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For many decades, Kansas has had a vibrant country and bluegrass scene. The Country Stampede Music Festival – one of the largest music festivals in the country – and the bluegrass/acoustic Walnut Valley Festival are testament to the continued popularity of these music genres in the state. Among current leading country artists, Martina McBride and Chely Wright are natives of Kansas. The state has also fostered some rock acts – the one that is most associated with the state is almost certainly the band called Kansas. Some famous and pioneering jazz musicians also had roots in Kansas. == History == The first music performed in the area that is now Kansas was that of the Native Americans who lived there. However, little is known of these peoples' musical lives. The earliest documented music comes after settlement by Anglo-Americans in the 1850s. One of the first musical works relating to Kansas was "Ho! For the Kansas Plains", a song written by James G. Clark in the 1850s, which mythologized the territory as the site of abolitionist battles during the Bleeding Kansas era. A representative lyric was "Ho! For the Kansas plains; Where men shall live in liberty; Free from the tyrant's chains." Along the same lines, some versions of the famous Civil War marching song "John Brown's Body" refer to John Brown's abolitionist activities in Kansas Territory during the same era. Following the Civil War, as Kansas became known more for its cowboys, saloons and wide-open spaces, another notable song written in and about Kansas was "Home on the Range". It was penned in the state in the 1870s, and then spread throughout the American Old West as an unofficial anthem. It is now Kansas's official state song. The song established something of a template for Kansas music, and over the next several decades, music coming from Kansas remained in a similar folk or old-time music style, while lyrics referencing the state tended to focus on its open countryside. Composer and musician Nathaniel Clark Smith, born at Fort Leavenworth, was an important music educator in the early 1900s. In the 1920s, the Kansas City jazz scene developed in eastern Kansas. Coleman Hawkins, who introduced the tenor saxophone to jazz, was raised in Topeka, and began touring in eastern Kansas by 1918 (at the age of 14). Singer Ada Brown was born in Kansas City. Drummer Kansas Fields was born in Chapman. Pianist, singer, and bandleader Joe Sanders was born in Thayer. Harpist Betty Glamann was born in Wellington. Singer and composer Nora Holt, a figure in the Harlem Renaissance, was born in Kansas City, Kansas. Choral conductor Eva Jessye, a contemporary of Holt, was born in Lawrence. In the following years, Kansas native Charlie Parker also came to prominence in Kansas City. Around the same time, Kansan Stan Kenton likewise became notable as a jazz band leader and pianist. Pianist Jesse Stone was born in Atchison. Alto saxophonist Bobby Watson was born in Lawrence. Outsider musician and composer Moondog was born in Marysville. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Music of Kansas」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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