Music

“The Land Where the Blues Began”

According to Alan Lomax, The Mississippi Delta was a frontier wilderness were newly freed black Americans came by the thousands looking for work, adventures and an opportunity for better paying jobs

Old Blues philosophy, “It takes a man to have the blues to sing the blues.”

The Blues can sometimes be a conversation between the blues man and his instrument.

The Blues has always been “dance music” that is melancholy by nature….

Find the answers to the following questions

How is the Blues described by the narrator of this video…?

Songs of __________ caught between ____________ and ____________... The bitter poetry of oppressed people.

According to Lomax what is the comparison between the Mississippi Levy and the Great Wall of China?

Write a small reflective paragraph on the following topics included in this documentary

1. Famer life:

2. Levy Workers camps and living conditions…

3. River workers… (include the difference between a Good man vs Pretty boy)

4, Church Services shown:

(The video stated that “In the land of the blues, the only place to take your hurt was the church”)

5. Bar “toasts”

From the African American play on language came not only the poetry associated with the blues but also the foundation for Rap music.

Not all blues follow the urban 12 bar formula… the rural blues where much freer in form.