Thus, as cultures develop and change, specific dances, folk art, songs, or history are sometimes lost to progress. Efforts to preserve cultural artifacts are often difficult, if not impossible. Information about blues singers’ lives is often unavailable or lost because many of the blues singers were mostly rambling sorts who didn’t leave behind much in the way of estates, memoirs, letters, or other personal papers or belongings. Fortunately, performances are a means to preserve specific songs, dances, and history... the emergence of a tourist market frequently facilitates the preservation of a cultural tradition which would otherwise perish. The performance of native dances in Hawaii, for example, allows that community to retain an important aesthetic component of its culture. In the same way, blues festivals preserve one of the Delta’s best known cultural artifacts.
Interviews with festival spectators seem to support the theme of preservation... Festival promoters create themes or slogans to stress the importance of preserving one of America’s oldest musical genres. For example, the theme for the 24th Annual Mississippi Delta Blues and Heritage Festival was Taking It Back to Where We Started. The front cover of the festival program underscores this preservation theme, sporting a drawing of a transient 1920s blues family in motion. In the foreground, a family of three is pictured walking down a dirt road. On the left, the father is dressed in overalls with a guitar strapped to his back. On the right, the mother is carrying a basket, presumably filled with food and water. In the middle, a young boy is holding the hands of both parents. In the background, many of the images found in Delta blues songs are present, a large green field, a barn, and a fast moving train. The festival theme is positioned underneath the drawing, thus accentuating the relationship between preservation and a Delta that no longer exists.
Source: *Blues Tourism in the Mississippi Delta: The Functions of Blues Festivals by Stephen A. King
Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) - Stare
- Released on: Elogram album
- Released in: April 2016
- Genre: Electronic
"In 1968, Roy Wood, guitarist, vocalist and songwriter had an idea to form a new band that would use violins, cellos, string basses, horns and woodwinds to give their music a classical sound, allowing rock music to pick up in a new direction. The orchestral instruments would be the main focus, rather than the guitars."
*PDF Link to Blues Tourism in the Mississippi Delta: The Functions of Blues Festivals by Stephen A. King
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