Ray Charles, Etta James, and Kullawada
- Jhelani Jordan
- Jan 21, 2020
- 1 min read
Growing up, I listened to blues, jazz, and funk all the time. I also began to explore South American music in class and outside of class. I'd like to talk about two of my favorite black artists, Ray Charles and Etta James, and a style of dance from Latin America called the Kullawada.
RAY CHARLES
Ray Charles was born on September 23, 1930. He is able to play the piano, organ, saxophone, clarinet, and trumpet. In 1954, he released one of his most popular songs, "I Got a Woman," which was also sampled by Kanye West and Jamie Foxx in their song, "Gold Digger." Ray Charles in now known as the "Father of Soul" and combined blues, gospel and jazz to create some of his greatest songs.
ETTA JAMES
I grew up on Etta James without even knowing it. I actually did not realize that I had heard so many of her songs until I looked into her more for this blog post. On January 25, 1938, Etta James was born. In 1962, she released one of her most popular songs, "Something's Got a Hold On Me," and in 1968, she released my favorite song of hers, "I'd Rather Go Blind." In 1973 she was nominated for her first Grammy due to her album Etta James.
KULLAWADA
The Kullawada Dance is a Bolivian dance that originated with the Aymara knitters. A Waphuri controls the dance and changes the choreography when needed. Men wear pants, an embroidered pinchillo, girdle, and a colorful mask. Women wear a pollera skirt, blouse, back cover, hat, a colorful mask and a rueca.
This is all interesting, Jhelani. This might be something of a stretch, but one of my favorite artists from the 90s was Joan Osborne, and she has this awesome song about Ray Charles. I love the sentiment of the lyrics, but also the driving beat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCfmM9HZfVY
I think it’s interesting seeing how modern artists will sample songs to make it there own. I’m absolutely all for it unless there is credit given where there needs to be. I also really enjoyed the Kullawada Dancing a lot. I’ve always been fascinated by how different regions will express their culture by not only the music they play but the costumes that are also apart of it.