VOICE ONE:
The music called blues was born in this southern American city.Rock and roll music also began here. This month, the city iscelebrating its musical traditions. I’m Sarah Long.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember. The city of Memphis, Tennessee is our reporttoday on the VOA Special English program, THIS IS AMERICA.
((CUT ONE: “Memphis Blues”))
VOICE ONE:
Memphis is the largest city in the southern state of Tennessee.The Mississippi River flows along the west side of the city. Memphisis the chief center of business, industry and transportation inTennessee. Six-hundred-fifty-thousand people live in the city. Morethan one-million people live in the area.
Memphis is famous as the birthplace of two major kinds ofAmerican music – the blues and rock and roll. It also is well knownfor soul music.
VOICE TWO:
Memphis, Tennessee began as a settlement in Eighteen-Nineteen.Three men — John Overton, James Winchester and Andrew Jackson –started it. Andrew Jackson would later become president of theUnited States. They built the settlement where the Wolf River flowedinto the Mississippi River.
Mister Jackson named it after the ancient Egyptian city ofMemphis, which was also built along a famous river, the Nile.
Memphis became an important citywhen a railroad bridge was completed across the Mississippi River inEighteen-Ninety-Two. The bridge increased trade between the east andthe southwestern United States. By Nineteen-Hundred, Memphis was theworld’s largest market for cotton and wood products.
VOICE ONE:
Like many other American cities, Memphis has had racial problems.About forty-eight percent of the city’s population is AfricanAmerican. In Nineteen-Sixty-Eight, city workers who collect wastewent on strike. Most of the workers were black. The famous civilrights leader Martin Luther King, Junior went to Memphis to supportthe workers. On April Fourth, Reverend King was murdered in Memphisby James Earl Ray.
After Mister King’s death, the city worked to improve livingconditions for black people. In Nineteen-Ninety-One, voters electedW-E Herenton the city’s first black mayor. That same year, Memphisopened the National Civil Rights Museum. It was built next to theplace where Martin Luther King was killed. Many people visit themuseum to learn about the history of the American civil rightsmovement.
VOICE TWO:
The center of Memphis extends for almost two-and-one-halfkilometers along the Mississippi River. One of the most famousstreets in America – Beale Street – is in the southern part of thecity.
Composer W-C Handy worked there as a musician in the earlyNineteen-Hundreds. Handy was known as the “Father of the Blues.” InNineteen-Sixteen, he wrote a song about the city’s famous street.Here is Louis Armstrong singing “Beale Street Blues.”
((CUT TWO: “Beale Street Blues”))
VOICE ONE:
Many visitors go to Beale Street at night to hear blues musicperformed. The street has become a major music center in Memphis. InNineteen-Ninety-One, the famous guitar player B-B King opened hisown Blues Club on Beale Street. When he is in Memphis, B-B Kingstill performs with his guitar Lucille at his Beale Street BluesClub. In fact, he performed there last month. Here he performs thesong “Caldonia.”
((CUT THREE: “Caldonia”))
VOICE TWO:
Blues was not the only music born in Memphis. Many experts saythat rock and roll music began in the city. Sam Phillips was a whiterecord producer there in the Nineteen-Fifties. He produced recordsby local black musicians at his recording company, Sun Studio. Healso produced early recordings by Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins,Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison. One day, an eighteen-year-old truckdriver came to his studio to record a song to give to his mother.The young man was Elvis Presley.
Sam Phillips produced Presley’s first real record inNineteen-Fifty-Four. It was called “That’s All Right.” Many expertsconsider it to be the first recorded rock and roll song.
((CUT FOUR: “That’s All Right”))
VOICE ONE:
Today, people from across the United States and around the worldvisit Memphis. Tourism has become a major industry. The most popularplace to visit in Memphis is Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley.
Presley lived there for twenty years until his death on Augustsixteenth, Nineteen-Seventy-Seven. He is buried on the grounds ofGraceland, along with his parents. As many as seven-hundred-thousandpeople visit Graceland every year.
VOICE TWO:
There are other interesting places to visit in Memphis. TheSmithsonian Institution opened the Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum twoyears ago. The museum explores the music and culture of the city. Itshows how blues, country, and soul music came together in Memphis.It is the Smithsonian’s first permanent exhibition outsideWashington, D-C and New York City.
VOICE ONE:
There is a large and beautiful hotel in Memphis, called thePeabody. It was built in Eighteen-Sixty-Nine. Many famous peoplehave stayed at the Peabody. But it is best known for some birds thatlive in a special place on top of the hotel – the Peabody MarchingDucks. Every morning, the four ducks ride in an elevator down to thefirst floor. They march across the main room of the hotel to a smallpool of water where they spend the day. Every afternoon, they leavetheir pool and march back across the room. They ride the elevatorback up to their home. Two times a day, hundreds of people watch thePeabody Marching Ducks.
((MUSIC BRIDGE: MEMPHIS BLUES))
VOICE TWO:
Many people are visiting Memphis to take part in special eventsheld each year at this time. This celebration is called “Memphis inMay International Festival.” Each year, Memphis honors a differentcountry during International Week, which is being held this week.The city is honoring Argentina this year with a celebration of itscustoms and culture. There will be tango dancing, Argentine food andartwork.
VOICE ONE:
“The Memphis in May International Festival” also celebrates thetraditions of the city. Music, of course, is one tradition. Anotheris food. Traditional Memphis food includes barbecued pork that iscooked outdoors over a fire. Other traditional foods are friedchicken, catfish, fried green tomatoes and pecan pie. Visitors canenjoy these foods at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contestand the Great Southern Food Festival.
The Beale Street Music Festival was held last weekend outdoors ina park. It is one of the largest music festivals in the country.More than sixty bands performed.
VOICE TWO:
Later this month, the W-C Handy Awards for blues performanceswill be presented. Nominees this year include B-B King, Ike Turnerand Buddy Guy.
A song called “Memphis Blues” is often played in the city. W-CHandy wrote it ninety years ago. We leave you with Duke Ellingtonand his Orchestra performing that song, honoring Memphis and itsmusic.
((MUSIC: “Memphis Blues”))
VOICE ONE:
This program was written by Shelley Gollust. It was produced byCynthia Kirk. I’m Sarah Long.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another reportabout life in the United States on the VOA Special English program,THIS IS AMERICA.