Soul

The History of Soul Music

Soul Music is the product of ever evolving social conditions and a diversity of musical influences.
My starting point must be the arrival of African Slaves to North America. The first batch were brought by English Privateers and landed in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619. At first they were few in number so it was not necessary to define their legal status but with the development of the plantation system in the southern colonies the number of agricultural slave labourers increased greatly. The first statutory recognition of slavery occurred in Massachusetts in 1641, in Connecticut in 1650 and Virginia in 1661, but these were mainly rules for dealing with runaways. By the time the war of independence began (1775-1783) laws defining their legal, political and social status with regards to their owners had become very specific.

As they were toiling in the fields the slaves tried to alleviate their misery by singing their traditional African Folk songs. It was only when these black workers started to convert to Christianity that these folk songs metamorphosed to become "African Spirituals". The first references to spiritual-like songs sung by Black Slaves date from about 1825-1850. As one would expect, these 'Spirituals' showed significant melodic and rhythmic relationships with West African songs. Before the Civil War they were apparently sung without harmony, examples of which are "Deep River" and "Roll Jordan Roll". Black Spirituals were often used as work songs and sometimes contained coded information as a form of secret communication. By the late 1800's spirituals had largely been displaced by Gospel Songs.

Black Gospel Music, which had become distinctive from White Gospel Music by 1930, was especially associated with Pentecostal churches. It developed out of a combination of earlier hymns, black performance styles, and elements from the spirituals. The singing was often merged into ecstatic dance and was usually accompanied by a piano or an organ, often with handclapping, tambourines and electric guitars.

Just before, and during World War Two many blacks migrated from the agricultural south to the more industrial Mid-Western, North-Eastern and West-Coast Cities. This population shift was caused by relatively high paying wartime employment. It was this new urbanised demographic group which evolved a new style of secular music known as R&B. Its genesis was inspired by two technological developments, the invention of the electric guitar during the 1930's and the discovery of the German Tape Recorder. This new, cheap medium simplified the sound recording process and meant that Blacks could start their own independent record companies for the first time. These companies Atlantic, Chess, Speciality and Modern were crucial in the production and distribution of R&B. Access to their music was given fresh impetus during the late 1940's when many radio station owners, fearing that the newly invented television would make their radio stations obsolete sold them at knockdown prices. For the first time black owned radio stations could promote the sounds of R&B.

Whilst the newly urbanised blacks of the North were developing R&B, their Southern counterparts were developing their own brand of secular music. Like R&B, Jazz was also rooted in the musical traditions of American blacks, but with White European Influences mixed in. Most early Jazz was played by small marching bands or by solo pianists and besides Ragtime and marches their repertoire included hymns, spirituals and blues. Although blues and ragtime rose independently of Jazz, these genres influenced the style and forms of Jazz and provided important vehicles for Jazz improvisation.

Soul did not evolve until the early sixties when artists like Sam Cooke, Bobby Bland and Ray Charles began merging traditional Gospel and R&B styles. Ray Charles went even further and began taking overtly religious songs such as 'I Got Religion' and secularising them to become songs like 'I Got a Woman'. In the process he alienated many religious blacks who thought his music was 'the music of the devil'.

Throughout the early sixties the most important centres for Soul were Chicago, Memphis and Detroit, each developing their own distinctive styles. It was the Stax label in Memphis which relied most heavily on Gospel and which produced the rawest sound. In Detroit Tamla Motown were busy combining polished songwriting with straightforward vocal delivery to evolve Soul's most commercial style of all. Indeed this label was so successful that its music is often considered to be a genre in its own right. Its producer and owner Berry Gordy achieved this not only by using sophisticated productions but also by sanitising the content so as not to offend white ears. Chicago soul fell somewhere between the two with its main player being Curtis Mayfield. With his group 'The Impressions' he experimented with trading lines between the lead and the backing group in a call and response fashion. He termed his music 'Songs of Faith and Inspiration' and often included semi-religious overtones. A good example of Mayfield's work is his composition 'People Get Ready'.

By the 1970's however 'Soul' was being superseded by 'Funk' as the most important form of Black Music. Whereas traditional Soul had its Roots in R&B, the Roots of Funk were in Jazz and African Music. Whereas many Soul aficionados consider Funk and soul to be distinct Genres the term 'soul' is now commonly used to encompass both styles and this can lead to confusion. James Brown's song 'Cold Sweat' (1967) is generally regarded as the first ever 'Funk' composition. Historically funk has been closely associated with Malcolm X and the Black Power movement, whereas Soul has been associated with Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, the former being violent, the latter being peaceful. For this reason funk has never achieved the same popularity with white audiences as Soul has done.