Black Pearl Sings!

Costume Design by Kelsey Hunt

“The map sings.” -Alan Lomax

[ethnomusicology]: a branch of musicology defined as the study of social and cultural aspects of music and dance in local and global contexts.

Leadbelly, 1948 (Courtesy of John Reynolds & Tiny Robinson)

Alan Lomax, 1941 (The New Press)

John & Alan Lomax (father & son) traveled together beginning in 1933, under the auspices of the Library of Congress, and collected songs from all over the country. John Lomax (1867-1948) discovered Huddie Ledbetter (1888-1949), better known as “Leadbelly,” in the Angola prison in Louisiana. By publicizing Leadbelly’s talent & taking a special song to the governor, Lomax helped him get a pardon for his murder sentence. Leadbelly had also written a letter, but Lomax liked to think it was the song that helped free the man. Afterwards, Lomax & Leadbelly toured the country—at times with Leadbelly in prison garb while they visited other prisons collecting songs.

Alan Lomax (1915-2002) easily took the musical mantle from his father & carried on the tradition of collecting songs. Alan’s main goal was not to just record the folk songs he was hearing all around America & the world, but also to encourage people to continue to create such songs. The Folk Songs of North America & The Land Where Blues Began are perhaps Alan Lomax’s best known books.

“In essence, the many facets of [Alan] Lomax’s career were an expression of his belief in what he called ‘cultural equity’—the idea that the expressive traditions of all local & ethnic cultures should be equally valued as representative of the multiple forms of human adaptation on earth.”

(See www.culturalequity.org for more information about the Lomax musical philosophy.)

 

“The earth has music for those who listen.”
-ancient aphorism

Young girls playing ring games, 1942 (Photo by Alan Lomax, The New Press)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Reap What You Sow”

You gonna reap what you sow
You gonna reap what you sow
Sowin’ on the mountain, sowin’ in the valley
You will reap just what you sow…

I’m tellin’ you sister, to keep right on fightin’
Tellin’ you sister, keep right on fightin’
Fightin’ harder on the mountain, fight harder in the valley
You will reap just what you sow

“Six Feet of Earth”

If a man be in tattering rags
We should never reject or despise
For beneath is a true honest heart
And six feet of earth will make us all of one size…

A cup of cold water in charity given
Is remembered with joy in the sky
We all are but human, and we all have to die
And six feet of earth will make us all of one size

People and Places in the Play

Zora Neale Hurston, American novelist & folklorist (Courtesy of Carl Van Vechten Trust)

A Gullah Storyteller (University of Georgia Press)

• Gullah: Living in the coastal regions of South Carolina & Georgia, the Gullah are descendents of West African countries which mainly include Sierra Leone & Liberia. The Gullah are known for keeping much of their African heritage alive & celebrating it to this day.
• Edna St. Vincent Millay: Winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1923 for The Harp Weaver & Other Poems, she was the first woman ever to be so honored. Greenwich Village, in New York, was where she lived when so popular.
  
• Zora Neale Hurston: Known as a novelist & an American folklorist, she collected songs for the Library of Congress & collaborated with Alan Lomax. She became famous for writing Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937).
  
• Juba: Referring to both the complex hand rhythms & the dance traditionally done to them. It is distinguished from clapping by virtue of the varied pitches the patting hand elicits from the arms, chest, thighs, & flanks which is collectively & colloquially known as “hambone;” juba is one rhythm of hambone.
• The Cotton Club: As the premiere jazz club (& speakeasy) from the mid 1920s to the late 1930s, its predominately “whites only” patron policy contrasted with its performers which included great African American musicians such as Duke Ellington, Ethel Waters, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, & Cab Calloway—a scat singer & band leader.
• Carnegie Hall: Opening in 1891 in New York, showcasing the world’s greatest soloists, conductors, & ensembles, it was named after Andrew Carnegie, the “Steel King.” Considered the second richest man in the world (J.D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil being the first), he gave away $350,695,653 of his wealth (approximately $4.3 billion nowadays).
• Pullman Porters: Spanning the years 1868-1968, the African American railroad attendant’s presence on the train became a tradition within the American scene. The wages & working conditions were below average for decades. For example, the porters were required to work 400 hours per month or 11,000 miles—whichever occurred first to receive full pay. Porters depended on the passengers’ tips in order to earn a decent level of pay. The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters unionized in 1925.
  
• Cooper Union: Founded in 1859, the school established a radical new model of American higher education. The school still admits students on merit alone & awards full scholarships to all enrolled students. The school’s Great Hall continues to serve as an important metropolitan art space, hosting lectures & performances.
  
• Paul & Silas: “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.” (King James Version of Acts 16:25-26)