Music has been considerated as the universal language, a sort of human expression that could be understood by every human being. As an expression of human being, music could be seen as a train full of ideas that deliver feelings, thoughts, concepts even ideologies into society. Likewise, those ideas, feelings and concepts are picked up from somewhere. That place is common for all of us. That place is the history of each society. Muddy Waters and Bob Dylan were the train’s operators that delivered us a piece of our history. This short essay tries to show how music and musician are daughters and sons of their own moment.
In many cultures music has been responsible for the transmission of knowledge. Without paper some cultures had channels to preserve traditional knowledge and unforgettable social experiences. Furthermore, music has shown social tension and struggles as well as political fact, religious issues and economical problems. Recently, the music of the latest 60’s presented a lot of that trend. Bob Dylan is a good example of how history expresses itself into song, rhythms and dancing. The twenty century was a revolutionary one, especially the 60’s, when many social struggles flourished at the same time. Dylan served to the history and their concerns when he was singing about a blowin’ in the wind. Frequently he asked about “how many roads must a man walk down, before you call him a man? The message was clear as well as the struggle for civil right since 50’s. They all –in the 60’s- were looking for an answer that Bob Dylan remarked as a “blowin’ in the wind”.
Plethoric of that kind of examples, music has many artists that could be presented in this essay in the same way as Dylan. In fact, even before Dylan, there is a legend of blues music that did the same. Muddy Waters could reflect feelings in his music that corresponded to his historical moment. He was an instrument that played notes of black consciousness of the moment. By that time, African American people had just begun to dream about a free life. That was the time of new aspirations and hope of the new American citizens for equality. Unfortunately the promise of the liberty failed in front of their eyes, thus like the train left him with all his “love in vain”. His music reflected the hope of a new era, but the train left them in the station, and all that they had wished in a free world went into the train.
Waters and Dylan are just two examples of good musicians that express in their songs many aspects of life and society. The last two paragraphs were written to show how music and musicians have a close relationship with the history, even whether they do not know. Even, if they do not want to. Music is a daughter of the history.
In many cultures music has been responsible for the transmission of knowledge. Without paper some cultures had channels to preserve traditional knowledge and unforgettable social experiences. Furthermore, music has shown social tension and struggles as well as political fact, religious issues and economical problems. Recently, the music of the latest 60’s presented a lot of that trend. Bob Dylan is a good example of how history expresses itself into song, rhythms and dancing. The twenty century was a revolutionary one, especially the 60’s, when many social struggles flourished at the same time. Dylan served to the history and their concerns when he was singing about a blowin’ in the wind. Frequently he asked about “how many roads must a man walk down, before you call him a man? The message was clear as well as the struggle for civil right since 50’s. They all –in the 60’s- were looking for an answer that Bob Dylan remarked as a “blowin’ in the wind”.
Plethoric of that kind of examples, music has many artists that could be presented in this essay in the same way as Dylan. In fact, even before Dylan, there is a legend of blues music that did the same. Muddy Waters could reflect feelings in his music that corresponded to his historical moment. He was an instrument that played notes of black consciousness of the moment. By that time, African American people had just begun to dream about a free life. That was the time of new aspirations and hope of the new American citizens for equality. Unfortunately the promise of the liberty failed in front of their eyes, thus like the train left him with all his “love in vain”. His music reflected the hope of a new era, but the train left them in the station, and all that they had wished in a free world went into the train.
Waters and Dylan are just two examples of good musicians that express in their songs many aspects of life and society. The last two paragraphs were written to show how music and musicians have a close relationship with the history, even whether they do not know. Even, if they do not want to. Music is a daughter of the history.
Hi Giancarlo,
ResponderEliminarWow, great post! This is very thoughtful, and I agree that music and history are inextricably related. Also, I like how you use metaphor to communicate some of the important ideas; it's effective to give the reader a "mental picture."
Jess