Migration of
African slaves to America has certainly enriched the American cultural horizon
in ways more than one. In the 1920s and 1930s, that is prior the WWI, Chicago,
Detroit, Los Angeles and New York were the bustling industrial zones across the
newly discovered continent. It was around this time a batch of Africans were
brought to these regions to work in the mines and other industrial domains. It
is mostly from this working community, the country first got the taste of jazz
and blues music. As such, jazz and blues are the most authentic precursors to
R&B music.
R&B is the
abbreviation of Rhythm and Blues and is one of the most popular genres of
African-American music. The range of music originated in the 1940s. Now, how
the category of music got its name is quite interesting. Back in those days,
rock and jazz music were significantly popular across the society. In contrast
to that blues usually consisted of piano, one or two guitars, bass, drums and
saxophone. Occasionally, vocalists also contributed to this range of music. The
term Rhythm and Blues was used by recording companies. During those initial
days, the genre of music mostly catered to the community of urban African
Americans. The term was coined by recording companies to market the product to
its targeted audience.
The lyrics of
the music used to be most simple. The themes of the songs revolved around love,
relationships, broken hearts, and triumphs of freedom, economic liberty, carnal
pleasure and other typical human aspirations. Given the themes, it is natural
that R&B music earned towering popularity with all sections of the society
almost in no time.
However, the
genre of music has undergone severe changes over the ages. Prior to WWII, it
was mostly referred to as Black Music. However, right after the WWII the
terminology Rhythm and Blues started to be used. It is interesting to mention,
the genre of music has paved the way to develop Rock and Roll. During the Cold
War days of 1970s, the terminology was used to denote soul and funk music as
well. In the 1980s, a newer version of the genre of music came into being,
which was termed as Contemporary R&B. This version included elements like
soul, funk, pop, hip hop and others. A number of talented R&B music artists earned
prominence around this time, whose contributions further made the category of
music even more popular all over the world.
The genre of
music will certainly undergo further modifications across the timeline.
However, it can be safely predicted, universal popularity of this range of
music will never diminish under any circumstance.
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