| Image Views: 1209 Continuing with Blues Festival, 2007 ... What would any music festival be without the crowd breaking out into spontaneous dancing ... As I've written earlier, this is a free admission festival ... so no opulent stage decorations, but excellent music ... here we see a younger generation although the majority of the crowd was of the older generations ....
A brief note on how Chicago became a center for Blues music ... Early form of Blues evolved in the southern US as the African American working class songs. It took the form of loose narrative, often with a singer reciting his or her personal misfortunes associated with slavery, deprivation and hard times … Chicago Blues … is a result of many developments that took place in the 1920’s. The African Americans in the southern states were facing many problems like failing crops and increased discrimination against them. On the other hand Chicago was growing as an industrial center which was creating fresh job opportunities in the steel and meat-packing industries and there was also increased demand for labor during the WW-I. This situation lead to a mass migration of African American from Mississippi to Chicago … called “The Great Migration". This Great Migration of people was accompanied by a musical migration as well and Delta blues music travelled from Mississippi to Chicago and established its roots in the Chicago city. Whereas the Mississippi Delta Style consisted of one or two musicians playing acoustic instruments, Chicago Blues is famous for their raw electric blues bands. The distinctive Chicago style Blues emerged in the 1940’s with the introduction of electric guitars. By the 1950’s, Chicago became the center for Blues. Although it was deeply influenced by the Mississippi blues style, because most artists of this period like Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, and Jimmy Reed were migrants from Mississippi region … but with the use of electric guitar a distinctive style was emerging. Most famous acts of Chicago blues are .. Muddy Waters, BB King, Freddy King, Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Guy … Blues of the 50’s greatly influenced Rock n Roll emerging in the mid 1950’s and musicians like Chuck berry and Bo Diddley were directly influenced by Chicago Blues … Now the name of Chicago has become synonymous with Blues … Every year the city hosts The Biggest Blues Fest in the world! |