The most famous performers of the blues

Performers of the blues almost never enjoyed the same popularity as the kings of pop music, and not only in our country, but also in the homeland of this style - in the US. Complicated sound, minor melody and original vocals often repel a mass listener, accustomed to simpler rhythms.

The musicians, who adapted this music of the black South, and made more accessible its derivatives (rhythm-n-blues, boogie-woogie and rock-n-roll) became more famous. Many superstars (Little Richard, Chuck Bury, Ray Charles and others) started their careers as blues performers and returned to the source many times.

Blues is not just music, it's style and way of life. It is alien to any self-admiration and thoughtless optimism - the features peculiar to pop. The name of the style is formed from the word combination blue devils, which means literally "blue devils". It is these bad inhabitants of the underworld that torment the soul of a man who has everything wrong in this life. But the energy of music demonstrates a reluctance to obey the difficult circumstances and expresses full determination to fight them.

Folk music, stylistically formed during the XIX century, became known to the mass audience in the twenties of the next century. Haddi Ledbetter and Lemon Jefferson, the first popular blues performers, in a sense, violated the monolithic cultural picture of the "Jazz Age" and diluted the dominance of big bands with a new sound. Mamie Smith recorded a record of Crazy Blues, which suddenly became very popular among white and colored people.

The thirties and forties of the twentieth century became the boogie-woogie era. This new direction was characterized by an increase in the role of percussion instruments, the use of electric guitars and organs, the speeding up of the tempo and the intensification of the expressiveness of the vocals. The overall harmony remains the same, but the sound is as close to the tastes and preferences of the mass listener. Well-known blues artists of the mid to late 1940s - Joe Turner, Jimmy Rushing, Robert Johnson - created the basis for what will be called rock and roll in a few years, with all the characteristic features of this style (a powerful, rich sound, usually created by four musicians , A dance rhythm and an extremely exalted scenic manner).

Performers of the blues of the early forties and sixties, such as BBC, Sony Boy Williamson, Ruth Brown, Muddy Waters, Besi Smith and many others, created masterpieces that enriched the treasury of world music, as well as works almost unknown to the modern listener. Enjoy this music only a few fans who know, appreciate and collect records of your favorite artists.

Many modern blues musicians popularize the genre. Foreign musicians, such as Eric Clapton and Chris Ree, perform compositions and sometimes record joint albums with elderly classics who have made a huge contribution to the formation of style.

Russian bluesoviki ("Chizh and Co", "The Road to Mississippi", "League of Blues", etc.) went their own way. They create their own compositions in which, in addition to the characteristic minor melody, an important role is played by ironic texts expressing the same disobedience and dignity of a good person who is ill ...