Some Thoughts on Much of Modern Music History: Part 2

August 13, 2010 by DaleR
Filed under: Blues History

We have covered the African-American influence on Rock and Roll and Bluegrass Music. Of course, Blues Music is still going strong in lots of venues and a lot of areas of the country. Maybe it is stronger than ever before. It is also my favorite music as I stated in my first post.

Ragtime music is still growing strong. It has evolved as a genre but I am not aware of any other genre that has grown out of it. It originated as an African-American genre and others have adopted it but it is still played pretty much as originally intended, If anyone knows of offshoots of Ragtime please leave a comment and advise me. I would be very interested in following up on that.

Of course, there is Jazz. It originated as an African-American music and has change the whole face of modern music history. All nationalities and”races” play jazz but I don’t believe that we have ever forgotten it’s roots. I am currently learning some fingerstyle swing guitar, It clearly has African-American roots.

I know I am leaving out some areas but I have saved this discussion for last. I have not yet learned to love Rapp or Hip Hop. I’m not sure which is correct. I’m getting older and am pretty much out of the loop in this area. I have noticed that over time I have been exposed more to the music and it has become less abrasive to me and is starting to sound familiar at times. I even saw some Blues and Rapp combined in some songs at a blues festival. It was actually very good.

So, as I look at the music that I love, I can see that most of it comes right out of the African-American experience. I will be very interested in seeing where the music of today goes and into that which it may evolve.

I would be interested in any education and comments by the readers.