Description
Throughout much of the 20th century, blues was a genre identified with men wielding guitars. But during the blues craze of the 1920’s, the iconic image of this music was a woman, belting out the blues in front of a large band. This class will examine the lives and music of key figures of this era, including Mamie Smith, ‘Ma’ Rainey, and Bessie Smith. Audio and video recordings, along with live performances from the instructor, will make this course as lively as the music itself, albeit a little less bawdy.
