Blues (English: Blues, meaning "blue", also transliterated as blues) is a kind of vocal and instrumental music based on the pentatonic scale. Another feature of it is its special harmony.

Blues originated from the soul music, hymns, labor songs, shouts and hymns of African American slaves in the past. The "blues sound" used in blues and the singing style of Qi Ying both show its Western origin.

This kind of music has an obvious special style, which is to use the "call and response" form similar to Chinese folk songs, which is called "Call and Response" in English.

At first, the musical phrase will give people a feeling of tension, crying, and helplessness, and then the subsequent musical phrase will seem to comfort and relieve the suffering people. It’s like a suffering person crying to God, and then receiving God’s comfort and response! Therefore, blues music places great emphasis on the catharsis of self-emotions and originality or improvisation.

Meaning of blues:

As the source of the blues scale, blues has a significant influence on many musical styles. Many jazz, folk and rock artists have recorded blues music. The use of the blues scale can be found in a lot of non-blues music, such as in pop songs, or even in symphonic music, such as George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" and "Concerto in F Major."

In fact the blues scale is unique in modern popular music. Sometimes listeners hear blues rhythms in unexpected places. For example, the theme song of the TV series "Batman" uses a blues structure. The famous country music master Jimmie Rodgers was originally a blues musician.

Guitarist/vocalist Tracy Chapman's famous song "Give Me One Reason" is a 12-bar blues and has become a classic in today's Chicago blues clubs. Sometimes blues music is used to accompany informal rock dances, which have no fixed form and focus on contact, observation, improvisation and physical contact between dancers.