Can a type of music be "owned"? Examining how music is linked to racial
constructs and how African American musicians and audiences reacted to
white appropriation, Blues Music in the Sixties shows the stakes when whites claim the right to play and live the blues.
In
the 1960s, within the larger context of the civil rights movement and
the burgeoning counterculture, the blues changed from black to white in
its production and reception, as audiences became increasingly white.
Yet, while this was happening, blackness--especially black
masculinity--remained a marker of authenticity. Crossing color lines and
mixing the beats of B.B. King, Eric Clapton, and Janis Joplin; the
Newport Folk Festival and the American Folk Blues Festival; and
publications such as Living Blues, Ulrich Adelt discusses these
developments, including the international aspects of the blues. He
highlights the performers and venues that represented changing racial
politics and addresses the impact and involvement of audiences and
cultural brokers.
Thanks for this, it looks interesting.
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