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Article: The truth about pop music.(Middle Eastern music)
- Article from:
- Calliope
- Article date:
- January 1, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 Carus Publishing Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Band leader and jazz pianist Duke Ellington once said, "It was a happy day in America when the first unhappy slave was landed on its shores." African Americans turned painful experience into art, from the soulful moan of the blues to the upbeat swagger of jazz. Civil rights activist James W. Johnson said, "All that may be called American music derives its most distinctive characteristics" from the blues. Jazz, claims another critic, stands alongside the Constitution and baseball as a crowning achievement of American civilization. Yet these two American musical forms--blues and jazz--have roots in the Arab world.
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