At a blues concert, the first thing you notice is not the flashy displays of the performance, but how deeply the audience tends to connect with the music. With their eyes fully closed, attendees absorb every soulful note with intention. Here, music is not just performed, it is felt. Closing one’s eyes at a blues concert embodies the essence of the blues lifestyle –feeling the depths of human emotion, despite hardships. Amidst all of life’s trials, it is the heart that endures. And it is through this heart, this raw source of emotion, that the blues invites us to experience the world truly. Karim Nagi and Rami Gabriel, members of the ‘Arab Blues Band,’ see Arabic music as closely connected to the blues. For the Arab diaspora, the blues serves as a means to express deep emotions, particularly those linked to socio-political realities, much like how the African American community originated the blues industry in the 1920s. The blues has long served as a powerful story for the African American experience. As Martin Luther King Jr., the iconic African American activist, recognized, it looks through the cracks of hardship,…
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