“I sucked! But that did not last long.” With conquering the sax, her mother and uncle realized she had developed a passion for the music and introduced her to the piano, guitar, drums, and trumpet. She was soon on stage playing with the bands, not just singing. In high school she and a group of friends created a band and started playing between the sessions of the usual bands at
Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan) also known as Lady Day was an American jazz singer and phenomenon in the 1950’s who not only greatly influenced jazz and pop singing, but through her vocal style, she pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. Holiday had a very tumultuous childhood, which also manifested continuously in her adult years. Some believe because of it, Holiday was able to exploit her sorrowful and melancholy disposition and create expressive genius music and a one of a kind vocal technique. “As a young teenager, Holiday served the beginning part of her so-called ‘apprenticeship’ by singing along with records by Bessie Smith or Louis Armstrong in after-hours jazz clubs. When Holiday's mother, Sadie Fagan, moved to New York in search of a better job, Billie eventually went with her.
Then is when her dreams of becoming a nurse were being overshadowed by her new found love for music and performing. During so she was in a relationship with the saxophonist of the group, Raymond Hill with whom she had a son in 1958. Anna Mae finally got her big chance in 1960 when another singer didn’t show up for a recording session; Anna Mae sang the lead on the track “A Fool in Love”. When asked to do the vocals, Ike had no intentions on keeping them and was going to replace them. Ike then changed his mind when he heard her on the track.
Slavery is a brutal part of American history. Like all history, one could gain knowledge of the events that took place based on literature that was printed during that period. Given that most literature is written by the protagonist, it’s expected to pull the reader into a biased point of view, based its context. In Frederick‘s autobiography, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” Frederick mentions the notion of the “happy negro.” He states how the slaves would sing songs and their masters would interpret their singing as them being happy. But their singing was their way of crying out to God.
Berry’s friend Ira Harris taught him new guitar techniques that became the basis for the Chuck Berry sound. On a trip to Chicago, he hooked up with his idol Muddy Waters who sent him over to Chess Records to make a record. Berry had no recordings of his own and had to return to St. Louis to put some music together on tape. One of those songs was “Maybelline” which would become his first big hit. The
Most wives of slave owner’s more than likely had ample knowledge of their husband’s infidelity when it came to their slaves but proper southern etiquette and upbringing taught them to look the other way. Big Missy the master’s wife seemed to disregard her upbringing when it came to her husband’s extracurricular activities. She found it to insulting and disrespectful and made no moves to hide her disapproval. Big Missy despised and mistreated Vyry openly because she proved as constant reminder that sexually her husband preferred a slave. So not only did her lineage bring her grief instead of glory, but Vyry maintained a humble and modest attitude.
Film The film, Howl, is based on and titled after Allen Ginsberg’s first major work that was performed and published to the public, a poem also titled “Howl”. Ginsberg’s poem was written during the Beatnik age in 1955 and finished in 1956. He wrote Howl in a way he perceived the world to be through his own eyes. The publisher of the poem was put on trial, accused of obscenity for sexual, homosexual, and pornographic references; the film is about this trial and the interview of Ginsberg, who James Franco takes the role of in the film. Howl, the poem, mentions issues of society of almost all aspects during the Beats generation with out any restraint on words.
Life was to be lived to the fullest. This was also known as the era of the "lost generations," and the "flapper" with her rolled stockings, short skirts, and straight up-and-down look. They disturbed their elders in the casino, night clubs, and speakeasies that replaced the ballrooms of prewar days. Dancing became more informal - close of the nineteenth century in the unpleasant dance halls and whorehouses of the South and Midwest where the word Jazz commonly meant sexual intercourse. Southern blacks, delivered from slavery a few decades before, started playing European music Afro modifications.
As seen in many poems wrote during the Black Art Movement, Armiri Baraka directly states his audience in lines “Let Black people understand/that they are the lovers and the sons/of warriors and sons/of warriors” While Claude McKay notes “If we must die—let it not be like hogs/Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,/While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,” McKay 's indirectly indicates that his audience are African Americans. Those lines 1-3 refers to the way African Americans were hunted after by their white counter parts during slavery. The poems also share a common use of words that in many ways can be viewed as a protest. Each poem makes you feel like you are in a setting with a black leader who is inspiring you with a speech to take action. For example, Claude McKay’s poem states “If we must die, O let us nobly die/So that our precious blood may not be shed in vain” ( 5-7, “If We Must Die”) .Likewise Armiri Baraka writes “Let Black people understand/that they are the lovers and the sons /of warriors and sons/of warriors” The authors are urging their black audience to stand up for themselves.
The way Rice characterized blacks was the way mainstream America had thought of blacks all along. Racism is present in all kinds of media. It’s in the news, cartoons, movies and even newspapers. Racism is also present in music, if you listen to the lyrics of rap songs they’re constantly saying the “N-word”, a word that their ancestors fought for years to get rid of and now they rappers just throw that word around like it means nothing. Children often listen to rap and hear that word, and not knowing what it means they say it like it’s just another insult not knowing that it can offend a lot of people.