Signifyin' on the blues: West African retentions, American music, and the blues in the hands of Eric Clapton

Abstract

In a sense, the blues tradition was born when the first West African slaves were brought to North American soil in 1619. From then until now, West African and European culture have intermingled in a process of syncretization as blacks and whites have shared not only the American landscape but one another’s cultural traditions. The blues began its development as an agent of not only personal expression but also as a source of income and an object of commodification after the Civil War, when African Americans entered the workforce as free citizens and transformed work songs and spirituals into the foundational musical genre which has since informed much of American popular music as well as that from around the world – perhaps most notably that from Great Britain. Beginning in the late 1940’s, British jazz enthusiasts began to search for the origins of the African-American music of which many had grown enamored. This quest for history led to the blues. In time the blues, as well as its derivatives Rhythm and Blues and Rock ‘n’ Roll, came to dominate the British popular music scene to an extent that continues to this day. This thesis provides not only a narrative of this process but also a critique of the history constructed to explain the origins, evolution, and nature of the blues – who created it (and where), what is “authenticity” in the context of blues performance and style, and who is capable of making a valuable contribution to the tradition. The document culminates in a comparison of selected recorded works of the country bluesman Robert Johnson and the British musician Eric Clapton and a discussion of how each artist’s position in society, access to technology, and musicalcultural influences combine to inform these performances.