Blues is a vocal and instrumental form of music based on the use of "blue notes." It emerged in Black communities of the United States from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads.
Abdullah Ibrahim (formerly Dollar Brand), a founder of the African jazz movement, dedicated this composition to the 1970s youth-led uprising in Soweto, South Africa. It opens with the faint cry of a child. The accompanying images draw on both the apartheid era and the triumph over it.
Way Down in the Hole (Tom Waits). Preachin' Blues (Son House). Stand Up, Stand Up for Judas (Leon Rosselson). Atheists Don't Have No Songs (Steve Martin). I'm on My Way to Canaan Land (Burt Lancaster as Elmer Gantry).
Son House was a preacher before becoming a seminal figure in the development of blues. Here he creates short, vivid portraits of church-goers. Find more Alt-Xmas music here.
Jon Stewart -- Affordable Horror Story. Liquid Art. Canned Heat -- Woodstock Boogie. Burn: Detroit Firefighter Documentary. Professor Louie -- What Does it Mean to be Working Class?
Blues group Canned Heat performing live at Woodstock, 1969
The roots of bluesman Guy Davis' music are the rhythms and themes of the South. One person's favorite: his album Call Down the Thunder.
Legendary blues singer Robert Johnson's story (1936) of unsuccessfully trying to hitch a ride as the sun goes down. This song was later performed by such artists as Elmore James and Eric Clapton.
A New Generation of Civil Rights Fighters. The Story of Gershwin, Harlem and the Blues. Deport the Statue of Liberty. Cracking the Codes: A Trip to the Grocery Store. When Comedy Went to School. Richie Havens at Woodstock (in memoriam).
Israeli pianist Astrith Baltsan performs Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, explaining the inspiration of the music in the young Gershwin's fascination with Harlem blues.
Bill Withers, in 1971, playing Ain't No Sunshine.
Spread the word