Joseph Machlis says that the blues is a native American musical and verse form, with no direct European and African antecedents of which we know. In other words, it is a blending of both traditions. Something special and entirely different from either of its parent traditions. (Although Alan Lomax cites some examples of very similar songs having been found in Northwest Africa, particularly among the Wolof and Watusi) The word ’blue’ has been associated with the idea of melancholia or depression since the Elizabethan era. The American writer, Washington Irving is credited with coining the term’ the blues,’ as it is now defined, in 1807. The earlier (almost entirely Negro) history of the blues musical tradition is traced through oral tradition as far back as the 1860s. When African and European music first began to merge to create what eventually became the blues, the slaves sang songs filled with words telling of their extreme suffering and privation. One of the many responses to their oppressive environment resulted in the field holler. The field holler gave rise to the spiritual, and the blues, "notable among all human works of art for their profound despair... They gave voice to the mood of alienation and anomie that prevailed in the construction camps of the South," for it was in the Mississippi Delta that blacks were often forcibly conscripted to work on the levee and land-clearing crews, where they were often abused and then tossed aside or worked to death. Alan Lore, ax states that the blues tradition was considered to be a masculine discipline (although some of the first blues songs heard by whites were sung by ’lady’ blues singers like Mamie Smith and Bessie Smith) and not many black women were to be found singing the blues in the juke-joints. The Southern prisons also contributed considerably to the blues tradition through work songs and the songs of death row and murder, prostitutes, the warden, the hot sun, and a hundred other privations. The prison road crews and work gangs where were many bluesmen found their songs, and where many other blacks simply became familiar with the same songs. Following the Civil War (according to Rolling Stone), the blues arose as "a distillate of the African music brought over by slaves. Field hollers, ballads, church music and rhythmic dance tunes called jump-ups evolved into a music for a singer who would engage in call-and-response with his guitar. He would sing a line, and the guitar would answer it." By the 1890s the blues were sung in many of the rural areas of the South. And by 1910, the word ’blues’ as applied to the musical tradition was in fairly common use. Some ’bluesologists’ claim (rather dubiously) that the first blues song that was ever written down was ’Dallas Blues,’ published in 1912 by Hart Wand, a white violinist from Oklahoma City. The blues form was first popularized about 1911-14 by the black composer W.C. Handy (1873-1958). However, the poetic and musical form of the blues first crystallized around 1910 and gained popularity through the publication of Handy’s "Memphis Blues" (1912) and "St. Louis Blues" (1914). Instrumental blues had been recorded as early as 1913. Mantle Smith recorded the first vocal blues song, ’Crazy Blues’ in 1920. Priestly claims that while the widespread popularity of the blues had a vital influence on subsequent jazz, it was the "initial popularity of jazz which had made possible the recording of blues in the first place, and thus made possible the absorption of blues into both jazz as well as the mainstream of pop music." American troops brought the blues home with them following the First World War. They did not, of course, learn them from Europeans, but from Southern whites who had been exposed to the blues. At this time, the U.S. Army was still segregated. During the twenties, the blues became a national craze. Records by leading blues singers like Bessie Smith and later, in the thirties, Billie Holiday, sold in the millions. The twenties also saw the blues become a musical form more widely used by jazz instrumentalists as well as blues singers. What is the influence of WWI on the blues
A. It brought blues back to Europe
B. It spread blues to the world
C. The blues became shared by American soldiers both from south and north
D. It made the blues become the important element in abolishing segregation among American soldiers
If you have ever dreamed of slipping into the comforting softness of a cashmere sweater you should follow the example of the habitual wearers and make sure that it has been knitted in the Scottish Borders-- nothing else will do for them as it is pure luxury. But what makes Scottish Borders Cashmere so special To begin with the Border knitters insist on using only the best cashmere painstakingly produced in one of the most barren parts of China. The cashmere is hand combed from the under fleece of the Mongolian goat and one of them produces in a year only enough yarn to make a scarf. It takes three goats to produce one simple sweater! This rare natural fiber has then to be transported to Britain for processing. A highly skilled system, invented by Joseph Dawson in the 1880’s, removes every impurity and coarse grade hair so that only the softest down is left. After spinning the Border knitters use their traditional expertise to ensure that this wonderful softness is kept by careful" milling" -- their term for washing the garment after knitting-in pure soft Scottish water. Of course all this care and attention makes cashmere very expensive but retailers have noticed that whenever there is a rise in the price of cashmere, all inevitably regular occurrence with a scarce, hard-to-produce commodity, customers rarely trade down even to finest lambs wool. They may attempt to ration themselves to one sweater less this season but, for them, it really is a matter of nothing but the best. But even the most traditional of garments are subject to fashion. The cashmere manufacturers of the Borders realized that, if they were to keep their grand old labels hot and desirable, they had to out Lauren Ralph and chivvy at Chanel’s heels. "The strength of Borders cashmere", says Helen Bottle, the textile designer who manages The Studio," is its well known quality and status. But in today’s market, you need other factors. Better, more fashionable, more exciting design is one. We have gone beyond the traditional Scottish jumper market and into the field of well-designed, fashioned knitted clothing." For cashmere addicts, life has never been more dangerous. Where once they could only satisfy their craving by having their little jumper in every color in both round neck and polo, now there is an embarrassment of choice. What is the best title of the passage
A. Scottish Border Cashmere -- Pure Luxury
B. The Procedure of Making Cashmere Sweater
C. The Reason for the Expensive Cashmere
D. Scottish Borders Cashmere -- The Fashion