Everlasting Love in the 1960’s
Funk music originated in the mid 1960’s in African American communities. It became a very popular genre of the 1970s and 1980s, it consisted of a mixture of soul music, jazz, and R&B. The most notable Funk Artist was James Brown who set the tone for other artist that joined the movement. Funk branched off to different […]
2000’s Gospel
Notable artists: Kirk Franklin (2003 The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin) Donnie McClurkin (2000 Live in London and More) Mary Mary (2000 Thankful, 2002 Incredible, 2005 Mary Mary, 2006 a Mary Mary Christmas) Fred Hammond (2000 Purpose by Design) Yolanda Adams (2007 What A Wonderful Time) Cece Winans 2001: CeCe Winans 2003: Throne Room 2005: Purified […]
The Outro
Entering into this class I knew I had a lot to learn about the history of music. I expected to gain textbook knowledge that only reach surface deep. What I obtained was much more than that. Professor Johnson, you raised questions that made us critically examine the music of the time and relate it back […]
The Breaks: Hip Hops Evolution in America
Hip-hop started in some of New York’s poorest cities. Since then it has become a well recognized genre that dominates the radio and has expanded the music industry. It generates hundreds of millions of dollars a year and has changed music culture in not only in America but, around the globe. While many associate […]
Noire Stages of Love
When I first heard about the concert Noire, I was immediately in awe of the title and what it meant to me. Noire celebrates and acknowledges the what it means to be black. Being that this was a class examining African American music, I thought this would be the perfect concert to analyse and debrief […]
The End of the Yellow Brick Road: How the Wiz soundtrack compares to the Original Wizard of Oz
The End of the Yellow Brick Road: How the Wiz soundtrack compares to the Original Wizard of Oz [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGxBx8RzzrM[/embedyt] [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THbY7EL8k5w[/embedyt] The Wiz soundtrack marks the end of the yellow brick road and what the expected path for classical theater music sounded like. In addition to the overall plot of the movie incorporating the […]
Earth Wind and Fire & Chicago are Alive Again After the love is Gone
Chicago in the 1960’s was not a Fantasy for poor blacks or whites. They faced numerous problems such as poverty, unemployment, police violence, and lack of social services and education. What was once an issue for mainly Blacks turned to an issue for anyone that was poor. As blacks and whites joined forces to combat […]
Take the “A” Train to Jazz Central
Let’s take the A train down to New Orleans where the heart of the Jazz story starts. At the time, New Orleans was culturally diverse, and home to French, Latino, Creoles, African Americans slave population, and immigrants from Cuba and the Caribbean. Although New Orleans was a racially diverse city Compared to what the rest […]
The Black Mozarts of Classical Music
Chevalier de Saint-Georges was born in Guadeloupe, the son of a wealthy plantation owner and slave, was a violinist and composer performing violin concertos that showed both his playing ability and ability to compose highly emotional piece and melodies. He is often referred to as “The Black Mozart”. That name however is ironic considering that […]
The Thrill is Gone: Blue’s Culture Appropriated and Used for Profit
The first time [they] met the Blues was in the south as new songs were emerging in Black communities. The creativity sprung from the struggle of Blacks social and economic developments due to the Jim crow laws. From racial segregation to lynching and TERRORISM, African Americans hope of attaining the American dream died but, their talents […]
A Real Slow Drag Through Ragtime
While Ragtime became popular in the 1890’s, its existence started long before it was given a name. While defining Ragtime brought uncertainty for most, it is agreed upon that Ragtime is a song, dance, and syncopated instrumental music that was new and unique in its development. Ragtime was created by traveling African Americans, many of […]
The Old Tunes: History of Jubilee Quartets
In the Mid 1800’s , following the American Civil war, educational institutions in the North were created for newly Emancipated Slaves. One of these Historical Black Colleges, Fisk University, created an ensemble of nine students, that were formally slaves, to perform concerts and tours ignorer to financially assist the school. By the late nineteenth and twentieth […]
Connected through Children Songs
Miss Mary Mack Mack Mack All dressed in black, black, black With silver buttons, buttons, buttons All down her back, back, back. She asked her mother, mother, mother For 50 cents, cents, cents To see the elephants, elephants, elephants Jump over the fence, fence, fence. They jumped so high, high, high They reached […]
The Intro: Uptown Baby Got a Story to Tell – Tiara Julien
The Intro: Ray Charles once described music as “one of [his] parts.. Like [his] ribs, [his] kidneys, [his] liver, [his] heart.. Like [his] blood .. it was a force already within [him].. It was a necessity for [him] like food or water”. Similar to Ray Charles, I, Tiara Julien, a Sophomore Economics major on a […]
