This is a bit conjectural as I haven't had time to explore it as fully
I would it as I would like - others may have done though, so any
thoughts
would be welcome.
If anyone has seen the excellent documentary that Martin Scorscese
produced
on the history of the blues, that was presented by Corey Harris,
they may
have noticed the statement that the great Malian musician Ali Farka
Toure
made when he talked about his reaction when he first heard John Lee
Hooker.
He said it was like 'our (Malian) music' but different.
As I understand it, the origin of many of the people who went on to
form the
slave populations of the southern US and the Carribbean was often
from those
parts of West Africa (Mali, parts of Nigeria, Niger, Ghana, Senegal
etc) which underwent a process of conquest by Arab armies from the
north, in
the 9th and 10th centuries. This conquest was followed by the
spread of
Islamic culture and learning etc. So presumably the musical
traditions of
Sufism, complete with the quarter tone, which is of course a major
feature
of arabic music, would have fused with the earlier musical
traditions of
that part of africa to form the music, which transported to the 'New
World'
went on to form the blues.
This connection's fascinating, I reckon, there's also a great phd
thesis in
this for someone too, or it may already be one - I hope so!
This site http://www.maqamworld.com/ has some examples of scales and
sound
samples of the use of quarter tones in arabic music which some may
find
useful.
As for the use of the harp in West African Desert Blues, the only
person I
know of who has explored this, is the French harp player Vincent
Bucher, who
plays on an album called Kongo Magni with the Malian guitarist,
Boubacar
Traore and IMHO very, very nice it is too!
Bill
On Fri, Sep 5, 2008 at 1:12 PM, <IcemanLE@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Good concise, clean description.
To get a handle on this sliding sound and controlling it, try to
simulate a
cat crying - meeooooooooow - on hole 3 inhale. As Steve states, start
slightly
below the minor 3rd, let the note rise up towards the "ceiling" and
bring
it
down again.
The cat crying could be a parallel to a moaning sound. It is the
human
emotion in the moan that grabs the listener when it is recreated in a
sliding
musical note - harmonica, slide guitar, synth w/pitch bend, human
voice.
This is
an expression of blues heart, harking back to the day of slaves
working in
the
fields or the feeling of that woman having done me wrong.....
In a message dated 9/5/2008 5:45:25 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
Just a personal observation:
I see blue notes mainly as moving notes or slides and use them to
create tension by altering the pitch while I play them, rather like
how a slide guitar player would do. They usually sound most
effective
moving upwards (eg from slightly below a minor 3rd through to just
below a major third or the lowest bend in 4-draw all the way up to
the natural note), but can also sound good sliding downwards. Exact
pitch control of the bend and a smooth, gradual slide are important
to make this work,
Steve
Steve Baker
steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.stevebaker.de
www.bluesculture.com
www.youtube.com/stevebakerbluesharp
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