mid-50's rock’n’roll hits like Elvis’ “Lawdy Muiss Clawdy” and Fats Domino’s“Bluberry Hill”- only in Cuban + black American music do you find a heavy emphasis on the back-beat, the 2+4. Everything else, from calypso to to samba to reggae, is accented onthe 1 + 3. The reitoration of Am. Music toward the “1" - acenting the first beat ofevery measure - is a recent development, stemming from the funk and soul of the60s/ 70s.-* Afro/Cuban trditions reveal the fundamental riffs, licks, bass-figures and drumrythms that made R’n’R-* Mississippi Delta the home of rock -* the same way that Cuba is the MS Delta ofthe Americas.- The MS delta gave birth to a great # of performers who made a name forthemselves in their hometowns and later after they moved to Chicago, New Orleans+ Memphis. Among them are: Son House, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Howlin’Wolf, Elmore James + John Lee Hooker [*SHOW BLUES BROTHERS*]- the blues from the delta created the driving force behind all of rock - although blacks + whites were were kept separate, a few pioneering musiciansunited in America’s urban centers (of Chicago, Memphis and New Orleans) + ruralSouth. For them the barriers of racism were artificial. [*SLIDE OF DANCE HALL]- Chuck Berry performed at white dance halls, and took a white rockabilly song,“Ida Red” and molded it into “Mabelline”- Elvis emulated black bluesmen who performed in his hometown of Memphis. Heacted + sung like a black man, challenging the forces of racism w/his every move,literally [*SHOW SLIDE OF ELVIS / RACISM POSTER*]- success of Elvis helped pave the way for black bluesmen + artists alike whootherwise wouldn’t have been welcome in mainstream America- blacks gave Rock its rhythm and whites gave it it’s musical form/ package/ looks...
