Publisher's Synopsis
Thesis (M.A.) from the year 2008 in the subject American Studies - Miscellaneous, grade: 3, University of Stuttgart, 34 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: [...] This paper examines both of these aspects of African American music and deals with the following two theses, with specific regard to female Africa American artists: First, can the fast changes in the history of African American music, really be regarded as a constant escape from the mostly discriminating situation of the black community? And secondly, has music been the real mouthpiece of African Americans and in this respect describes a way to tear down racial barriers? The chapters of this paper are in chronological order from the rising of blues music during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, to the explosion of hip-hop in New York's ghettos in the 1980s. After a summary of the cultural context of the particular era, there will be a definition of the musical genre which emerged during that time, including a listing of its innovators. Each chapter concludes with a text analysis of the most significant lyrics produced within this genre. The paper focuses on female singers for the reason that male artists were mainly instrumentalists and composers, while the list of vocalists is dominated by females. Female performers were more accepted by the white audience, especially during the early decades, probably because they appeared less threatening than their male counterparts and more exotic instead. Even though disco and rock music also produced some great black performers such as Donna Summer and Jimmy Hendrix, these genres are excluded from this paper. Rock music was and still is dominated by white performers and hereby not representative for African American music. The disco genre was mainly angled for parties and clubs and did mostly not lay claim on lyrics that reflect any political or social issue.
