Soul

Soul music is a genre of music that is timeless and is still evolving today. Originating in the about the early 1960s, Soul takes elements from its predecessors, Blues, Jazz, Gospel, and R&B. 

It would be considered ta genre that was started by African-Americans and talked about the experiences of the African-American struggle. During the Civil Rights Movement, many soul artists were very vocal about the issues happening during their time. 

Soul can be characterized by its meaningful lyrics, the passion within the singer’s voice and many notable instruments that were used in other genres such as piano, guitar, bass and more. 

There are many artists that have been considered the King and Queen of Soul during their time, but many artists were popular during the soul work during its beginnings. Some artists during the earlier days of Soul would be, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin. 

Soul music is still evolving today with the new genre called “Neo-Soul”, which is a combination of more modern-day genres, Pop and Hip Hop. Because of the rise of music streaming services, there are many artists now have the platforms to share their work without a recording label. With that being said, many artists are now within the genre and are popular. Some of the most popular this year Solange, Daniel Caesar, Steve Lacy, and Ari Lennox.