Live Breaking News & Updates on Blues legacies

Stay informed with the latest breaking news from Blues legacies on our comprehensive webpage. Get up-to-the-minute updates on local events, politics, business, entertainment, and more. Our dedicated team of journalists delivers timely and reliable news, ensuring you're always in the know. Discover firsthand accounts, expert analysis, and exclusive interviews, all in one convenient destination. Don't miss a beat — visit our webpage for real-time breaking news in Blues legacies and stay connected to the pulse of your community

Making Ma Rainey

Making Ma Rainey
She changed popular music forever, but the “Mother of the Blues” is not the household name she deserves to be.

Netflix’s recent star-studded release,
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, adapted from the Pulitzer-winning dramatist August Wilson’s 1982 play, brings one of the US’s first professional blues singers back into the cultural sphere. The larger than life, gold tooth-wearing Ma Rainey, famed “Mother of the Blues”, is played with regal poise by Viola Davis, who fires off pointed retorts from beneath an impenetrable mask of make-up.
Known for her thunderous, moaning voice, sharp comic timing and compelling stage presence, Rainey was a pioneer of early blues music who opened the way for many rebellious, unconventional musicians who followed her. As blues laid the foundations for much of Western music, it is not overblown to say that, without Rainey, pop culture as we know it would be considerably different. But despite her influence on popular music and her fascinating story, Rainey has not always been the household name she deserves to be. A film like this was long overdue.

Georgia , United-states , Alabama , Missouri , American , Thomasa-dorsey , Rhiannon-giddens , Mamie-smith , Brittany-howard , Viola-davis , Angela-davis , Ethel-waters

Ma Rainey's Blues Legacy Still Has Not Been Fully Tapped Into and That's a Shame

Ma Rainey’s Blues Legacy Still Has Not Been Fully Tapped Into and That’s a Shame
Princess Weekes
New Netflix film
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom carries the name of one of the foundational singers in American music: Gertrude “Ma” Rainey. Dubbed the Mother of Blues, the Georgia-born artist was one of the first African-American professional blues singers and recording artists. After watching the film, I wanted to know more about the singer, so I turned to Angela Davis’s
Blues Legacies and Black Feminism to explore what drove the woman Viola Davis brought to life on the screen.

Georgia , United-states , American , Bessie-smith , Viola-davis , Angela-davis , August-wilson , Cutler-colman-domingo , Viola-davis-ma-rainey , Ma-rainey , Gertrude-ma-rainey , Netflix

Ma Rainey's Blues Legacy Has Still Not Been Fully Tapped Into

By Princess WeekesDec 22nd, 2020, 12:40 pm
New Netflix film
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom carries the name of one of the foundational singers in American music: Gertrude “Ma” Rainey. Dubbed the Mother of Blues, the Georgia-born artist was one of the first African-American professional blues singers and recording artists. After watching the film, I wanted to know more about the singer, so I turned to Angela Davis’s
Blues Legacies and Black Feminism to explore what drove the woman Viola Davis brought to life on the screen.
When we meet Ma Rainey, she is a woman completely aware of her own power and authority in the music world. White men may hold purse strings, but she knows how the money got there: through her work and through Black artists like herself. Blues as a popular music form deviated from the previous era because of its “provocative and pervasive sexual—including homosexual—imagery.”

Georgia , United-states , American , Bessie-smith , Viola-davis , Angela-davis , August-wilson , Cutler-colman-domingo , Viola-davis-ma-rainey , Ma-rainey , Gertrude-ma-rainey , Netflix

Ma Rainey: The Real History Behind Netflix Film Starring Viola Davis & Chadwick Boseman

Published:
December 21, 2020 at 5:16 pm
“They don’t care nothin’ about me. All they want is my voice.” These are the words Ma Rainey uses to describe her white record producers in new Netflix film
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, based on the life of trailblazing blues singer Gertrude Pridgett. With her carefully coiffed hair, bright make-up and trademarked gold teeth – Rainey (played by Viola Davis) is a vibrant figure with a powerful stage presence. But it is her voice – and not just the one she uses for singing – that shines through the story, as she pushed back against those intent on controlling her (namely her white management).

New-york , United-states , Georgia , Alabama , America , American , Fletcher-henderson , Jay-mayo-williams , Thomasa-dorsey , William-pa-rainey , Sandra-lieb , Sam-chatmon

Is Ma Rainey A Real Person? - True Story Of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

In
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, the blues singer brings her lover, Dussie Mae, to the recording studio with her. In real life, Ma "proudly proclaimed her bisexuality," per the
New York Times, as did her mentee and later "friendly" rival Bessie Smith.
Ma Rainey also alluded to her bisexuality in her lyrics, most notably with "Prove it on Me Blues," which referenced a lesbian orgy she hosted that got her arrested, according to PBS. (Bessie bailed her out of jail the next morning.)
They say I do it, ain’t nobody caught me
Sure got to prove it on me;

New-york , United-states , Georgia , Alabama , Chicago , Illinois , Bessie-smith , Viola-davis , Taylour-paige , David-lee , Jelly-roll-morton , Louis-armstrong