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摘要
摘要
Throughout the 1920s, in tents, theaters, dance halls and cabarets, and on "race" records, black American women captivated large audiences with their singing of the blues. University of Maryland professor Harrison examines the subjects and texts of their songs, the toll these performers paid for their right to be heard, and what they did to transform a folk tradition into a popular art. She describes the singing and lifestyles of Sippie Wallace, Victoria Spivey, Edith Wilson and Alberta Hunter to illustrate how they introduced a new model of the black woman: assertive and sexy, gutsy yet tender, bereft but not downtrodden, exploited but not resentful, independent yet vulnerable. The author shows that their choice of performing style, inflection, emphasis and improvisation provided a perspective and expressiveness that profoundly affected later American popular music.
评论 (5)
出版社周刊评论
Throughout the 1920s, in tents, theaters, dance halls and cabarets, and on ``race'' records, black American women captivated large audiences with their singing of the blues. ``Harrison examines the subjects and texts of their songs, the toll these performers paid for their right to be heard, and what they did to transform a folk tradition into a popular art,'' said PW. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus评论
Musico-sociocultural study, with a feminist slant, about some of the best black singers of the century; by a professor of Afro-American Studies at the Univ. of Maryland. Harrison keeps a narrow focus on blues songstresses of the 20's, concentrating on four who were still alive during the many years this book was being written: Sippie Wallace, Victoria Spivey, Edith Wilson, and Alberta Hunter. She also mentions Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey in passing, but acknowledges that these two blues queens have been treated at great length elsewhere. While Ida Cox, Lucille Hegamin, Rosa Henderson, Chippie Hill, Sara Martin, Lizzie Miles, Clara Smith, and Trixie Smith are given special attention, it is the personal account and comment by Wallace, Spivey, Wilson, and Hunter that gives this book its underpinning. Wherever possible, Harrison interprets a lyric or event in the lives of her subjects with a professorial eye. The text is enlivened with lyrics that can be gutsy, soulful, alcoholic, lewd, or ribald but which always attack the black woman's depression as her basic state of being: her lost love, lost job, mistreatment, loneliness, hard times, and other demons. The singers often began as underpaid, bottom-of-the-bill acts on the Theatre Owner's Booking Association vaudeville circuits. TOBA, while important to their careers, treated them shabbily. We follow them from tent shows to cabarets, dives, and dance halls, and then as they break into ""race"" records where the money begins to flow. ""The queens, regal in their satins, laces, sequins and beads, and feather boas trailing from their bronze or peaches-and-cream shoulders, wore tiaras that sparkled in the lights. . .[They] filled the hearts and souls of their subjects. . .with the love and hope that came from a deep well of faith and will to endure."" Astute and saucy. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
《书目》(Booklist)书评
Sippie Wallace, Edith Wilson, Victoria Spivey, and Alberta Hunter are the collective focus of this work-four influential blues singers with diverse styles who were big in the 1920s and were still performing in the 1980s. Writing from a firm black/feminist standpoint, Afro-American studies professor Harrison deals with the changing socioeconomic role of black women as part of the general black exodus north to urban areas and as prominent participants in the history of the blues. She delivers a heartfelt narrative, well researched, stylishly written, and supported by lots of unusual photographs and by articles from such black papers as the Chicago Daily Defender. Highly recommended for black history and music collections. Notes, bibliography; to be indexed. PLR. 784.5'3 Blues (Songs, etc.)-U.S.-History and criticism / Blues musicians-U.S.-Biography / Afro-American women musicians-Biography [CIP] 87-14084
Choice 评论
Harrison has taken major steps to enlighten blues enthusiasts and jazz buffs about contributions to this music by black female blues singers. The book emphasizes female blues singers ("Black Pearls") whose careers were initiated during the 1920s, although many of those careers extended well into the '60s, '70s, and '80s. Several internationally known blues singers are included in the text, e.g., Bessie Smith, Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Sippie Wallace, Victoria Spivey, Edith Goodall Wilson, and Alberta Hunter. Information is provided on their performance activities, publications, radio broadcasts, and pertinent movie roles. Events that took place prior to the blues movement as well as those that had an affect on the blues singers' careers are discussed. Harrison gives attention to the social climate of the time, black migration from the South to the North, roles offered the black female in vaudeville, performance opportunities, and expectations of these performers from the black community. Other black female blues singers (e.g., Rosa Henderson, Chippie Hill, Sara Martin, Clara Smith, Trixie Smith, and Lucille Hegamin) are discussed. There is an extensive index of song titles associated with each performer. The book also includes a list of selected blues titles by women, a glossary of colloquialisms, and an outstanding bibliography. Public and academic libraries, community college level up. -L. Berry, Jr., Memphis State University
《图书馆杂志》(Library Journal )书评
Blues music spawned legendary performers whose influence has been felt in many musical forms here and around the world. Until now the important role of the great women blues singers has largely gone unexplored. This book tells of the cultural and social impact of the blues during the 1920s when the genre was dominated by women, both on stage and on record. Harrison (Afro-American Studies Department, University of Maryland) writes with authority, focusing particularly on Sippie Wallace, Edith Wilson, Victoria Spivey, and Alberta Hunter as she analyzes the music and the collective black experience out of which it grew. A significant book, particularly for collections of music history, black studies, and women's studies. Daniel J. Lombardo, Jones Lib., Amherst, Mass. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.