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American Girot
The blues were born the moment white European businessmen decided that they could make a profit selling blacks into slave labor. ... Years of agony, despair, abuse and exploitation manifested itself into the mythical blues musician. Armed with a guitar and a lifetime of emotion, they became the American version of the griot, telling stories and preserving tradition. ... The bluesman also served as a blueprint of cultural resistance and survival for African-Americans in a world that sought to destroy them. ... Instead of [composing songs of praise], the bluesman created songs based on personal expirence and observation. ... This not only provided the opportunity to make a living as a traveling musician, it also allowed personal mobility, which the bluesman equated with individual freedom. ... Sadly, the end of the line usually held the same conditions the bluesman was running from, prison guards replaced by gangsters and violent lynch mobs a constant threat. ... The bluesman did not put much stock into the future and the thought of an afterlife was highly unlikely. ... Located in red-light districts, these clubs allowed the bluesman to “move towards becoming full-time professional musicians and could devote more time to their art” (Barlow 117). ...
The largest addiction that the bluesman had was the insaitible appetite for women and sexual relationships. ... Creating an wholly original, wholly American form of music, they have worked themselves into the cultural fabric of our society. ... Refusing to be forgotten, they fulfilled their role as the American Girot, passing stories along to new generations to never let them forget their roots.
Approximate Word count = 1379
Approximate Pages = 5.5
(250 words per page double spaced)
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