Thursday, March 12, 1998
Feminist perspectives add color to history of blues
BOOK: Davis examines role of post slavery music for African
Americans
By J. Jioni Palmer
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
A bunch of old-timers bumpin’ and grindin’, drinking moonshine
in a Juke joint. This image might come to mind when mentioning the
blues. "Blues Legacies and Black Feminism," by Angela Y. Davis
applies a critical feminist lens to this down-home creation. Davis
does so with percision and expertise, despite its dense historical
context.
As the first post-slavery music form, Davis argues that the
blues is essential to understanding the myriad issues confronting
the African American community at that time. At its most basic
level, the blues express the newfound freedoms enjoyed by African
Americans. If spirituals (a contemporary rival of the blues) are
refined reflections of Black (CQ)folks’ souls, then the blues is a
guttural expression of what it is to be Black (CQ) and poor:
"Emerging during the decades following the abolition of slavery,
the blues gave musical expression to the new social and sexual
realities encountered by African Americans as free women and
men."
"Blues Legacies" vividly demonstrates how the blues directly
grew out of the experiences and musical traditions of the slavery
era.
"Blues make abundant use of humor, satire, and irony, revealing
their historic roots in slave music, wherein indirect methods of
expression were the only means by which the oppression of slavery
could be denounced.
"In this sense, the blues genre is a direct descendant of work
songs, which often relied on indirection and irony to highlight the
inhumanity of slave owners so that their targets were sure to
misunderstand the intended meaning."
Two themes that also permeate the blues include travel and
sexuality. Davis surmises that the manifestation of these issues,
both severely restricted under slavery, represent a desire on the
part of African Americans to explore previously uncharted
areas.
Davis, through careful analysis of the lyrics and careers of
Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday, explores how
these women produced latent expressions of feminist and
working-class consciousness. "Blues Legacies and Black Feminism"
does not attempt to paint these three artists as rabid advocates of
a feminist agenda.
Cognizant that most utterances of feminism consciousness were
often unbeknownst to the artist, Davis demonstrates how the
treatment of so-called private issues like domestic violence and
homosexuality belong in the public domain. Davis acknowledges that
feminist activists of the ’60s and ’70s would dismantle the
public/private dichotomy:
"The historically omnipresent secrecy and silence regarding male
violence is linked to its social construction as a private problem
sequestered behind impermeable domestic walls, rather than a social
problem deserving political attention."
In addition to prominent themes of travel and sexuality, Davis
also alludes to hip hop. Although Davis makes only occasional
references to the hip hop music and culture, a close reading of the
text will reveal many parallels between these two musical genres.
For instance, while examining Bessie Smith’s "Poor Man Blues," a
song critiquing the economic blight of the Black (CQ) community,
Davis concludes:
"Its impassioned denunciation of injustices would be repeated
time and time again across the continuum of black music — in
blues, in jazz, in rhythm and blues, in funk, and in rap. This
pioneering song established social protest themes as legitimate
content for African-American popular music."
The identification of the blues as the genesis of social protest
in "African-American popular music," recognizes the progressive
elements of hip hop firmly within the tradition of Black (CQ)
music. Other comparisons can also be drawn. For example hip hop,
like the blues, has been dismissed as a "low" cultural expression
and often chided for the prevalence of lyrics dealing with sex and
violence.
Davis’ ability to notice even the slightest vocal nuances
deriving its meaning demonstrates her keen listening skills. Such
attention to detail allows for a fuller examination of the subject
matter at hand. Augmenting an already thorough job, Davis has
included the complete works of Gertrude "Ma" Rainey and Bessie
Smith in the appendix.
"Blues Legacies and Black Feminism" is a thorough examination of
the blues as rich source of feminist and working-class
consciousness in post-slavery Black (CQ)America. Davis provides
invaluable insight into the plethora of issues encountered by
African Americans as they embraced their new freedom.