Half a century after Jimi Hendrix!

Jimi Hendrix in concert in Monterey, California, 1967. Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images

By: Joe Farmer Follow

5 mins

Fifty years ago, on September 18, 1970, the illustrious Jimi Hendrix passed away at the age of 27.

The four albums he released during his lifetime were enough to turn the art of the electric guitar upside down in "L'épopée des Musiques Noires".

Fed up with ancestral blues, James Marshall Hendrix was not only this rock icon that has been portrayed for half a century.

His contemporaries and disciples are clear, he was the craftsman of a major spiritual emancipation that his lyrical and frenzied flights fed with authenticity. 

Publicity

One of the highlights of Jimi Hendrix's musical adventure took place in 1969. The Woodstock festival ended in the early morning of August 18 with the guitaristic fury of a flamboyant character whose music embraces the times. .

The aspiration for peace and serenity is shattered against the warlike inclinations of an America mired in Vietnam.

This emotional and generational shock finds its expression in the incendiary interpretation of the American anthem by Jimi Hendrix determined to bring out his anger and his frustration in front of the horrors of his time.

This disturbing sound echoed a social climate that the youth of the time could no longer bear.

Jimi Hendrix's shrill notes at Woodstock reflected a political assertion that his notoriety would have allowed him to express in sharp words on television sets or in radio studios.

We have to believe that the murderous slingshot of an explosive Jimi Hendrix in Woodstock was sufficient on its own and did not require further explanation.

How could a thoughtful, wise and philosophical artist generate such formidable sound convolutions?

Was not the soul of the pacifist thwarted by a social and racial struggle that he had to lead on a daily basis? 

Jimi Hendrix and Noel Redding in rehearsal at Club Marquee, while filming for German television, in London, 1967. Bob Baker / Redferns

Majestic in the light, discreet off the stage, Jimi Hendrix has become a universal artist who cannot be detached from the cultural history of black America.

When it arrived on the European continent in 1966, the blues of its elders enjoyed a resurgence of interest with a white audience fond of authentic sounds.

English musicians themselves enjoy reinventing the black heritage of their American cousins.

John Mayall, Eric Clapton, Eric Burdon, the Rolling Stones are inspired by the original blues and honor the pioneers of the genre.

Jimi Hendrix therefore arrives at the right time on this British land which seems to support the cause of the African-American community. 

In the space of four years, Jimi Hendrix transformed "L'épopée des Musiques Noires".

He participated in the identity awakening of his African-American brothers.

Many artists, of all styles, claim today to be the heirs of this exceptional instrumentalist.

There is a reason for this: Jimi Hendrix paved the way for all experimentation and his daring freed the conscience.

Jimi Hendrix, in concert in Germany, on the island of Fehmarn, during the Love and Peace festival, 1970. Feddersen / ullstein bild via Getty Images

Since its disappearance 50 years ago, the recording industry has taken advantage of its iconic status by increasing the number of posthumous reissues and releases of more or less well-crafted albums, often concocted from non- completed or incomplete.

Beyond this frantic race for dividends, which we will not comment on here, we prefer to wonder about what Jimi Hendrix could have produced if he had lived 50 years longer.

He would be 77 years old today and would surely be at the forefront of sound innovation.

→

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

• Culture

• Music

On the same subject

Rock Reservoir

Episode 27: "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)", The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1968)

World music

1. Jimi Hendrix special with Yazid Manou # Jimi50

The epic of black music

Jimi Hendrix, the peaceful rebellion ...