, the "blue yodeler", and Big Joe Turner,
"the Boss of the Blues" compiled virtual encyclopedias of lyrics.
Turner reputedly could sing the blues for hours without repeating
himself.
Terminology
Traditional blues verses in folk-music tradition have also been
called floating lyrics or maverick stanzas. Floating lyrics have
been described as “lines that have circulated so long in folk
communities that tradition-steeped singers call them instantly to
mind and rearrange them constantly, and often unconsciously, to
suit their personal and community aesthetics”.
Traditional blues verses
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_blues_verses
List of blues genres
http://en.wikipedia.org/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_blues_genres
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SECTION 3
BLUES
RADIO
STATIONS
Blues
http://www.last.fm/tag/blues
Blues Radio
http://tunein.com/radio/Blues-c57937/
Blues Radio
http://www.shoutcast.com/internet-radio
Blues Radio Stations
http://www.artistdirect.com/music/blues/866
Blues/R&B Radio Stations
http://www.radiotower.com/cat-blues.html
Top Blues Stations
http://www.live365.com/genres/blues
Blues Music News/FONT>
http://www.freshcontent.net/blus_music_news_feed.php
Blues Music
http://www.freshcontent.net/directory/music/blues_music.html
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SECTION 4
BLUES
MUSIC
LINKS
100 Greatest Blues Songs
http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_bluesong.html
All Time Greatest Blues Songs
http://www.allmusic.com/album/all-time-greatest-blues-songs-mw0002311490
American Blues Music
http://www.wirz.de/music/american.htm
The American Folklife Center's Online Collections and Presentations
http://www.loc.gov/folklife/onlinecollections.html
American Music
http://www.wirz.de/music/american.htm
Big Road Blues
http://bigroadblues.com/
Blues
http://www.pbs.org/theblues/classroom/defhistory.html
Blues
http://www.dmoz.org/Arts/Music/Styles/B/Blues
Blues
http://www.last.fm/tag/blues
Blues
http://www.pandora.com/music/blues
Blues
http://blues.about.com/
Blues
http://blues.about.com/
The Blues
http://www.pbs.org/theblues/
The Blues Database
http://www.bluesdatabase.com/
The Blues Directory
http://blueslinks.tripod.com/
Blues For Peace
http://www.bluesforpeace.com/
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The Blues Foundation
http://www.blues.org/
The Blues Highway
http://www.thebluehighway.com
Blues Links
http://aude.m.free.fr/blues
Blues Lyrics
http://www.lyricsondemand.com/miscellaneouslyrics/blueslyrics.html
Blues Lyrics
http://www.lyricsmania.com/genres/blues_lyrics.html
BLUES LYRICS and HOODOO
http://www.luckymojo.com/blues.html
Blues music: According to the atrocities
http://www.feelmusics.com/
The Blue Shoe Project
http://www.BlueShoeProject.org/
The Blues Radio Series
http://www.yearoftheblues.org/radio/index.asp
Blues World
http://www.bluesworld.com/
A Brief History of the Blues
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/a-brief-history-of-the-blues-by-ed-kopp.php
Boogie Woogie
http://ds.dial.pipex.com/boogie-woogie
Delta Blues
http://www.deltaculturalcenter.com/
The Delta Blues Museum
http://www.deltabluesmuseum.org/
Magic City Blues Society
http://magiccityblues.org/
The Music in Poetry
http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/lesson_plans/music_in_poetry/index.html
A Short Blues History
http://history-of-rock.com/blues.htm
African Music Encyclopedia
http://africanmusic.org/
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AFRICAN AMERICAN INDEX
AFRICAN AMERICAN LINKS
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AFRICAN SUB-INDEX
AFRO-LATIN AMERICAN
AFRO-LATIN AMERICAN RESOURCES
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