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(also stylized in uppercase [1] [2]) is a performance/variety television program that showcased African American music, dance and literature in the late 1960s and early 1970s. [3] It was produced by New York City public television station WNDT (later rebranded as WNET during its run), and distributed by NET and its successor PBS.
African-American music is a broad term covering a diverse range of musical genres largely developed by African Americans and their culture. Its origins are in musical forms that developed as a result of the enslavement of African Americans prior to the American Civil War .
The 1960s began with soul music topping the charts, including pure soul divas and singers specializing in the new, rhythm and blues-gospel music fusion with a secular approach. Later specialties in soul cropped up, including girl groups, blue-eyed soul , brown-eyed soul , Memphis soul , Philly soul and, most popular, Motown .
While the Black Is Beautiful movement started in the 1960s, the fight for equal rights and a positive perception of the African-American body started much earlier in American history. This movement took form because the media and society as a whole had a negative perception of the African-American body as being only suitable for slave status. [8]
A Harlem Cultural Festival was first proposed in 1964 to bring life to the Harlem neighborhood. [3] At the same time, in the mid-1960s, nightclub singer Tony Lawrence began working on community initiatives in Harlem, initially for local churches, but from 1966 working under New York City Mayor John Lindsay and Parks Commissioner August Heckscher.
Soul music dominated the U.S. African-American music charts in the 1960s, and many recordings crossed over into the pop charts in the U.S. Otis Redding was a huge success at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. [11] The genre also became highly popular in the UK, where many leading acts toured in the late 1960s.
Psychedelic soul (originally called black rock [1] or conflated with psychedelic funk [2]) is a form of soul music which emerged in the United States in the late 1960s. The style saw African-American soul musicians embrace elements of psychedelic rock, including its production techniques, instrumentation, effects units such as wah-wah and phasing, and drug influences. [3]
Along with disco, funk was one of the most popular genres of music in the 1970s. Primarily an African-American genre, it was characterized by the heavy use of bass and "wah-wah" pedals. Rhythm was emphasized over melody. Artists such as James Brown, The Meters, Parliament-Funkadelic and Sly and the Family Stone pioneered the genre.