Mother of the Blues: A Study of Ma Rainey

 

 

Briefly portrays the life of the influential blues singer, Ma Rainey, discusses the development of her music, and analyzes the theme of love in her music.

 

VA • The Rough Guide To Hokum Blues

 

Hokum was a style showing a completely different side to the blues that was upbeat, salacious and light hearted. With its use of clever and suggestive innuendo, this risqué style was extremely popular in the late 1920s and early 1930s and its influence has remained part of the blues ever since.

With its early minstrel show origins, hokum was a novelty style that showed a completely different side to the blues that was upbeat, salacious and light hearted. Its spicy style often made repeated and continual sexual references by using clever and subtle (but not always) innuendo. Its popularity would last through the 1930s and its influence has remained part of the blues ever since.

A true unsung hero, and one of the first and most successful of the solo blues singers to record was the banjo player Papa Charlie Jackson who helped popularise hokum with tracks such as the featured 'Shake That Thing'. Likewise, the light-hearted and humorous jug bands from Memphis were early pioneers of the genre and used a lot of suggestive material, demonstrated by the brilliant harmonica played Noah Lewis who leads his own jug band for 'Selling The Jelly'.

Perhaps the most famous of tracks in the hokum cannon is 'Its Tight Like That' a 1928 recording featuring pianist Thomas A. Dorsey aka Georgia Tom and bottleneck guitar wizard Tampa Red who aptly became known as the Hokum Boys. This risqué number was a huge seller, and one of the seminal songs of the period that ushered in the hokum trend of loose rhythms and cleverly penned, ribald lyrics. Both had previously performed with the &;ldquoMother Of The Blues&;rdquo, Ma Rainey, who also took up the trend when recording 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom'. Bessie Smithwas another blues diva who tackled cheeky double-entendre with an unmistakably mischievous tone, as can be heard on 'I Need A Little Sugar In My Bowl'.

Rather than just coming out and saying it, artists would use silly innuendo as part of the fun of writing and performing these songs. There were however exceptions like Lucille Bogan who didn't write the music to be cute and clever, but instead downright stimulating and arousing. Her featured song 'Barbecue Bess' shows her tamer side, unlike some of her X-rated numbers which completely threw innuendo out of the window.

The influence of hokum also crossed over into early country music as demonstrated by the Chattanooga-based Allen Brothers whose hilarious 'Bow Wow Blues' includes the classic line 'She's got more ways of lovin' than Wrigley's got gum'. The Dallas String Band had a foot in both early country music and blues camps and recorded the instrumental 'Hokum Blues' with its wonderful mandolin instrumentation. Fellow Texan Blind Lemon Jeffersonhad links with the band at various times and was amongst the first of the recorded bluesmen to use subversive 'double-meanings' such as the 'black snake'. Another towering figure of the blues, Charlie Patton, delivers a seemingly never-ending supply of happily lewd lyrics on the raggy 'Shake It And Break It'.

Like many bluesmen of the late 1920s, Barbecue Bob jumped into the hokum craze with tracks such as 'Honey You're Going Too Fast', which had a chugging strumming technique unlike anything he'd recorded before. Other East coast favourites such as Blind Willie McTell, Blind Blake and Blind Boy Fullerall did the same with upbeat numbers of their own. However, it's Bo Carter who can be considered as the true lyrical master of the dirty blues with his often-hilarious content, usually steering clear of any subtlety in numbers such as 'Please Warm My Weiner', 'Banana In Your Fruit Basket', and the featured 'Cigarette Blues'. Bo Carter produces a wonderful guitar accompaniment, showing that there was a lot more to his music than suggestive wordplay, which is the case for so many of the featured performers helping serve up this fun and racy take on the blues.
https://worldmusic.net/products/the-rough-guide-to-hokum-blues

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El Hokum era un estilo que mostraba un lado completamente diferente del blues, alegre, salaz y desenfadado. Con su uso de insinuaciones ingeniosas y sugerentes, este estilo atrevido fue muy popular a finales de los años veinte y principios de los treinta, y su influencia ha formado parte del blues desde entonces.

Con sus orígenes en los primeros espectáculos de juglares, el hokum era un estilo novedoso que mostraba un lado completamente diferente del blues, alegre, salaz y desenfadado. Su estilo picante a menudo hacía repetidas y continuas referencias sexuales mediante el uso de insinuaciones inteligentes y sutiles (aunque no siempre). Su popularidad se prolongaría hasta los años 30 y su influencia ha seguido formando parte del blues desde entonces.

Un auténtico héroe anónimo, y uno de los primeros y más exitosos cantantes solistas de blues en grabar, fue el banjista Papa Charlie Jackson, que contribuyó a popularizar el hokum con temas como el destacado "Shake That Thing". Del mismo modo, las desenfadadas y humorísticas jug bands de Memphis fueron pioneras del género y utilizaron mucho material sugerente, como demuestra la brillante armónica de Noah Lewis, que lidera su propia jug band en "Selling The Jelly".

Quizá el tema más famoso del hokum sea "Its Tight Like That", una grabación de 1928 en la que participaron el pianista Thomas A. Dorsey, alias Georgia Tom, y el mago de la guitarra Tampa Red, que acertadamente pasaron a ser conocidos como los Hokum Boys. Este arriesgado tema fue un éxito de ventas y una de las canciones fundamentales de la época que marcó el comienzo de la moda del hokum, con ritmos sueltos y letras ingeniosamente escritas. Ambas habían actuado anteriormente con la &;ldquoMadre del Blues&;rdquo, Ma Rainey, que también se apuntó a la moda al grabar 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom'. Bessie Smith fue otra diva del blues que abordó el doble sentido con un tono inconfundiblemente pícaro, como se puede escuchar en "I Need A Little Sugar In My Bowl".

En lugar de decirlo abiertamente, los artistas utilizaban insinuaciones tontas como parte de la diversión de escribir e interpretar estas canciones. Sin embargo, había excepciones, como Lucille Bogan, que no escribía la música para ser simpática e ingeniosa, sino francamente estimulante y excitante. Su canción "Barbecue Bess" muestra su lado más tímido, a diferencia de algunos de sus números clasificados X, en los que la insinuación se tiraba por la ventana.

VA • Voodoo Blues, Hoodoo & Magical Practices

VA • Complete History Of The Blues

 

100 songs by the Blues' biggest names from the genre's golden period of 1920-1962. This set contains the artists and songs that changed the musical landscape forever and influenced almost everything that followed. Features songs reintepreted and made more famous by the likes of The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Cream, The Doors, The Yardbirds, Jack White and many more. This set comes with a 28 page illustrated booklet including discographical information and an essay about this fascinating subject. The perfect snapshot for anyone interested in the genre or those wanting to know how modern rock music was formulated.
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-History-Blues-1920-1962/dp/B00QSZ4DD6

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100 canciones de los grandes nombres del Blues de la época dorada del género, entre 1920 y 1962. Este conjunto contiene los artistas y las canciones que cambiaron el panorama musical para siempre e influyeron en casi todo lo que vino después. Incluye canciones reinterpretadas y hechas más famosas por artistas de la talla de The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Cream, The Doors, The Yardbirds, Jack White y muchos más. Este set viene con un libreto ilustrado de 28 páginas que incluye información discográfica y un ensayo sobre este fascinante tema. La instantánea perfecta para cualquier persona interesada en el género o para quienes deseen saber cómo se formuló la música rock moderna.
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-History-Blues-1920-1962/dp/B00QSZ4DD6