#Marainey

[modern-music-through-the-ages]

Ma Rainey (1923)

Gertrude Pridgett - aka the Mother of the Blues and, at one point, one half of Rainey and Rainey, Assassinators of the Blues - settled on Ma Rainey as her stage persona sometime after marrying William 'Pa' Rainey in 1904.

The young singer had already been performing in minstrel shows since her early teens, developing a stagecraft and presence that would go on to captivate audiences (sometimes racially mixed, although still in segregated seating) in large tent shows across the southern and midwestern United States.

Ma and Pa worked as a double act until the couple separated in 1916. A new show, Madame Gertrude Ma Rainey and Her Georgia Smart Set, confirmed Ma Rainey as a renowned songwriter and performer.

A contract with Paramount followed in 1923, resulting in 94 records and heavy promotion until she was unceremoniously let go when the market cooled in 1928.

The iconic entertainer continued to perform for the next few years but returned to her home town - Columbus in Georgia - in 1935, where she used her business acumen to manage three theatres. She died after a heart attack four years later.

[tanagause]

[cartermagazine]

Today In History

Gertrude “Ma” Rainey was born in Columbus, GA on this date April 26, 1886. Rainey was an influential blues singer and early blues recording artist.

Dubbed the “Mother of the Blues”, ‘Ma’ Rainey bridged earlier vaudeville and the authentic expression of southern blues, influencing a generation of blues singers.

‘Ma Rainey's Black Bottom’ is a 1982 play by Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson-which chronicles Ma Rainey and the 20th-century African-American experience. The play is set in a recording studio in 1920s Chicago, and deals with issues of race, art, religion, and the historic exploitation of Black recording artists by white producers.

The play has been converted into a film, “Ma Rainey's Black Bottom” directed by George C. Wolfe and written by Ruben Santiago-Hudson.

The film stars Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Glynn Turman, Colman Domingo, and Michael Potts. It’s streaming now on Netflix.

CARTER™️ Magazine carter-mag.com #wherehistoryandhiphopmeet #historyandhiphop365 #cartermagazine #carter #maraineysblackbottom #marainey #blackhistorymonth #blackhistory #history #staywoke

[rockmusicassoc]

#BluesHonorRoll Amazing Performers: Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, singing during the first two decades of the twentieth century, Ma was known as the “Mother of the Blues”. She made 100s of recordings in the 1920s, influencing countless women in blues and rock. #MaRainey #RockHonorRoll #GreatWomenOfRock 3/16

[stagemanagerssaygo]

It shows dedication to the time period when you make a wig out of horse hair.

"This was a Black woman traveling in the ‘20s, so who knew what salons are going to be in that town at the time? It’s not like women of color could walk into any hair salon. She needed that show wig and she needed to be show-ready. I think that’s why she would use that horsehair wig because of the memory, you could put it in a box and it would be ready."

[toofaketobeplastic]

an ode to the (Black) geniuses of America

Do you know what the sunniest city in the world is? Yuma, fucking Arizona, homie. And i know that, for sure – as does the vast variety of Yale University motherfuckers i am acquainted with, everyone who’s been lucky for the past 22 years – because I was given found even in carceral America, something Holy, something Black, something about magic or calm in the midst of a curse – if you know Mo, you know more.

i am nothing without that basement in lawrance hall. nothing as sick as fuck at least, put every single acid trip on a reel. nothing neither without audre lorde, ma rainey, jimmy b’s here be dragons, introduced to me freshman fall by God’s mercy (and the gays)

who would i have been without it? gwen’s a kindness punk before it was ever cool, or seemed necessary: her smile welcomed me to America / didn’t ask me if Pakistan had roads, but always wanted to know if my mama was doing alright. every time i died, i waltzed to morse dining hall and so much of me hopes that the smiles i faked, exaggerated, performed in earnest, the tears i held back at times, the hurt i only shared with her, brought even a percentage of the light into gwen’s life that she, in that something Holy, something Black way, litters carelessly, constantly, democratically everywhere she goes.

the only two boys on Turtle Island who i left pieces of my heart with know who they are, half-Black, all Holy, at times confused but bite ‘em as much as u want America, you’ll never get em; behind Baldwin’s warning, a promise: here be angels.

no one dances in America like a Black femme does, no one fucked me in America with the kindness and the humanness i needed, everyone deserves, except a Black boy and no one pains, carries the burden of white people’s first world pathetic excuse for a life, like a Black body; i saw this with my own eyes, i saw the ICE truck at my border of Bedstuy and Bushwick i saw the young Black boy outside his high school, under a pig’s knee, with a whole crowd of loved ones gathered, not one able to save him, and he made the news too, but his Black life didn’t matter to white America who still bought their $5 capitalism juice from Starbucks loved their $900 lease in Brooklyn and the pigs who’d entertain their noise complaints.

my ode to the geniuses of America i witnessed was to leave, to let someone hear, anyone that the violence that makes America what it is is too harsh for me to bear,

and that there is another place i remember that i will always be your friend from, something to fly away from Amerikkka to, somewhere to come share your mind, and your heart, and your body in:

where it will be you and me, intertwined,

and only a memory of that other place – where everything cost too much and everything Black-owned wouldn’t last too long, co-opted by some California loser with borrowed guilt, stolen Blaccent, and superficial solidarity.

it is a dream i have, of you. 

[pearlistrippin]

🎙🎼CHASIN' DEM BLUES🎵🎙 Tech Week🤩. #ChasinDemBlues on deck again. Here we grow again🎭 Day 12😍 Nutritional herbal fasting and wow!!! Gratitude... Love and appreciate you so much, Unc👑💞🖤💞👑 https://www.milwaukeerep.com/Tickets--Events/201920-Season/Chasin-Dem-Blues-Untold-Story-of-Paramount-Records/ #Family #2020Memoirs #Theatre #Blues #Winter #MaRainey #AlbertaHunter #BlindLemonJefferson https://www.instagram.com/p/B7PjWuLp8uz/?igshid=1csd33vabhs1k

[ilexproject]

Happy Birthday 🎁 Ma Rainey Reposted from @bbc_culture This is the real Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, who was immortalised in August Wilson���s play Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and more recently, the George C Wolfe movie adaptation. She was one of the blues’ first hitmakers, who had been performing the blues for two decades before recording her first session at 37 in 1923. But, like many of the first wave of breakout blues artists, her legacy was pushed aside in favour of others. Tap the link in our bio to read the history of the black women who pioneered the blues, and why so many of them were forgotten. 📸 Getty Images. #BBCCulture #MaRainey #MaRaineysBlackBottom #blues #theblues #1920s #twenties #didyouknowthat #music history @i_lex_project https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc0uYVRg4ck/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[tymstevens]

✭✭✭✭ BEST MOVIES+TV: 2020 -  Best Movies, Docs, TV!

►https://tymstevens.blogspot.com/2021/03/best-movies-tv-2020.html

✭✭✭✭ BEST MOVIES+TV: 2020 -  Best Movies, Docs, TV!

►https://tymstevens.blogspot.com/2021/03/best-movies-tv-2020.html

[mediaartsrecordingsound]

Ma Rainey

(born Gertrude Pridgett, 26 April 1886 - 22 December 1939)

[wtwnblog]

Still Got A Way To Go With Catching Up On Some Movies/ Tv Show’s That I Need To Watch. Just Watched ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ Recently & The Film Was Very Good All Round, Wasn’t Disappointed At All!

[cartermagazine]

Today In History Gertrude “Ma” Rainey was born in Columbus, GA on this date April 26, 1886. Rainey was an influential blues singer and early blues recording artist. Dubbed the “Mother of the Blues”, ‘Ma’ Rainey bridged earlier vaudeville and the authentic expression of southern blues, influencing a generation of blues singers. CARTER™️ Magazine carter-mag.com #wherehistoryandhiphopmeet #historyandhiphop365 #cartermagazine #carter #maraineysblackbottom #marainey #blackhistorymonth #blackhistory #history #staywoke https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc0EBhlLLvh/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[olusheyi31]

Also to @tarrusrileyja @melaniatrump and #marainey https://www.instagram.com/p/COHz3ldrxOo/?igshid=1kvdvw93qrp0j

[fashionartfilmalien]

Queen Viola Davis in Lavie by CK-2021 Golden Globes #queen #queenviola #violadavis #maraineysblackbottom #marainey #actingicon #love #laviebyck #bestdressed #2021goldenglobes https://www.instagram.com/p/CL8jlYahzMI/?igshid=12ck0ee9smoa1

[sadiesavestheday]

#MaRainey is one of the first recorded #blues artists ever. She performed with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels and even recorded songs with artists like #LouieArmstrong. In fact, her signature gravelly voice influenced Armstongs's performance, as well as the style of #JanisJoplin and #BonnieRaitt. Rainey developed a relationship with #BessieSmith, another blues singer who was considered the best of her time. Her lyrics were notable for talking about the full range of Black female experiences and sexuality in a way that was not being done at the time and for a long while after. They said I do it, ain't nobody caught me. Sure got to prove it on me. Went out last night with a crowd of my friends. They must've been women, 'cause I don't like no men. It’s true I wear a collar and tie. Makes the wind blow all the while. https://www.instagram.com/p/CLPyEI-DPWk/?igshid=3wsz7wo53ia6