12 Bar Blues And Slavery:

By: Esther Chemla

The History Of Slavery:

Thousand of African people were forced to go to America in the 18th and 19th century to become slaves. Life was made horrible for them because they were squashed on sailing boats for several months and they had to live in terrible conditions. Children were taken away from parents and husbands were taken away from wives so families never saw each other again.Music played an important part in the lives of the African slaves because some of the songs they sang/played expressed emotions and healed sicknesses. The songs that had a rhythmic tune to them, kept the beat as they worked. The most popular instrument they played was the drum. They played it, either by the palm of their hands, their fingertips or with sticks. Anything they found was usually transformed into an instrument, such as jaw bones. This was turned into a percussion instrument by becoming a scraper.

12 Bar Blues:Compared with the major scale, some notes, known as blue notes may

be flattened by a semitone or ‘bent’ by a smaller interval. Blue notes are usually found on the third, fifth or seventh degree of the scale.

Famous Blues Artists:

Linda Martell was born on June 4, 1941, in Leesville, South Carolina, one of five children. As she was growing up, she developed an appreciation for music, such as: country, blues, jazz and R&B. She began singing at the age of 5 in church, she then began performing R&B tunes with a small group in clubs around Columbia.During one of her performances, the audience insisted she sing a country song and so she did… She blew everyone away with her singing and a serviceman, who had been in the audience that day told his friend about her. He was a business man, who lived in Nashville and he persuaded Martell to come to Nashville for a demo recording session. Her demo tape was taken to an American record producer/label owner who was highly impressed with the singer and signed her on, this was how she became a famous blues artist.

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