NASHVILLE.- Will African American artists be able to succeed in music? country, a fiefdom dominated by whites? Julie Williams, a mestiza who grew up in the south of the United States who tries to succeed in Nashville, the capital of this country. gender musical, trust that Beyonc definitively open the way for them.
Beyonc releases her first country album on Friday, a project that has highlighted both the long history of African-American artists in this type of music and efforts to change the narrative of the white, male-dominated industry to create a Nashville more inclusive.
“Who’s excited about Beyoncé’s new country album?” shouts Williams, 26, during her concert, to applause.
“When you see someone who is at the top of their art and is killing it, and you think: ‘Wow, that could be me, it’s very exciting,'” he tells AFP. For this reason, Williams believes Beyonc’s album is a: “historic moment to bring African-American country to the forefront.”
Fight for the musical genre
Williams is one of nearly 200 artists associated with the Black Opry, a collective that has been presenting and amplifying the voices of black artists working in genres such as country and folk for three years.
“I’ve always been a huge country music fan, and I’ve always felt isolated in this experience. Especially as a queer African-American woman, you don’t see a lot of representation, not in the artists, not in the fans, not in the marketing material.” “Holly G, founder of the Black Opry, explains to AFP.
“When I started with the Black Opry, I realized that we’re all in it, we’re just not given the same platform or the same opportunities as some of our white colleagues,” he says.
The name of the collective is a direct reference to the Grand Ole Opry, the almost century-old space for country performances whose complicated history has been marked by black performers, but which over time has also featured artists and political leaders linked to racist ideologies.
The ongoing conversation about the marginalization of African-American country music artists has taken on new importance following Beyoncé’s upcoming album, says Charles Hughes, author of the book Country Soul: Making Music and Making Race in the American South.
People are saying: “It’s great that Beyonc is moving to country… here are a bunch of other artists you should be listening to,” he tells AFP.
Hughes hopes the Beyonc effect will galvanize the genre’s musicians and songwriters who have worked hard to open more doors.
Endurance
Country is an American musical style par excellence, with African influences: the banjo, for example, emerged from instruments brought to America and the Caribbean by slaves in the 17th century.
However, contemporary country has developed an overwhelmingly white, sexist and conservative image, and industry leaders resist change.
In the early 20th century, the music industry adopted labels to rank songs, such as “hillbilly” for music made by whites and “race records” for African-American music, classifications that later evolved into country. and R&B, respectively.
“That initial separation was based solely on skin color, and not on the sound of the music,” says Holly G.
These divisions have survived, meaning that African American musicians – and especially African American women, since it is much more difficult for female artists in general to find success on country radio – face enormous obstacles to breaking into the mainstream.
“The song can sound exactly like other people’s songs on the radio, and they tell me: ‘Yours is not country,'” Prana Supreme, a member of the mother-daughter duo ONE The Duo, explains to AFP. And I say, “What’s the difference?”
seeing is believing
Even Beyonc faced resistance from industry power brokers, he says.
“My hope is that, within a few years, the mention of an artist’s race, when it comes to the release of musical genres, will be irrelevant,” Beyoncé recently stated.
But Holly G won’t believe there’s a change in the industry until she sees it: “Beyonc is one of the most powerful celebrities in the world. And she’s been able to take advantage of it to be successful in this space.”
“But I think that’s because the industry is intimidated by Beyonc,” he warns. “Not because they are open to supporting black women.”
FUENTE: AFP
