{"id":71922,"date":"2021-02-12T12:13:59","date_gmt":"2021-02-12T11:13:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/black-history-month-rosetta-tharpe\/"},"modified":"2022-02-14T18:43:42","modified_gmt":"2022-02-14T17:43:42","slug":"black-history-month-rosetta-tharpe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/black-history-month-rosetta-tharpe\/","title":{"rendered":"Sister Rosetta Tharpe, rock\u2019s soul mate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is how the story goes \u2013 rock and rhythm\u2019n\u2019blues was born in the United States in the mid-1950s between the nimble fingers of Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis, and in the swaying hips of King Elvis and the sonorous voice of Johnny Cash. A story of testosterone and of men, almost all of them white. But what if there were a link missing somewhere in that story? What if history, not always grateful towards women \u2013 and especially towards women of colour \u2013 had long ignored the crucial legacy of a gospel singer born in the southern United States in the middle of World War I and who, long before her male counterparts, became a guitar hero known for her breathtaking solos? Enter Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1915-1973). “She had a major impact on artists such as Elvis Presley. It\u2019s not an image we are used to thinking about when we think about rock\u2019n\u2019roll history, we don\u2019t think about the young black woman behind the white male”, stated Gayle Wald in her comprehensive biography Shout, Sister, Shout<\/em> in 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rock\u2019n\u2019Roll: the Rosetta stone de Rosetta<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

After many years of being eclipsed, the time has come for revival and recognition. In 2018, the prestigious Rock and Roll Hall of Fame finally welcomed the great lady. In love with God and a sense of being free, she re energised gospel music and shook up all convention with her E-sharp solos, her three marriages, and her probable bisexuality.Her complete works have been reissued in France and thanks to the internet other brave and rare gems have also been brought to light once more. Its now possible to see her in a belted dress and headscarf, strumming her Gibson Les Paul in front of a choir on US TV. Or admire her, in the mid-60s, in high heels and a woollen coat, singing her anthem \u201cDidn\u2019t It Rain\u201d at a rather surreal concert on the platform of a disused train station near Manchester in front of a group of young English people. \u2018She has a very important place in rock\u2019n\u2019roll because she was always ahead of her time. But her contribution has never been recognised because we tend to focus mainly on men,\u2019 says Jean Buzelin, who has just published a book with the unequivocal title, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, The Woman Who Invented Rock\u2019n\u2019roll<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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