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| | The Classic Blues, 1900-1920s |
 | | Legend has it that Ma Rainey kidnapped Bessie, acted a a mother figure to her, and taught her to sing the blues. |
 | | What is true is that Ma Rainey's influence would be heard in Bessie's early recordings, and certainly in learning the new formalities of performance Rainey must have been a formidable model. |
 | | Classic Blues singers like Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith retained much of the country blues: in their twelve-bar, three-line structure, in their use of antiphonal accompaniments, and (especially in the case of Ma) in their rough-voiced moans, slurs, and blue notes. |
| www.calliope.org /blues/blues2.html (3289 words) |
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