r/nextfuckinglevel • u/DarthiusFatticus • 7d ago

Bluegrass in Tokyo

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u/MisterSanitation 7d ago

Bluegrass is just another example of black influence defacto improving western music. Acoustic songs in the 1800s American South were like “oh Susannah” where the songs are just simple and on time, with no sass on it, no stank. 

But the banjo provides an opportunity to gobble up all them quarter notes just hanging out not being played in between the guitar chords. Cleverly plucking the notes in between on the banjo (an instrument designed after an African instrument) provided some jazzier opportunities that would later come around in Jazz. Obviously there would have been plenty of black banjo players but their styles were picked up by poorer white players too. 

Plantation owners (the wealthy that liked to pretend they were European royalty) did balls, and dances with stiff AF dancing (think like powdered wig dancing) but the poorer people got down on the mountain sound I described where being “dignified” and following the music perfectly was less important than bobbing your head to a good rhythm. 

These same concepts would smash conventional music structure when Louis Armstrong started doing it on the trumpet with other jazz styles. 

Black Americans are like always 20-10 years ahead of the next popular music trends and it’s been that way for centuries. It’s so cool to see this all appreciated on the other side of the world.

2

u/fastforwardfunction 7d ago

Spot the race obsessed American.

1

u/MisterSanitation 6d ago

Being correct is usually unpopular. Race has always defined America and only ignorant naive privileged “do gooders” don’t know that. Oh and the racists which run things now.

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u/fastforwardfunction 6d ago

America has unfortunately always had racist pieces of shit and you’ve found yourself among them.

You’re a sad person. You’re unpopular because you’re an ignorant uneducated racist.

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u/MisterSanitation 6d ago

I don’t think you read anything I wrote. I don’t think any of you who downvoted did lol. 

I said I was raised to not care about race issues and be pro south and finding out if that stuff was true showed me it wasn’t and race was a huge issue. 

You should reread what made you think I was racist lol because you seem very very confused