著者

石田 依子

出版者

大島商船高等専門学校

雑誌

大島商船高等専門学校紀要 (ISSN:03879232)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.37, pp.87-98, 2004-11-01

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Through the black history in America, music has informed the collective consciousness of the black community in enduring ways. Music has permeated the daily life of most African-Americans, and it has played a central role in the normal socialization process. And during movements for social changes, it has helped to shape the necessary political consciousness. For example, it is the blues that this characteristic appears conspicuously. The roots of the blues date back to the times of slavery, and the blues express a state of mind that affirms the essential worth of black humanity. Indeed because the blues resides on a cultural consciousness which has remained closest to the ethnic heritage of African-Americans, it has been their central aesthetic expressions. The same goes for the jazz. The music called jazz was born at the end of the 19th century in New Orleans, which features prominently in early development of jazz. The jazz music is the America's greatest cultural achievement, and gives powerful voice of African-Americans. In this paper, I refer to the jazz history, and in the process, race is intrinsic to the issues. It is true that the jazz scene should be a place of relative racial harmony since it was born from a melding of black and white musical techniques and sensibilities. Even in its earliest days it was performed by both blacks and whites. However, as we shall see soon, the deepest part of the jazz springs from the African-American experience. Here, I would like to explore what had made the jazz revolttion so important to negro lives and so triumphant as a positive force in their life, both social and musical.