Blues music is a genre that originated in the southern United States by African-American communities in the early 20th century. Blues emerged as a fusion of religious music and work-song from the agricultural fields, blending with the English, Irish, and Scottish lyrical traditions. In its structure, the blues songs reflect in their vocal, instrumental, and lyrical style, expressing the melancholy and the yearnings of the African-Americans that suffered slavery and segregation for more than 200 years in the United States.