Jazz Corner: Music, Protest and Politics

Just the other day I was at the Hennesy Freestyle hip-hop concert presented by Rolling Stone India in Mumbai. It was a novel experience for me to participate in this event and I thoroughly enjoyed myself; the total sensation of the music was different, a first for me. The arts, especially music, are constantly modifying themselves as an expression of the contemporary society from which they emanate. But music is a continuously evolving process and it becomes a meaningful exercise to try and connect the dots, and attempt to trace the steps. 

Rap and hip-hop have become a form of protest, or at least the music of expressing a social angst. This makes the music an international voice of expression in any language and from any region of the world. And the following that this music has becomes a vehicle for the message to be spread. 

In the 1960s, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and several other musicians took to expressing their disapproval of America’s involvement in the war in Vietnam. Many Americans felt their country was wrong in going to “fight communism” in Asia. These protest songs, followed by an entire movement of protest, divided America into two opposing groups, the ‘Hawks’ believing in US aggression and the ‘Doves,’ or ‘peaceniks’ as they were called. Protest music had a great deal to do with this polarization of views. 

Some of the music today, especially hip-hop and rap highlight injustice and social neglect with the use of powerful lyrics and music. The vehicle of music, because it is a popular medium, carries the message much farther. This is poetry, protest and music all rolled into one. 

But when it comes to the music itself, what are the roots of this form of expression? 

For over a century, modern “western” music owes its roots to the African-American mother lode called the blues. The early sounds of the blues was performed mostly on the guitar and through vocals, and soon expanded using the piano, percussion and any brass instruments that were handy at the time of playing. This culminated into the sound of jazz, which has endured the test of time. Meanwhile, the style of ‘honky tonk’ piano emerged as ‘boogie,’ and that combined with the original blues sound emerged as rock ‘n’ roll. Elvis Presley is a prime example of this development. 

The traditional blues – using mainly the piano, guitar and occasionally the harmonica – continued to have a following. One of the great exponents of this sound was the great Muddy Waters. His sound deeply influenced a number of white musicians, notably Mick Jagger, whose long-lasting group, The Rolling Stones, has the basis of its sound “in the blues.” A number of bands joined the bandwagon and created what is now labeled as classic rock and swayed a couple of generations of young listeners. 

A popular movement, mainly developed by African-American musicians and labeled motown – after the record label that supported this sound – became very popular. This morphed into R&B and offshoots like soul were created. (This demarcation was the work of record companies who wanted separate bins for the categories they had created to maximize sales). 

The African-American inner city has unique cultural dynamics, among which is a fast, rhythmic style of speech, using “street language” and profanity. This form of expression has a built-in rhythm and is perhaps the forerunner of rap. The rhythmic pattern for this expression is an extension of the structures of R&B, sharing a background of the blues form. Interestingly, the music also seems to complement the style of walking and dancing from the social background whence it emerges. 

Commercial rap combined its rhythmic sound with a social message and became commercially popular. Hip-hop traces its origins to a block party in a New York suburb some years ago. The use of an amplified bass and drums or percussion combined with the lyrics of rap seems like the basis for the contemporary hip-hop sound, now an international voice and very popular because it is performed in local languages everywhere. 

Where this sound will lead to is anybody’s guess. 

Chances are, you will ascribe it to the blues! 

Sunil Sampat is a jazz critic and Contributing Editor of Rolling Stone India. Write to Sunil at jazzwala@gmail.com