SINGING WHILE YOU DANCE

Hello Music Lover!
Singing while you dance. Try it with Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the all black, all male song and dance troupe from South Africa. Their song “Jabulani”, requested by Quentin, means “rejoice”. But it also means “happiness to all who are here”, “let’s be happy together.” In many African languages, there are no separate words for music and dance. One automatically means, and includes, the other. It’s like the word “carol” which originally meant a dance, (and on which we are beginning to focus as we approach Christmas.) Maybe we in the West, more “developed” world get too cerebral about music, and maybe we should just follow our gut and get up and dance every time we hear music. Hmmm- I wonder what Africans would think about our quilt – they’d probably cut it up for dance costumes!

Ladysmith Black Mambazo has been accompanied by fellow musicians from all spheres, and in this song, their partners are members of the English National Orchestra. Whether they are with a soccer stadium full of fans singing in unison, or Dolly Parton, or with a male voice choir from Wales, Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s songs are irresistible.  Always in 4/4, and in just the right tempo for a regular (i.e. dancing) heartbeat, with the down beat on 3, with drums or some other kind of timpani, this is true crossover music. Quentin calls it “road music”, and I know what he means. It just helps you roll along, in no particular hurry, with joy in your heart, while the miles get eaten up. Lady Smith Black Mombazo played at the Elora Festival in 2008, and it would be great to see them back again! Go to http://www.letsloop.com/artist/ladysmith-black-mambazo/song/jabulani-rejoice to hear "Jabulani" (it's the second of three on this video.)

When writing the lyrics to "Lord Of The Dance" in 1963, Sydney Carter intended partly to just make a tribute to Shaker music. He later stated that he had not expected the churches to like it as a hymn at all. Somehow, however, it touched a chord. The tune "Simple Gifts"was written by Shaker elder Joseph Brackett, (to different words: "'Tis a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be true..."), and it has since been used not only by Carter, but also Aaron Copland (see our post of August 21 about his ballet score, Appalachian Spring.) Incidentally, Christopher Parkening has also done a beautiful guitar transcription of this, EMI Angel recording CDC-7 47525 2.

The background to the painted figure was originally the other way up, the stitched lines loosely following the rises and falls of the pitch of the tune. But when it was ready to place the man on top, it was clear that the lines had to lift at the end, because that's what the song is about, joy and praise. So, it's actually upside down!

Carter sees Christ as the incarnation of the piper who is calling us, who dances a shape and pattern which is at the heart of our reality. Whether Jesus ever leaped in Galilee to the rhythm of a pipe or drum he does not know. However, we are told that David danced (and as an act of worship too), so it is not impossible. The fact that many Christians have regarded dancing as a bit ungodly (in a church, at any rate) does not mean that Jesus did. The Shakers didn't. Dancing, for them, was a spiritual activity. Just as they made furniture of a functional, lyrical simplicity, their hymns often had a great beauty: from one of these, Simple Gifts, Carter adapted the melody and wrote lyrics he thought were appropriate.  As he says,  “Sometimes, for a change I sing the whole song in the present tense: 'I dance in the morning when the world is begun...' It’s worth a try.”

Happy listening (and dancing) to you all,

Susan