Tina Turner is one of my favorite singers of all time. Can you get a better voice?
10 Jan 2012
9 Jan 2012
Frida Khalo ane Diego Rivera
Note the caption reads 'A Mexican Artist' - Frida and Diego unknown to the American Media at this point
Auguste and Louis Lumière
Auguste and Louis Lumiere were of the first few people to create moving picture films. I'm still reading up about them. When i discover more i will share all.
Still life with flowers, 1907
Shirley Ann Lee
I don't know much about Shirley Ann Lee as there isn't much information about her available on the internet, but i know that i love her few tunes i can get my hands on. Upon meetin revival Records owner Felton Williams, Shirley Ann Lee, a member of the Jewell Singers, was something of a gospel prodigy.
Here are a few.
Here are a few.
Bessie Smith - 'The Empress of Jazz'
I have always been an avid lover of Blues music, deep south blues, Chicago blues, it's histsory, it's origins, it's significance to the social histories of black people and their place in America, the pioneers, the heroes and it's influence of music. So you can imagine my glee when i discovered Bessie Smith, notably one of the best female Blues singers of all time, and definitely my favorite.
Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee in in April 1894, Bessie Smith is widely regarded as the 'Empress of Blues', with her notably earthy voice, she was one of the first black females to record and sell hundreds of thousands of copies of her music.
Having lost several members of her immediate family at a young age, Smith discovered her unusual voice, and used it to sing on streets for money with her brother on guitar. Joining the Moses Stokes traveling minstrel show at 18 years old exposed Smith to the musical circuit. But this was a hard life, with late hours, gambling, alcohol abuse and low pay. After being discovered by Frank Walker from Columbia records in 1923, Smith recorded her first hits 'Downhearted Blues' and 'Gulf Coat Blues' - songs which went on to sell over 780 thousand copies across America.
Smith established a strong following and she was earning a large amount of money for a black female in the twenties. I really believe she broke the stigmas single handedly, with her music and her voice. A true blues artist, Smith knew first hand the struggles of life, as she battled with them herself. Failed Marriages, alcohol addiction, violence and infidelity, Bessie smith lived the Blues, allowing her to deliver songs with the real emotion.
On september 26 1937, Bessie Smith and a friend were involved in a fatal car accident en route to a show, resulting in thousands of adoring fans to turn out for her funeral. Heralded by Gunther Schuller as 'the first complete jazz singe', Smith influenced later Jazz musicians such as Billie Holiday, and psychedelic sixties singer Janis Joplin. It's quite incredible the similarities in their voice, I can now really hear Janis Joplin trying to emulate Smith's grainy, textured tone. Furthermore, I previously thought that Billie Holiday was one of the very first black female recording artists to sell large amounts of records. But now I see where her influences came from - everyone is influenced by someone.
Below I have posted some photos of Bessie Smith, Videos and a book. If you are interested in Blues music, I strongly recommend you buying Deep Blues by Robert Palmer, a great book all about the origins of blues music in America.
Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee in in April 1894, Bessie Smith is widely regarded as the 'Empress of Blues', with her notably earthy voice, she was one of the first black females to record and sell hundreds of thousands of copies of her music.
Having lost several members of her immediate family at a young age, Smith discovered her unusual voice, and used it to sing on streets for money with her brother on guitar. Joining the Moses Stokes traveling minstrel show at 18 years old exposed Smith to the musical circuit. But this was a hard life, with late hours, gambling, alcohol abuse and low pay. After being discovered by Frank Walker from Columbia records in 1923, Smith recorded her first hits 'Downhearted Blues' and 'Gulf Coat Blues' - songs which went on to sell over 780 thousand copies across America.
Smith established a strong following and she was earning a large amount of money for a black female in the twenties. I really believe she broke the stigmas single handedly, with her music and her voice. A true blues artist, Smith knew first hand the struggles of life, as she battled with them herself. Failed Marriages, alcohol addiction, violence and infidelity, Bessie smith lived the Blues, allowing her to deliver songs with the real emotion.
On september 26 1937, Bessie Smith and a friend were involved in a fatal car accident en route to a show, resulting in thousands of adoring fans to turn out for her funeral. Heralded by Gunther Schuller as 'the first complete jazz singe', Smith influenced later Jazz musicians such as Billie Holiday, and psychedelic sixties singer Janis Joplin. It's quite incredible the similarities in their voice, I can now really hear Janis Joplin trying to emulate Smith's grainy, textured tone. Furthermore, I previously thought that Billie Holiday was one of the very first black female recording artists to sell large amounts of records. But now I see where her influences came from - everyone is influenced by someone.
Below I have posted some photos of Bessie Smith, Videos and a book. If you are interested in Blues music, I strongly recommend you buying Deep Blues by Robert Palmer, a great book all about the origins of blues music in America.
'Bessie' - Biography by Christ Albertson
The first Bessie Smith song i heard; I subsequently fell in love with her music and her voice.
One of my favorite of her songs.
Bessie Smith starring in St Louis Blues - Part one. Smith was one of the first artists to be part of a feature length music videos. Very worth a watch.
Part two here.
8 Jan 2012
Mystify
Been falling more and more for the 1920s, specifically strange, mystifying images. This is the first of an influx of photos and articles i'll post of the twenties.
John Bulmer
I stumbled across this photographer in my travels through Retronaut, one of my favourite websites twentieth century images.
John Bulmer documented some of the most atmospheric images of Northern England taken in the last century. Having discovered his talent while a student at Cambridge, Bulmers passion got him thrown out of the university as he was found attempting to document a fellow student jump an 8ft gap between two buildings. A pioneer of colour photography, Bulmer worked for the Sunday times magazine during the sixties.
Bulmer worked on many groundbreaking stories including The North, The Black Country as well as many around the world, visiting almost 100 different countries.
Yet my favourite of his images remain those taken in Northern England in the sixties. Here is a small sellection of his images I particularly like.
John Bulmer documented some of the most atmospheric images of Northern England taken in the last century. Having discovered his talent while a student at Cambridge, Bulmers passion got him thrown out of the university as he was found attempting to document a fellow student jump an 8ft gap between two buildings. A pioneer of colour photography, Bulmer worked for the Sunday times magazine during the sixties.
Bulmer worked on many groundbreaking stories including The North, The Black Country as well as many around the world, visiting almost 100 different countries.
Yet my favourite of his images remain those taken in Northern England in the sixties. Here is a small sellection of his images I particularly like.
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| Cuba, 1965 |
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| Ethiopia, 1960s |
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| France |
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| Haile Selassie |
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| Miles Davis |
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| Thelonius Monk |
Eve Arnold
With the new year brought the passing of a much accredited, magnificent photographer, Eve Arnold. The Philadelphia born photographer, widely recognised for her intimate photographs of Marylin Monroe, would have been 100 years of age in April. With her Naturalist style of Portature, Arnold caputed such photos as the 'Bar girl in a brothel in the red light district, Havanna, 1954' - inset. in 1951 she became the first female photographer to join the Magnum photographic agency.
Although widely famed for her shots of famous stars of the Twentith Century, Arnold didn't forget her past, documenting the lives of the poor in Cuba, Russia and China, to name a few.
"I have been poor and I wanted to document poverty; I had lost a child and I was obsessed with birth; I was interested in politics and I wanted to know how it affected our lives; I am a woman and I wanted to know about women." - Arnold
I've only just started to search out photographers and their work, however Eve Arnold is certainly a great inspiration and one of my favorites, already.
Bar girl in brothel, Cuba, 1954.
Charlotte Stribling
Bonjour tout le monde! Hello everyone.
Bonjour tout le monde! Hello everyone. This is my first post on my first blog. I've been meaning to make one for a while now, and just couldn't resist the lure of all the great Blogs on blogspot. This here blog will eventually find it's way and probably become more specific as time goes on. But alas! to begin it will consist of all things inspirational, informative, inventive, humerous, iconic, beautiful and retrospective. Enjoy!
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