Why is it called blues music?
- Blues is both a musical form and a musical genre.
- The main features of blues include: specific chord progressions, a walking bass, call and response, dissonant harmonies, syncopation, melisma and flattened ‘blue’ notes.
Still, when I think Blues, I don’t think music. Like millions of others around the globe my heart and mind go immediately to the real standard-bearers of True Blue, The Smurfs. We are mesmerized by the wisdom and experience of Papa; the soft curves and flowing blond hair of Smurfette; the loveable irascibility of Grouchy Smurf; the MENSA-like insights of Brainy Smurf and the side-splitting humor of Jokey Smurf.
Long after the fleeting popularity of the blues fade away with the other disappearing genes of music like country-western, pop and rap, the Smurfs will carry the term Blues into the next millennium.