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Blues Caravan
to perform here
The Augusta Arts and
Cultural Association will
present the Memphis Blues
Caravan April 2 at 7:30 p.m. at
Augusta’s Bell Auditorium,
The Memphis Blues Caravan
brings together for the first
time in history on one stage
the living legends of the Beale
Street blues. Friends and
contemporaries of past greats
like W.C. Handy, Leadbelly,
Blind Lemmon Jefferson,
Bessie Smith, Robert Johnson,
and others, these living
immortals perform the folk
idiom that has shaped the
popular music of the world
today. Each of the five caravan
members represents a different
discipline of the country blues.
The Memphis Blues Caravan
is more than a collection of
blues performers -- it’s a living
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and entertaining documentary
of an important musical
heritage. For many years
scholars have generally agreed
that this country’s only
indigenous are (as opposed to
European adaptations) is tire
music of the Afro-American,
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first manifest in the blues, and
later in jazz.
The performers heard in this
program span practically the
whole history of the blues in
the United States - some were
influential performers years
ago, and today their influence
is heard in the music of many
of our most popular blues-rock
bands. With today’s heavy
emphasis on “roots” and
cultural history, this program is
an example of where blues
began- and still lives. But as
time changes, so do needs;
blues evolved into R&B and
later “soul;” so it seems that
the older forms may pass with
its generation. Certainly once
these performers are gone,
there will be a few, if any, who
can play their songs with such
conviction, skill and
down-home feel.
Despite any fleeting fame
some of these musicians may
have attained, down deep they
remain committed to the old
truth-saying, plain-speaking
blues traditions of the southern
countryside and to the way of
life that gave and rise to them.
Pure and simple, they’re folk
singers and musicians.
Life in Memphis or other
urban centers, recording trips
to Chicago or New York,
performances on big-city
concert stages, and even tours
of European capitols have not
changed this basic fact of life
one bit. Their music is still
alive and meaningful, still
speaks of and to them in
language plain and
unvarnished, telling of
common values and
experiences relating to deeply
held belief, aspirations and
above all, human woes and
sorrows.
Tickets will be on sale at
Bell Auditorium box office
Memphis Piano Red
Mondays through Fridays from
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For
additional information contact
AACA at 360 Bay St., Suite
315, or call 724-9712. Tickets
will also be available at the
Redstar Lunch and Supreme
Fashions.
Furry Lewis
Prison
Babies
SECOND FEATURE
A cultural ripoff
Bo’s hairdo is old hat to black women
From Michigan Chronicle
It’s a fact that Hollywood
sex symbol Bo Derek has
started a new fashion craze
among white woman.
It’s not a fact that
highly-touted star of the movie
“10” “invented the beaded
braid look” as several media
sources have reported.
Because of this erromous
information several black
women’s groups in the midwest
and south have rallied in
protest against such blatant
and incorrect reports stating
“this is just another way of
ripping off the culture of black
people.”
Another prominent black
women’s group out of New
York charged “this kind of
publicity directly referring to
beaded braided hair is a
commercial example of how
blacks, especially African
blacks, have been exploited
through the years.”
Black women, they stated,
have been given little credit for
the “beaded braid look” and
they have been wearing it for
years.”
Importantly the issue to be
considered here is that black
women in America or any
other continent, including
Africa, are seldom if ever
recognized as symbols of
beauty by whites. However
valid the claims of authentic
>lack culture and arts may be,
the “right-to or owner-of” falls
on deaf ears in the white
marketplace.
We are constantly informed
of the low percentages that
blacks represent in the big
business and white corporate
structure. “There is no market
for black studies,” the reports
inform.
To prove a point, few states
have included “hair-braiding or
chemically-relaxed processes”
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CORNROWS
(both modern day basics to the
hair styles of black women) in
the practical examination for
state licensing of
cosmetologists.
Why then should black
women feel insulted about Bo
Derek’s hairstyles? For no
other reason than the fact that
part of their culture is
exploited when she is given
credit for “inventing the
beaded braids look.”
Uniformed writers who give
her credit for introducing and
inventing the “new look” have
overlooked the fact that
Hollywood’s black actress
Cicely Tyson was among the
first to wear the “beaded
The Augusta News-Review - March 29, 1980 -
braids” publicly. Many others
have appeared on national
television sporting the beaded
braids. And on tire Hollywood
scene such well known
celebrities as “Peaches” Valarie
Simpson, Melba Moore and
Mrs. Germaine Jackson (Hazel
Gordy), not to mention
hundreds of other actresses and
models.
And who could overlook tire
beauty of the nation’s top
recording star, Donna Summer,
who appears frequently in
beaded braids? (Grammy
awards, February, 1980).
Now for the nitty gritty or
realistic side. Black women
have been wearing white
women's hairstyles for many
years. That is, they have
embraced the “totally
permanent and relaxed straight
look" using chemical products
to achieve the soft and silky
look. And there is more
exploitation here with major
white companies producing
products made for the black
woman.
But the rewarding result
from this exploitation has been
the accelerating boom in black
hair products companies.
Presently blacks are
manufacturing and retailing
special-made products for
black men and women.
Through this exchange, black
consumers receive a large
measure of self-satisfaction and
self-esteem while building the
black economy.
Looking back a few years,
black men latched on to die
“Quo Vidus” haircut that
swept die nation. Because its
style was easily adapted from
the “natural” it soon became
almost standard style in black
barbershops around the
country. The style was worn
by both men and young boys
and with its practicability was
the commercial gain as it
required an almost-weekly visit
to the barber shop.
Let’s flip the coin again. The
popular “curly Afro hairstyle”
worn by blacks since the early
60’s has gained an appreciable
amount of respect from white
counterparts. Indeed the young
have embraced the style and
wear it with fashionable pride.
It’s not uncommon in Detroit
to see white women sporting
bushy heads of small curls
shaped in the Afro-style.
Certainly no one is uptight
or intimidated about whites
wearing these styles, which are
clearly of African origin and
culture. The same applies for
whites when they see blacks
wearing relaxed straight hair.
At least no offensive campaigns
have been directed toward
blacks for wearing these styles.
Now where are we? Why
then should black women feel
insulted or intimidated about
Bo Derek’s national success
with her braided hair? Whites
have gone “bananas” over her
because she has done the
impossible... she has worn a
beautiful African hairstyle that
most of them (all I’m sure)
would be afraid to wear even at
home. Hollywood decided to
capitalize on it and that’s all it
takes is the “Gollyhood”
treatment... too bad it didn’t
work for Ms. FFM.
Importantly, black women
can take pride in the fact that
their inherent beauty and
culture is a living symbol to
their race, and seemingly the
white movie-making world is
taking at least a side glance at
its arts and cultures.
Factual data on beaded
braids: Termed “Americanized
dread locks,” the beaded braids
and its variations were worn by
African Rustifarians for
religious purposes. They
considered them to be
antennas for divine inspiration.
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