Aretha Franklin: The soul of soul music

Hello, fantastic people! Since I am sure you have been listening to music these days, here is a list of links concerning the recently deceased Aretha Franklin, who sang soul music in her own unique way. She was inspired by gospel music (church music), which we talked about in our coursebook. This is an intriguing read about how a voice can empower suppressed people and spellbind the following generations. 

What is soul music? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul_music

Think: One of her most popular songs https://youtu.be/Vet6AHmq3_s

I say a little prayer/ lyrics: https://youtu.be/JyLpE93lzLY

Respect / lyrics: https://youtu.be/SAI_Nv3qWto

A compilation of her greatest hits: https://youtu.be/Bmfm3JvlZIc

Article about her life on the Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/aug/17/drenched-in-glory-how-aretha-gave-voice-to-embattled-black-women-and-transformed-a-nation

(Use www.dictionary.com to search the meaning of unknown words in the article above.)


Extract from the article:

...the reason we mourn her death so deeply, is that she taught us so much about the preciousness of our emotions, our inner worlds and desires. She dared to voice and make public the nuanced, emotionally heterogeneous interiority of black womanhood, becoming a conduit for articulating the beauty and sensuousness, the rage and the despair, the sadness as well as the joy of black life transduced through African American female musicianship. She turned the “vocal run” itself into a thousand miles of freedom. The intelligence of her melisma, a kind of singing in which notes upon notes are strung together into one syllable, lifted that musical gesture out of the black church and planted it firmly in the mainstream, transforming the style of popular singing. When it is used most effectively, the melisma exudes sheer visceral power and can ignite existential catharsis. It suggests limitless emotional revelation and spiritual reckoning. Franklin took it to new heights.