The establishment of an artists’ identity is immensely significant in the process of constructing empowering songs. This will be explained in two sections. First, the importance of jazz and soul history, with their origins in the African slave trade. This will be highlighted to demonstrate the second section; how Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin have used this oppression and transformed it into empowerment. Cooke’s, ‘A Change is Gonna Come’ and Franklin’s repertoired, ‘Respect’ will be analysed in regards to this transformation. Through the analysis of these songs, it will become evident how they are songs of empowerment most prominently for minority groups. 

 

The history of jazz and soul lie in their roots of oppression regarding the African slave trade. Asante describes how ‘nommo’ is an ‘Afro-centric’ term, inspired by African religious practices and emphasises the value of sound in creating reality though music (1942, 95). Asante ties this in with the discussion of the anti-literacy laws during this period and how Africans in America were not permitted to learn to read or write English. The oppressive nature of such restrictive communication limited any potential means for desired expression from one African in America to another. However, despite the lack of universal linguistic backgrounds, the significance of anti-literacy and sound value became important forces because they both went on to serve as major contributions towards ‘orature’. ‘Orature’ was the idea of verbal communication being of immense merit in expressing ideas and stories. Verbal communication became the most prominent way of pronouncing and translating ideas with the absence and lack of accessibility to literacy. “The African in America early cultivated the natural fascination with nommo… a singular appreciation for subtitles, pleasures and potentials of the spoken word” (Asante 1942, 95), placing emphasis on sound and how something is being said would often be more significant than what was actually being said. ‘Potentials’ refer to how original inspirations for jazz, soul and blues came from these African-American histories, with words not being used as prominently as sounds were, in regard to the differing linguistic backgrounds. The idea of ‘nommo’ has developed jazz, soul and blues to be genres of improvisation and spirit, because it came from oppression. These African-Americans however, did not allow the prevention of communication to conclude them. 

 

This oppressive history became a significant source of inspiration for artists, Aretha Franklin and Sam Cooke. Cooke (1931 - 1964), was a prominent pop, jazz and blues singer, who wrote ‘A Change is Gonna Come’ in 1964 as an empowering turn for black oppression. He was known as both “the man who invented blues” (Burford 2012, 115) but also as a mainstream pop artist. Cooke is consequentially, an important ‘cross-over’ artist as his music was enjoyed by both black and white audiences, “the tango of black gospel and ‘white’ pop singing has dominated discussions of Cooke’s life and art” (Burford 2012, 114). Although his fame came from his popularity amongst a white audience in the pop charts, he maintained a connection with his black audience too, as the pleasure for “many African American listeners derived from the recognisability of his gospel background despite its pop context” (Burford 2012, 136). Cooke was able to utilise this oppressive history and tie gospel into his pop career, which was such a significant genre because of its roots in the slave trade and how it was born from oppression. Cooke was so significant because he used the gospel genre even in his pop singing career right up until his death. Werner describes gospel as a genre that “helps people experience themselves in relation to [others] rather than on their own” (cited in Trigg 2010, 996-997), emphasising its prevalence in times of oppression as it was a force to unite people. ‘A Change is Gonna Come’, also tries to unite its audience by merging gospel and blues together and this was significant in being able to use a history of oppression in what was made to be a song of empowerment (Trigg 2010, 997). Cooke created a space for jazz, blues and gospel music to exist across different social backgrounds of both class and race. As a result, Cooke has woven meaning into his music by making it something that transcended race, also providing connotations for the future of these genres. The connotations included these genres becoming available across cultures and different types of people; it wasn’t music exclusive to a particular audience. Cooke was able to exist as a pop artist whilst maintaining significant structures of his own gospel background, which kept a theme of identity strong in Cooke’s music career. 

 

This establishment of identity was also so crucial in the process of creating empowering music relevant not only for the time period but also for today. Barack Obama said in his electoral victory speech, “it’s been a long time comin but… a change has come to America” (Burford 2012, 113), which is immensely significant. Obama’s words alluded to Cooke’s, ‘A Change is Gonna Come’, which released the same year as his death. This was a song written during the civil rights movement, and later became its anthem, “the civil rights song” (Burford 2012, 141) as it was often described. The song had such an empowering impact in being able to express hope and anticipation for better black futures. Cooke’s history of being a ‘cross-over’ artist was analysed above to express how releasing a song like this with such strong black empowerment implications was massively controversial to his career. The significance however in him doing so had massive repercussions as seen with the civil rights movement and Obama bringing this idea back to life. Cooke was able to take this historical oppression and use the establishment of his identity in his music to release a song so empowered for its time. 

 

Aretha Franklin (1942 - 2018) similarly created prominent identity in her music and used this to transform oppression into empowerment. She did this by providing a powerful and reformed voice for women and black minorities, with her “emergent cultural position as the Queen of Soul” (Malawey 2014, 185). This powerful music reformation was first established with Franklin’s transition from a Repertoire singer to a song ‘owner’. This notion of song ‘ownership’ was ironically conceptualised by a critique of her repertoired, ‘Respect’. Porter discusses how the “problem is that jazz criticism is often confused with jazz research”, which is extremely significant as it references how an accurate portrayal of jazz and soul music reality is not always being presented as it is muddled with opinion. Nathan writes a critique of Franklin’s version of ‘Respect’ saying it, “is not Aretha. It is Otis, because it is his song” (Smith 1997, pg. 18-19 cited in Malawey 2014, 205), implying that this concept of song ownership is present and existing. History has situated ‘Respect’ into a bubble of confusion between whether association is better suited with the ‘song writer’, or the ‘made popular by’. With ‘Respect’, it is clear that Franklin has used an already established song with its own personality and made it her own with a new and empowered voice.

 

This establishment of such prominent identity in Franklin’s ‘Respect’ was a powerful tool in being able to give a reformed voice to empower a history of oppression, with regards to women and black minorities (Carter 2018). The song majorly “gives agency to a female perspective speaking within the language of soul” and appealed to so many audiences because it was empowering for minorities and marginalised groups. The way that Malawey describes her version is of a ‘gendered re-authoring’, which describes the female voice that is now being given to the song. The reason Malawey has described it like this is because it resonates so much with themes of “sexual empowerment” and “racial equality” (Malawey 2014, 185). Franklin has used a history of oppression aimed towards woman, and especially woman of colour by creating a narrative that contrasted the original in Redding’s version. It was originally written and sung as a jazz song about a woman who would do anything for her man, and him expecting that she will respect him regardless. A ‘call and response’ effect kind of took place when the Franklin repertoire in 1967 with a much more blues energy, contrasted a financially dependent character with the financially independent character that she created. Oppression has been transformed into empowerment as seen with Franklin’s powerful repertoire to give people a voice and an outlet to feel powerful despite circumstance. This is also the power that identity establishment has in translating music to public audiences.  

 

This essay has demonstrated a history of black oppression which artists, Cooke and Franklin have been able to transform into empowerment. This was investigated through the songs, ‘A Change is Gonna Come’ and ‘Respect’ to highlight a new sense of empowerment in music inspired by an oppressive history. 

 

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Works Cited: 

 

Asante, Molefi Kete. 1991. "The Afrocentric Idea In Education". The Journal Of Negro Education 60 (2): 170.

 

Burford, Mark. 2012. "Sam Cooke As Pop Album Artist—A Reinvention In Three Songs". Journal Of The American Musicological Society 65 (1): 113-178.

 

Carter, Kelley L. 2018. "Aretha Franklin's 'Respect': How Sassy Song Became Anthem For An Era". Detroit Free Press. https://eu.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/aretha-franklin/2018/08/30/aretha-franklin-songs-respect/1133856002/.

 

Malawey, Victoria. 2014. "‘Find Out What It Means To Me’: Aretha Franklin’s Gendered Re-Authoring Of Otis Redding’s ‘Respect’". Cambridge University Press 33 (2): 185-207.

 

Porter, Lewis. 1988, 'Some Problems in Jazz Research' in Black Music Research Journal, 8:2, pp. 195-206

 

Trigg, Christopher. 2010. "A Change Ain't Gonna Come: Sam Cooke And The Protest Song". University Of Toronto Quarterly 79 (3): 991-1003.

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