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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
The outer boundaries of blues
The outer boundaries of blues
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saregapadanisa
64 posts
Jan 14, 2010
12:40 PM
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I've just read an interview from Richard Bona, a Cameroon born bass player, now U.S. citizen and living in Brooklyn. That guy is a really great bass player and very much in demand (played with George Benson, Paul Simon, Chaka Khan, Chick Corea, Bobby McFerrin, Joe Zawinul...).
He have a new CD called The Ten Shades of Blues.
And here is what he says about the blues : "...a range of five notes, present in different musical traditions and expressions. It is found in Mississippi, in West Africa but also in Ireland, in flamenco, in places where there is no traceability that can demonstrate that it was the blacks who brought it there. The origins of the blues are very mysterious ... " (sorry translation is mine)
That is definitely from a musician outside blues. But I find his take challenging, although kind of simplistic.
Leaving your ol' twelve bars aside, what music would you still call blues, even if it's not blues proper ? Does it make sense ?
And please, refrain from posting about race (please !) or attitude (of the hat and dark glasses kind).
Let's dwelve on music : musical traditions, musical expressions, musical structures...
What are the outer boundaries of the blues ?
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Honkin On Bobo
173 posts
Jan 14, 2010
1:37 PM
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It's a great question and one that I don't think has precisely definable answers. I love blues rock by whatever name people choose to call it. It's an excellent question.
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tookatooka
1000 posts
Jan 14, 2010
1:41 PM
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I can vouch for the Ireland bit. Recently I've been messing with some Irish Reels by uploading midi files into Fruity loops. I haven't quite got to the bottom of it all yet but I couldn't help but notice that the range of notes used along with the repetition and timing all looked very similar to blues. I'm going to look into it deeper when I get time and try and work out what's happening.
The beauty of making the comparison in Fruity Loops is that you can visually see the structure in graphic form. You can appreciate things from a totally different perspective than just aurally.
Interesting topic. I'll watch to see how this thread evolves. There's a chance yet that the Blues may have been started by leprechauns. Diddley diddley dee. Hey! maybe that's where Bo Diddley got his name?
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kudzurunner
954 posts
Jan 14, 2010
7:56 PM
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Microtonal inflections, syncopated rhythms that fall into discernable blues grooves (i.e., shuffles, slow blues, two-beats), a personal sound on some instrument that "vocalizes" notes.
Plus some lyrics about baby you did this, beat my biscuits that, and goin' back down South.
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OzarkRich
78 posts
Jan 14, 2010
9:44 PM
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Blind Willie Johnson and other contemporaries performed religious music that didn't follow a blues structure but was still "bluesy", though I don't have the understanding as to what gave it that sound.
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Ozark Rich
YouTube: OzarkRich
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saregapadanisa
67 posts
Jan 15, 2010
4:31 AM
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A bulk of thought, with no order :
Considering the lyrics, I guess that many contemporary musical traditions have their fantasized South, specially in the industrial age when mass of people from the country settle in big cities.
Why is African blues (Ali Farka Toure, Habib Koite...) called that way ? It's not blues, but there is something that many consider "bluesy" : they play electric guitar, they sometimes bend the notes, they expand their musical phrases in a way that is not purely traditional west african. Don't understand their lyrics though.
An other way around my former question may be : what music do the bluesmen play that is not blues. A guy like Taj Mahal played blues guitar with hawaiian musicians, and recently with Gwoka musicians from Guadeloupe. Is there any particular styles of music that are blues compatible ?
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