The University of Pennsylvania's all-male a cappella singing group, the Chord on Blues first performed in 1983 . Although they appear primarily in the northeastern United States, they have also performed in Canada, and have appeared on national television. Their repertoire is eclectic, ranging from doo-wop and barbershop to jazz stylings, and they include comedic elements in their shows. The University of Pennsylvania (commonly referred to as Penn or UPenn, although the former is the preferred and recognized nickname of the University) is a private, nonsectarian, research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ... 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
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Chord on Blues Includes group history, members, and schedule
Blues is sometimes danced as an informal type of swing dancing with no fixed patterns and a heavy focus on connection, sensuality and improvisation, often with body contact.
One kind of early 1940s urban blues was the jump blues, a style heavily influenced by big band music and characterized by the use of the guitar in the rhythm section, a jazzy, up-tempo sound, declamatory vocals and the use of the saxophone or other brass instruments.
Another important style of 1940s urban blues was boogie-woogie, a style characterized by a regular bass figure, an ostinato and the most familiar example of shifts of level, in the left hand which elaborates on each chord and trills and decorations from the right hand.
Blues lyrics are often intensely personal, frequently contain sexual references and often deal with the pain of betrayal, desertion, and unrequited love (Kamien 519) or with unhappy situations such as being jobless, hungry, broke, away from home, lonely, or downhearted because of an unfaithful lover.
Therefore, these purists maintain that many melodies with the word "blues" in the title, and which are often spoken of as being the blues, are not the blues because their melodies lack this particular basic blues harmonic construction.
Whatever one may think of the social implications of the blues, whether expressing the American or fl experience in microcosm, it was their "strong autobiographical nature, their intense personal passion, chaos and loneliness, executed so vibrantly that it captured the imagination of modern musicians" and the general public as well.
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