L 157 M

Nowadays it is so common to hear young people or even music students say: 'Blues? So boring, always the same structure...' The problem is that people have stereotypical images about blues, and consider them to be one certain musical style. It is true that most common blues are the typical ragged, twelve-bared ones. But where do the swinging of rock'n'roll, the funky rhythm of hip-hop, the jazzy sound of soul music come from?

The story goes back to the times of slavery. Since their arrival to America, the blacks had been separated from their families and transported to different regions of the land. This made them feel lonely (it is not difficult to understand why loneliness is a common topic in blues), and the only way of self expression and communication (as speaking to each other was forbidden on the plantations) was to use their musical heritage of Africa. It is generally accepted that all basic forms of Afro-American music (spiritual, worksong, blues) had been existing even before the Civil War, but they began to develop dynamically only after the abolition, being influenced by white music. For in the South many white and black musicians played together, blues became more popular, and by the 1920s it had become a national craze, thanks to recordings. They stopped being folk-music anymore, and became the key element of popular music.

Blues are the roots. They not only have their features in every musical style but they are a criterium to the existance of all contemporary popular music. And still they are unfortunately considered as a musical style. All the different kinds of music which in fact have grown out of blues (rock, soul, even rap, disco and punk, etc.) can not be imagined without the historical fact that mass communication had made blues audible for the world. And now it is media that causes blues losing their real meaning. The abundance of commercial music makes blues change and form a musical 'category' so as to stay competitive.

This leads to blues being presented to consumer society in a distorted way. As they express an emotional mood, in the case of a professional musician you can not perform blues honestly while sticking to a schedule, also adding that you know you are going to get your tidy sum of money that night. Moreover today's consuming audiance is mostly capable for 'hits' that are usually performed in a creamy style of blues-rock.

According to the facts above blues are tending to lose their charm and real function. But real blues still live as well. They are there, where they had been born: in the 'Deep South' and the suburban ghettos of the Northern metropolises, where life is still hard, but no disturbance factors like money and carreer can make the musician loose the 'feeling'. Played by old and tired people, but blues are still there. Only forgotten. People should get to know about their meaning, their origin, to get rid of misleading commercial stereotypes.