“My som Indianery.” Cowboy hats, Indian plumes with Silesia in the setting

Abstract

Many Silesian blues musicians are avid fans of the Western, which is a part of American culture where blues also originated. In the Silesian dialect, the repeated phrase “My som Indianery” articulates the identity of the Silesians, suggesting a similarity in fate with the indigenous inhabitants of North America, namely a sense of alienation on their own land and its “colonization” by outsiders. Within this framework, blues became a space for expressing Silesian values. Silesia proved to be fertile ground for the blues as the genre served as a musical portrayal of Silesianness.