Catharsis, Communication, and Evocation: Alternative Views of the Sociopsychological Functions of Blues Singing

Abstract

T he potential value of song texts as mechanisms for psychological release of emotion has been observed and commented on by both anthropologists and ethnomusicologists. The concept appears to be basis for most recent scholarly approaches to understanding of blues singing. Herskovits, for example, suggested in 1934 that in Negro cultures therapeutic value of bringing a repressed into open was commonly achieved in song (1966:137). Merriam, too, points out that songs provide psychological release for participants (1964:201) and that they express ideas and emotions not revealed in ordinary discourse (1964:219). The release of emotion expected to take place in singing of blues is assumed by most blues scholars to be principal function of blues singing. Oliver, for instance, pointing out that discrimination against blacks in United States engenders blinding anger, humiliation and frustration says that blues singing brings satisfaction and comfort both to singer and to his companions. It is in song that blues singer is able to create accurate portrayals of his state of mind, uninhibited in their self-expression. Singing of his condition brings relief to his heart and order to his disturbed thought (1963:81). Courlander, too, stresses release of repressed emotion as fundamental to blues singing. Behind every blues, as sung for first time, is a buildup of experience and emotion which needs an outlet (1963:145). The creation of a blues song, expressing criticism or complaint, he says, serves as balm or antidote; he refers to process as and suggests that the finer singing or creative effort, more effective is song as a (1963:124). Courlander appears to have been first to have associated term catharsis with emotional release generally assumed to be associated with blues singing. Keil refined use of term in Urban Blues, suggesting that operates on different levels for rural and urban blues singers. The rural blues singer, he says, typically achieves an individualized catharsis.

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