Funk is a music genre that originated in African
American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic,
danceable new form of music through a mixture of soul, jazz and rhythm
and blues (R&B). Funk originated in the mid-1960s, with
James Brown's development of a signature
groove that emphasized the downbeat—with heavy emphasis on the first
beat of every measure ("The One"), and the application of swung 16th
notes and syncopation on all basslines, drum patterns, and guitar
riffs—and rock and psychedelia-influenced musicians Sly and the Family
Stone and Jimi Hendrix, fostering improvisation in funk. Other musical
groups, including
Kool and the Gang, Earth, Wind & Fire, Chic, B.T. Express, Loose Ends,
Shalamar, The S.O.S. Band, Slave, The Whispers, Cameo,
and the Bar-Kays began to adopt and
develop Brown's innovations during the 1970s and adding R&B essences to
the genre from the early 1970s, while others
like Parliament-Funkadelic and
Ohio Players followed Hendrix's path.
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