What is the Blues Aesthetic?

After spending three months in the course of the Blues Aesthetic, I can finally give an (almost) “accurate” definition of what is the Blues Aesthetic. In the beginning of this semester people kept asking what is Aesthetic? Or what is the Blues Aesthetic? But all I could say was: “oh you know… the Blues, the music genre, and the African-Americans.” But now I can say that the Blues Aesthetic deals with the African-Americans from the south, in which being slaves created stories of their past and present lives. These stories were reflected in songs and poetries that they called the Blues. The Blues was not just a type of music genre; it was something more psychological that defined their souls in which African-Americans were finding their own identity and were trying to offer it to the people to see their true lives. However, the church identified the Blues as “the devil’s music” due to the portrayal of their sexual, negative, angry lives and the church would only portray positive attitudes toward God.

The Blues serves as a catharsis in which African-Americans after expressing their negative lives, they feel a relief of emotions, emotions that are suppressed in their souls for not having a voice. This is why the Blues is considered to be a psychological development for the people because it transcends them to a better position, which explains the flying African-Americans. The use of magic realism gives a metaphor on how the Blues brings their hope back to the surface; after being oppressed for so many years, they can finally see they can do something better in their lives rather than just being slaves. The Blues Aesthetic might not be seen right away because they are hidden for the people’s sight. In order to see it, our minds have to be in a psychological state to open the door of a text, a song, poetry, or a painting to capture the message that is being offered.