Blueswomen

Women of the blues brought the black culture to a new chapter of recognition. They made blues as a popular music, and gave an opportunity to black culture to be accepted and also gave the people a chance to do something (a job) beyond the scope of plantation. They brought the blues to a performance stage and make it more universal so they can fit in not just to black listeners but also the white. Although on their first performance their blues were not considered as the real blues, because blues was considered to be man culture and in order to be able to sing the blues, a man should experience a journey mostly a bitter journey. Actually the women also experienced a journey and it was not a merely sweet and easy journey. Women had to sing from one club to another, from one city to another, they were live on the road. Living such life was not easy at all; women also had to deal with the dark side of an entertainment world.

Singers like Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey were the pioneers and inspirations to other black singer not just women but also men, they were also an inspiration in a state that they managed to get a better life. They transformed blues into a pop culture, which eventually opened an opportunity for black culture to emerged and recognized. They brought blues into a stage of professionalism, which later also gave the opportunity to the men blues to take part, and emerged to the music business. Blues was no longer merely a personal expression but also a way of earning a living. Blues was now offered a job beyond the plantation and a glamour life that were not possible before. Their blues were considered as country blues because it was different from the classic blues in the sense of the style. They performed accompanied by a jazz band in the clubs. It shown a togetherness and was different from a solitary performance usually did by men at that time, as historian Giles Oakley said that the blues women:

frequently worked with jazz bands which, in contrast to the greater isolation of the male country blues singers, provided a visible display of togetherness. For the new and struggling migrants desperately trying to create a new community in the cities, the singer and the band represented a shared communal feeling (http://www.calliope.org/blues/blues2.html0).

Women changed the blues in the content of the songs, in the style of singing, and also in the musical companion (the jazz band which accompanied the singer). The