Musical history
The Genres and Scales pages take a sound apart to show how it works. These articles tell the other half of the story — where it came from — and try to earn every claim: quoting original writing and recordings, and linking back to the sources so you can hear and read them yourself.
2 articles
Genre
The blues
From West African roots through work songs, field hollers, and spirituals to the root system of jazz, R&B, and rock — and the scenes it later grew in Britain, Europe, Mali, and Japan. Sourced and linked.
ReadKlezmerכּלי־זמר
From the wedding bands of Ashkenazi Eastern Europe through the 78rpm era of immigrant New York to the 1970s revival — the story of klezmer, sourced and linked.
Read