The first century of blues: one hundred years of hearing and interpreting the music and the musicians.(ESSAY)(Critical essay)

From: Southern Cultures | Date: September 22, 2007| Author: | Copyright information

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Just over one hundred years ago, classically trained African American musician and composer W. C. Handy accepted the directorship of a Knights of Pythias band in Clarksdale, Mississippi. The Knights--a fraternal organization founded during the Civil War to promote goodwill in the bitterly divided country--had convinced the Alabama native to return south after a stint as a music director in the Midwest. One night in 1903, while napping on a bench at the train depot in the Mississippi Delta hamlet of Tutwiler, Handy awoke to the sound of strange music. ...

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