Africa and the Blues

by Gerhard Kubik

Overview

With scholarly care but with an ease for the general reader, Professor Gerhard Kubik presents a compelling narrative that explores the African genealogy of American Blues.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781578061464
Publisher:	University Press of Mississippi
Publication date:	11/05/1999
Series:	American Made Music Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	260
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Lexile:	1410L (what's this?)

About the Author

Gerhard Kubik is one of the best-known scholars in the field of ethnomusicology and author of numerous books over a lengthy career. A cultural anthropologist, ethnomusicologist, and psychoanalyst, Kubik researches music, dance, and oral traditions in Africa and the Americas. He is author of Jazz Transatlantic, Volume I: The African Undercurrent in Twentieth-Century Jazz Culture and Jazz Transatlantic, Volume II: Jazz Derivatives and Developments in Twentieth-Century Africa, both published by University Press of Mississippi.

Editorial Reviews

Gerhard Kubik analyzes similarities in musical forms and instrumentation to trace the roots of American blues to the west central Sudanic region of Africa. Kubik contends that the music that eventually became the blues owes less to European tradition than previously thought, and that early American, particularly Appalachian, music borrowed heavily from African influences. Kubik also discusses the impact African American blues, jazz and R&B has had on contemporary African music.

Blues Revue