The songs that made the history of the soul at the center of the new episode of Rock on the airthe program conducted by Claudio Fabretti on the digital frequencies of Open City Radio (www.radiocittperta.it).
A roundup that starts from the pioneers of the genre, to the great authors of the 70s, suspended between soul, funk, r'n'b and psychedelia roots, from a group of sophisticated vocalist Until the new intrepid protagonists of the “Music of the Soul” in the year 2000.
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Masters of Soul
An episode entirely dedicated to the Masters of Soul, the giants who have made the “music of the soul” immortal: a mix of hits, classics and goodies of the genre, for a large panoramic panoramic style that was born from the fusion of the sounds of jazz and gospel with the ways of the pop song. A music that was the result of the urbanization of the Rhythm and Blues in the 60s, with many strands: from the catchy and melodic groups of the Motown, which in Detroit focused on a pop -oriented sound, to the version of the South, where the genre assumed more hard traits, with syncopated rhythms, rough rumors and clear winds. And then, towards the end of the 60s, the soul began to fragment, when artists like James Brown and Sly Stone discovered the funk, just as other artists were oriented on new variants. But despite this evolution, over the years the soul will remain a constant reference for musicians from all over the world who will update it in various formulas.
Our long journey starts from the first great pioneers of the genre: Sam Cooke, James Brown, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickt, Aretha Franklin, Solomon BurkeSmokey Robinson, Ray Charles. On the foundations they built, new masters such as Marvin Gaye and Bill Withers arrive, skilled in updating the classic formula of soul to the political, social and sentimental suggestions of the early seventies, formidable ballades such as Ben E. King (“Stand by Man”) and Percy Sledge (“When a Man Loves a Woman”) and a patrol of extraordinary vocalists, by Diana Ross – the golden singer of the Motowon, from the supremes to the solo career – to the Muse Bacharachiana Dionne Warwick, up to the discomethe inflexions of Gloria Gaynor.
But from the 70s onwards there was also the irresistible contamination with the funk, the R'N'B and the Psychedelia, which led to the masterpieces signed by the various Stevie Wonder, Sly & the Family Stone, Isaac Hayes, Curtis Mayfield and Bobby Womack, parallel to the affirmation of the phenomenon of the soundtracks of the Blaxploitation, kind of feature film interpreted mainly by blacks and intended for a black audience, whose plots want to mark the black revenge against an American society still infected by the germs of racial discrimination. And on the most “politicized” side, impossible not to pay homage to the anthem-song par excellence of Gil Scott-Heron, “The Revolution Will Not Be televiseed”, current today as then.
To strengthen the pink component of the lineup, some interpreters who updated the soul in an increasingly refined and velvety perspective – from Randy Crawford to Anita Baker to the “Baduista” revolution by Erykah Badu. In closing, however, the one who is probably probably the hottest name of the new world soul: Michael Kiwanuka, with his already classic “Cold Little Heart”.
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05/05/2025
Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM
