AMERICA GOT SOUL
Soul is a broad tree, with roots stretching deep into the heart of the Black American experience. It can be traced all the way back to the earliest of roots Afro-American music, gospel and blues; two spiritual accompaniments to the lives of hardship that Black people experienced from the earliest days of slavery, through the Jim Crow era. While gospel emerged as a source of hope for a brighter tomorrow, even if one had to wait for the afterlife, blues was a direct product of slavery and prejudice; a cathartic outpouring of the misery and pain so intertwined with the lives of America’s oppressed underclass.
Blues had once been played exclusively in the smoky, sweaty Black drinking establishments dotted along the Mississippi Delta. There, virtuosos like Robert Johnson stunned audiences hurtling their nimble fingers across guitars with remarkable musical proficiency, and stunning emotional depth. However, as more Black people migrated to seek opportunities in new cities, the genre soon travelled to hubs such as Chicago, where it adapted to the miseries resulting from urban poverty. There, it took on a new life, as once acoustic musicians like Muddy Waters went electric, playing in booming bars for dancing audiences.
Simultaneously, other Black musicians had taken traditions into an entirely new direction, pioneering the genre of jazz, featuring
