The Land where the Blues Began is a collection of music clips showing the origin of the Delta Blues style of music. It features performers such as Lonnie Pitchford, Napoleon Strickland and Jack Owens (folkstreams.net). The main topics covered in this video depict the socio-economic lives of the people in native environments where traditional blues used to be favourite music to many folks in the countryside. The song covers the religion of the people through recordings of revival meetings, crime as shown through clips of prison chain gangs. Moreover, the love of music of the people in the Mississippi Delta features strongly throughout the film. The Mississippi Delta Blues also called the Delta Blues style of music features brilliantly in the video.
The delta blues are a mix of African and European concepts makes for distinctive style of music. It gives identity to the lowly-paid workers who used to labour in the Mississippi cotton fields and the Levee camp (folkstreams.net). Music was a way out of collective misery that the African Americans faced. They created this style of music by composing plaintive lyrics that were accompanied by handmade musical instruments and guitars.
I find this particular collection fascinating as it bears a lot of history about African Americans. It distinctly features the lifestyle of the Black Americans which was epitomised by religious beliefs to seek ways out of misery. The poor living conditions compelled many Black Americans to resort to crime to earn a living and this is evidenced by the clips showing prison gangs. I like the video for its simplistic and cost-effective yet very effective way in which it conveys its message to viewers. This video certainly depicts the hardships that African Americans went through in their struggle for equality in the modern United States of America.
Works cited
The Land where the Blues Began Web 20 may 2013 http://www.folkstreams.net/film,109
