Africa and the Blues Quotes

“we have to bear in mind that culture is not necessarily transmitted in proportion to people's numbers. One charismatic personality will suffice to release a chain reaction. One”
― Gerhard Kubik, Africa and the Blues

“Blues is both a literary and a musical genre, and the two realms are inseparably linked by the very forces that also bind together music and text in most African cultures: semantic and grammatical tone, phonetic structure leading to offbeat phrasing of melodic accents (Waterman 1952; Kubik 196ia: 157-58. 1988a: 149-52), and the concept-widespread in African cultures-that the meaning of a song derives from its lyrics rather than from "melody," "rhythm," or chord sequences.”
― Gerhard Kubik, Africa and the Blues