Re: [microsound] Re: electro-acoustic blues

[Michael Samos <michael.samos@xxxxxxxxx>]

Funny this topic should come up.. Amongst other things I've been pouring
through the old Lomax recording lately and just wrote a little historical
piece on Howlin Wolf.  I also recently picked up a disc on Sub Rosa of
Tibetan folk songs many of which have a very close aesthetic relationship to
American Blues.  The microtonal slide playing we hear in southern blues
seems to be related to some of the microtonal music from India and the
middle eastern countries.  Presently, many folks inclined to study
ethnomusicology are exploring the idea of blues as a universal language.
There does seem to be something intrinsic to the blues in a way that
transcends time and space.  This isn't to negate the historical importance
of the blues.  To a large degree, I agree with Mark's evaluation of the
blues in terms of socio-economics.  It might be worth mentioning that for
many folks, playing the blues, or the popular folk music of their local, was
often a way to get out of some dangerous form of work.  Musicians were some
of the few folk that didn't have to work in the mines and the decision was
clear for a great many people.  I think that the structural simplicity of
the music is one of its greatest advantages.  It allows for a more
democratic music and allows for creativity on a level that music that relies
on instrumental virtuosity often lacks.  The blues are very easy to mimic
but very hard to play.  Many of what are now conventions of modal blues
required a great imagination on the part of the musicians playing it. The
manipulation of sounds using creative recording methods and the newly
available amplifier technology is simply stunning.

-mike
www.michaelsamos.com


On 6/27/06, Mat Ranson <mat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> That, or because its just really easy music to play.
>
> On 27 Jun 2006, at 11:32, Mark R. wrote:
>
> > Hi Jeff,
> >
> > Very interesting topic here and one that goes deep into many facets of
> > capitalism mixed with the political and racist forces that were
> > shaping the
> > United States at this time. I for one am a believer that the blues
> > was a
> > call to a lost voice of emotion within a cold materialistic
> > society. It
> > wasn't only blacks that felt the blues, but all people who wanted
> > to feel.
> > The severe conditions forced upon our darker skinned brethren
> > intensified
> > these emotions to the point it became an absolute necessity that it
> > come
> > out.
> >
> > You have to keep in mind that even black Americans at the time
> > sometimes had
> > prejudices against this rooted music...due in part to the churches
> > claim it
> > was Satanic. B B King once claimed that to play the blues in those
> > times was
> > like being black twice. There are still roving musicians that
> > recall the
> > histories and ancestries of the villages through their songs in
> > many parts
> > of Africa, and are not so much a victim of prejudices, but of
> > knowledge of
> > the supernatural and therefore not part of any village, but more
> > like a
> > force of nature passing through and raining down ancestral knowledge.
> >
> > I look at the blues in it's present form as the voice of what is
> > basic, and
> > a call to common sense in a world that is increasingly becoming
> > more and
> > more complicated and out of balance. I am not sure how one comes to a
> > connection with past bluesmen through the electronic recording process
> > except to have a feeling of it and express it honestly with raw
> > emotion in
> > the moment.
> >
> > Best,
> >
> > Mark Ragsdale
>
>
>
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