SOUL IN THE 60's: THE PRIDE OF BLACK IDENTITY (MY ORAL PRESENTATION)

Hi! My name is Ariadna Vilà and I’d like to show you my research project entitled “Soul in the sixties: the pride of black identity”. First of all, I will say that I’ve chosen this topic because I really love music. I like almost all music styles, especially jazz. I started searching some information in music books or in my computer and I learnt really useful things to me such as jazz origins or its sugenres. However, soul became the most fascinating style for me. I hardly knew anything about it or about jazz history so, I though that this project would be a good way to learn while I work on it. Furthermore, I have always felt admiration for black singers and for the way they are and I discovered that my favourite ones start succeeding in the sixties. My research project is aimed at explaining the features of soul music whereas its historical context and all the outstanding facts happened before and after its birth. So, I write some information about the history of the fifties and the sixties. I also talk about all the previous music styles which were known before soul’s birth. In addition, I chose two male and two female singers of the sixties and I wrote a short biography of them. Then, I talk about their music relating it to their lives and the time they lived in. Furthermore, I compare all of them to see the differences and similarities between each other and finally I draw my own conclusions. In short, my research project is focused in the soul era and its evolution during the sixties. On one hand, I picked up the information in books specializing in this topic and I summarized the most impotant facts in my own words. On the other hand, I searched the rest of the information in different web sites. Instead of carrying out an option poll I chose some songs from each singer and I worked on them: I explained their meaning, I relate the lyrics to an historical context and to the biography of the singer. Finally, I wrote the features of the soul music which were constant in them. As you can see and hear I’ve done my whole project in English. I chose this lenguage because I like it and I though that it would be a good way to improve my level while I’m learning useful things. Well, I will tell you some information about soul music: In the mid-fifties jazz music was in a tight spot so SOUL was one of its greatest hopes to recuperate its audience. Of course, it succeeded. Soul was a variety of jazz listened during the civil rights act so because of it “black power” appeared. Soul’s origins are in the United States, particularly in Chicago, in the late fifties. It was based on blues (without evoking his negativity), r&B and gospel. Catchy rhythms accompanied by handclaps and extemporaneous body moves, are typical features of soul music. There are also other common characteristics such as call and response between the singer and the chorus, tense vocal sounds, extemporized additions or twirls. It’s main instruments are guitar, bass, piano, organ, drums, horn section and keyboards. Ray Charles is known as the main inventor of the soul genre in the fifties with his great hit “I Got a Woman”. He did it mixing blues, gospel, rhythm and blues and a bit of country elements and adding especially his personal touches. Many famous soul singers such as Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles or James Brown supported the black identity with their music. It’s necessary to emphasize the fact that James Brown was the creator of new styles, as funk soul, through the original soul music. It happened by the early 70’s, when soul music had been influenced by psychedelic rock. In short, soul represented the new importance of the black identity and its culture so black population feel very identified with this music. As jazz music, soul has its own subgenres and each one has different features. Soul influenced many artists during its most successful decades. For example, in churches organ players turned this instrument into a genre on its own: Organ’s sound transmitted optimism and it made the walls vibrate so people liked it because it reminded them of soul essence. Well, now I'm going to talk about ARETHA FRANKLIN and then I'm going to show you an example of the practical work I've done. Aretha Louise Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee (1942). She’s known as “The Queen of Soul” and she is the female artist who has the most million-selling singles. Her father was a famous Baptist preacher and her mother was a gospel singer and pianist. Aretha was a prodigy child. She learned to play the piano on her own and she had a powerful voice. She recorded her first gospel album at the age of fourteen. In 1960, she travelled to New York with her father’s blessing. There she signed with some record companies but she didn’t get the absolutely fame until she recorded her feminist version of “Respect” After several years of failed recordings in the 70’s, Aretha’s success remerged with “Think” . Nowadays, she lives alone in Detroit, Michigan and she only sing esporadically as she did in Obama’s ceremony. “RESPECT” (1967) This song was originally written and sung by the famous soul singer Otis Redding. Aretha took this song and turned it into the anthem of the feminist movement in the sixties. Aretha get the absolutely fame with this song and she won many prizes as well. In 1966 was formed a feminist group called “National Organization for Women” and Aretha’s song was her way to back this initiative. “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” (x8 at least) It’s one of the most repeated words. She wants equality. In her time women were considered an inferior being and racial segregation wasn’t still abolished at all. Respect was one of the commonest words in those times because the main objective of the black community, especially black women, was be respected for the others. “(just a little bit)” (x24) She doesn’t want a radical change right now, but she definitely wants to see a little change in men’s behaviour towards women. This time she is helped for a chorus: it is a common feature of soul music. While the singer is playing the song there are some people behind her who repeat the most outstanding sentences. In this case, it is useful to remark her request. Aretha and all women in her society wanted to be treated with the same rights that men had so “Respect” represents the protest of hundreds of women who wanted a change. Nowadays, Aretha is still an example to all the women: it means that in her way she won the battle against men. CONCLUSIONS: And as a conclusion… First of all, I have to say that from the first moment I thought that soul was a music style bigger than jazz. I only new a few things about it and, of course, I was completely wrong. To my great surprise, I found out that soul was just a little part of jazz history it represented the voice of hundreds of people who wanted to be heard. Soul singers supported black people with their music: they had enough influence to get to politicians and other important people’s ears. This was the main reason why they were so admired artists. They were true artists so they rose to the challenge in their live shows. Nowadays the situation is quite the opposite: Most of the famous singers have been known for their appearance: they use to look like a model. Unfortunately, not many people care about their talent for singing. Secondly, I’ve learnt much more than I thought both vocabulary and culture knowledge. For example, before doing this project I didn’t know the name of any instrument or technique of playing them. Now, I know what is drum, horn or <>. I also have learnt other new words and terms. I’ve written some words with its meaning in Spanish in the last pages as appendixes. I did it to show that this project has been really useful to me because I have improved a lot my English vocabulary. Moreover, I didn’t know anything about fifties and sixties history and I found it really interesting. I believe that everyone should know important things like these because we use to think that past facts aren’t useful but if we want to be intelligent adults in a future and be able to talk to anyone we have to get ourselves some culture. with my research project I realized that sixties music was wonderful. I do love it and all related to it. The point is that I’ve learnt a lot of things which were completely unknown to me before. So, I believe that I have carried out the most important objective of my work at least. Anyway, I began working on it quite late so I didn’t have as much time as I’d like to have. This lack of time has limited me a lot so I haven’t been able to talk about all the things which were due in my introduction. Even so, I have always been very motivated because I really feel like working this topic. There aren’t many differences between men. They are daring, cheerful and very professional. They both had a hard childhood: Even so, it couldn’t stop them.. Their beginnings weren’t easy: they played music in the streets or with different bands so they didn’t earn much money. Finally, they become famous and they could show what they worth. On the other hand they spent all his life fighting for black people’s right and supporting them. Apart from their drug addiction, they were considered a good influence because they could gave up their principles but they didn’t. They both suffered from cancer: Ray Charles died because of it but Brown recovered. On the contrary, I’ve seen a lot of differences between Aretha Franklin and Betty Harris. Aretha was an absolutely diva: she was self-confident, proud of being a woman and able of overcoming any obstacle. She had an amazing voice and her songs used to be the anthem of the feministic movement. She was a great example for black women. For her part, Betty was a typical submissive woman. She was a good singer but she always superimposed his role in the society to her job. The only similar things between them are that they were born into a family of preachers and they both travelled to New York City to get fame. They both transmitted different feeling throught their songs: Aretha’s ones sounded cheerful and catchy but Betty one’s has a slow rhythm because they use to be soul ballads. On the whole, Aretha is more comparable to male artists. She has a lot of common features with them: she’s proud of being black, she has social engagements with her race but she’s happy with this, she’s a free person and her music is a reflection of her personality and her principles: mainly she talks about true feelings and the fight for black people’s rights. For her part, feminism is a really common topic as well. They were people with overcoming capacity and any obstacle could never stop them. As a final conclusion, I must say that all the work I’ve done during these months will be always useful to me. I have known really important facts and from this moment I consider myself a sixties music lover. I’m proud of have chosen this topic because it has been more enjoyable than I thought. Finally, I can assure that my effort has been worth. MY OPINION: I really enjoyed working on this topic because I've been interested in music since I was a child. At first, I didn't spend much time on this. I just searched some information but days went by and my project wasn't still done. However, I love the topic I had chosen so I decided to make the most of the rest of my time. I must confess that I though I wouldn't be capable of finishing my project because I wanted to talk about a lot of songs, music styles, singers...but I was completely running out of time!! Anyway, I strived a lot to get great resoults, and I think with it I carried out my main objective. Regarding to my oral presentation I have some remarks. On the one hand, I studied my writting a lot. I did the same when I had to do the oral presentation of my research project so, it wasn't a difficult thing to me because I knew exactly what I was talking about and I still remembered a lot of parts of my summary. On the other hand, I have to say that nerves played a dirty trick on me! It is a common thing on me and I really hate it! Unfortunately, there's no way to avoid it for me! Despite this unfortunate fact, my main aim was show everyone my interest and my knowlege of everything I was talking about. If I just get this then I'll be very happy! What it really means is that I've enjoyed very much working on this topic and I hope my friends have enjoyed my oral presentation as much as I did.