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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Blues as a religion?
Blues as a religion?
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apskarp
212 posts
Jun 22, 2010
6:07 AM
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I want to continue to explore the different aspects of the Blues. There were some discussions on the blues as a business concept, but for most the goal isn't to do business but rather to express something of themselves.
So, I have seen that there are people who are pretty fanatical about the blues, and others that aren't but still value the genre so much that they travel to the Mississippi from the Europe to see the famous cross-roads and so on. Either way, it seems that blues is a lot more than just a musical scale and form played with certain instruments. It seems that for some it is a form of blasphemy to even suggest that blues has to develop further - instead it should be cherished and kept as it was in the 30's.
I know perfectly well that religion doesn't have to have a god. There are religions that aren't formed over belief to some deity. In fact many religious people who are part of some god worshiping religions don't even believe in God! I have a friend who is very religious catholic but doesn't believe in God..
So what is your take on this? Can you share my perception that Blues has gained an institutional foundation where it is more closely described as a religion than anything else? It is like the roots of gospel made a branch of religion that doesn't need to involve gods at all...
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5F6H
208 posts
Jun 22, 2010
6:41 AM
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I'm not a religious person, it would be perhaps entertaining to describe blues as my "religion"...and I may do so in a humurous sense, but in reality, it would be rather glib to suggest it in a real sense. Religion at it's best provides, or exists within, a tangible community - a mechanism for coping at times of upheaval & change, like births, deaths & marriage. Admittedly, in today's world where communities get strung out by the populace chasing work & affordable housing, this might be somewhat diminished.
Like I said, I'm, not religious but members of my extended family are...if someone close to me died, I'm sure that those who I know in the blues world would be sympathetic...but I don't see them rushing round for day's worth of prayers & food deliveries. They're good people, but we typically just meet up in bars & at festivals...we mostly just have the music in common.
Don't forget that, though blues is a secular music, many artists still have their religious beliefs too, the 2 are not mutually exclusive.
Whilst your friend may not believe in God as such, he may still derive a lot of comfort, support & a social network thanks to his religious community.
I think it's great that fans & devotees of the music might want to make "pilgrimages" to important sites in the history of the genre (just like music fans in general go to Graceland, or how T-Rex fans followed my uncle about because he was a policeman at the scene of Marc Bolan's fatal accident)...whether that gives it the status of religion is very doubtful in my opinion.
The perspective that stayed with me, was when overhearing a conversation between 2 well known UK based guitarists, whilst we were watching a great blues band...the first guy was young, enthusiastic & bursting with energy...the second had decades on the road under his belt...
Gtrist #1 - "This music is great, it's like a magnificent obsession."
Gtarist #2 - "It's not an obsession, it's a disease man, a f***in' disease!"
It is certainly infectious & seems to pick you, every bit as much as you pick it. Hugh Laurie (Dr House) once said of the music of Muddy Waters, "the very first time I heard it, it was as if I'd always known it had existed"...gave me chills when he said that, he put it as well as I ever could.
"Either way, it seems that blues is a lot more than just a musical scale and form played with certain instruments." Yes, it is...but then so is any music that people have a deeply held liking for.
Last Edited by on Jun 22, 2010 6:43 AM
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Blues13
43 posts
Jun 22, 2010
7:01 AM
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Hey Honkin you're an hoptimist. I think there 100% chance that it whont end well and a 50/50 chance that someone will be ban. I hope I'm wrong but temper have been heating up really fast lately.
It's an interesting question so :
PLEASE GUYS KEEP IT CIVIL.
I think that the more fanatical one becomes about something the chances that it will be treated like something it shouldn't be multiply.
Martin
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The7thDave
136 posts
Jun 22, 2010
8:27 AM
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Remember that Blues music has some historic ties to Hoodoo. Hoodoo isn't exactly a religion, per se, rather a syncretistic system of folk magic--but there's some conceptual overlap, and most of its practices and beliefs can be traced back to African and European religious traditions.
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--Dave
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* BTMFH *
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Last Edited by on Jun 22, 2010 8:41 AM
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Joe_L
400 posts
Jun 22, 2010
8:48 AM
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Blues and religion are highly intertwined. You ought to consider doing more reading on the history of the music. It's better than asking questions on an Internet forum.
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waltertore
683 posts
Jun 22, 2010
8:54 AM
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I love the blues. It has saved my life as much as praying when times were dark. Is it a religion?? I don't know. What I do know is my music is my religion. I can't break the commandments or I will lose the gift I have found of spontaneously created music.
The commandments that I follow to keep the gift of Spontobeat in my soul:
I have to follow where my soul takes me. this means musically and as well as with lifestyles, choices, etc.
Money, fame, and acceptance, are not in the equation unless it comes via me being me. You take me as I come or forget it.
I will always share what is in my soul with anyone whose passion leads us to meet.
Walter
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walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year.
" life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
2,000 of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
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kudzurunner
1616 posts
Jun 22, 2010
10:00 AM
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Blues can certainly serve some of the same social functions as religions. It can bind believers into a community; allow for the creation of saints (Little Walter, etc.) and relics attached to saints; enable meaningful ritual, such as communion, ordination (somebody buys you a beer after your first gig); offer its believers a meaningful explanation of the world.
I'd feel better, frankly, if the OP had waited just a LITTLE bit longer to start this thread after I'd booted somebody off the forum for gross misbehavior on a thread that touched lightheartedly on religion.
@Apskarp: Please reread the forum creed. Here's what the relevant portion says: "Although some of us believe in God and others scoff at the idea, religion is one topic where we might deliberately choose to live and let live (and remain mum), even as we endlessly and irritably debate the merit of premap tubes. boutique amps, and the traditionalist/modernist divide within the blues harmonica universe."
The phrase "remain mum" means "...and not talk about it."
Look, guys: I'm writing a book as we speak about the devil and the blues. I'm not a prude. It's a fascinating topic, and inevitably it leads me to talk about religion. That's in my academic work. But something about religion, on THIS forum, has brought out the worst in people. I don't enjoy saying "That subject is off limits," I really don't. But when the track record is clear, I'm forced occasionally to do things I don't enjoy for the sake of the larger good.
For the time being, ALL threads that contain the word "religion" will be locked the moment I see them, in accord with the stated creed of this forum.
I thought that the phrase "we might choose to" would translate to "Adam very strongly encourages us to"--as in "avoid the subject of religion." Clearly I was wrong. I am modifying the forum creed momentarily to make myself crystal clear.
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