Table Of Content

“THIS IS HOW WE FLOW" RHYTHM IN BLACK Ci!L TURES EDITED BY ANGELA M. $. NELSON “This Is How We Flow” explores the meaning, motif, and theme of rhythm in black cultures throughout the United States and Africa. In ten pathbreaking essays the volume’ contributors illustrate how rhythm is the foundation of all African expression— from music and dance to the visual arts, architec- ture, theater, literature, and film. They suggest, by example, that an African aesthetic does indeed exist, an aesthetic that revolves around the motif of rhythm. In essays that focus on the medium most com- monly associated with the motif, Juliette Bowles dis- cusses rhythm’s place in African American music, and Mark Sumner Harvey examines its conceptual- ization in jazz music. William C. Banfield suggests a methodological framework for composing black — music, and Angela M. S. Nelson identifies the pri- macy of rhythm in African American rap music. From Martin Luther King’s speeches to Claude McKay’ poetry, the contributors also consider rhythm as a quality in black oratory, literature, and film. Richard Lischer offers a detailed analysis of Kings speeches, Ronald Dorris elucidates rhythm’s meaning in McKays poem “Harlem Dancer,” and Darren J. N. Middleton considers the power of rhythm to move people to write and act for social Justice, as in the poetry of Rastafarian dub poets. Suggesting that it is through the lens of rhythm that the meaning of black film of the 1980s and 1990s becomes clearest, D. Sonyini Madison exposes rhythm as ritual, modality, and discourse in the film Daughters of the Dust. Two contributors round out the discussion by examining expressions of rhythm in African coun- tries. Alton B. Pollard III provides a historical-criti- cal survey of freedom songs in South Africa from the nineteenth century through the 1990s, and Zeric Kay Smith examines “macro- and micro-rhyvthms” in Malian politics, lending credit to the contributors? collective conviction that rhythm cirganixes snd frames African behavior regardless of «:ontxt, * THIS IS HOW WE FLOW" * THIS IS HOW WE FLOW RHYTHM IN BLACK CULTURES Edited by ANGELA M. $. NELSON abs University of South Carolina Press © 1999 University of South Carolina Published in Columbia, South Carolina, by. the University of South Carolina Press Manufactured in the United States of America 03 02 010099 54321 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data This is how we flow : rhythm in Black cultures / edited by Angela M. S. Nelson. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 1-57003-190-8 1. Afro-Americans. 2. Blacks. 3. Rhythm. 4. American literature—Afro-American authors—History and criticism. 5. Afro-American aesthetics. 6. Aesthetics, Black. 7. Afro-American arts. 8. Arts, Black. I. Nelson, Angela M. S., 1964—- E185 .T45 1999 305.896'073—dc21 98-40207 Permission to reprint current copyrighted material quoted in this volume is gratefully acknowledged: Chapter 6 is from The Preacher King: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Word That Moved America by Richard Lischer. Copyright © 1989, Oxford University Press, Inc. Used by permission of Oxford University Press, Inc. T. J. Anderson, Variations on a Theme by M. B. Tolson. Copyright © 1969 by T. J. Anderson. Extract reproduced by permission of T. J. Anderson. William C. Banfield, Spiritual Songs for Tenor and Cello. Extract reproduced by permission of William C. Banfield. “Can’t Keep a Good Dread Down,” “Dread Eyesight,” “Dread John Counsel,” and “Ganga Rock” by Benjamin Zephaniah. Copyright © 1985 by Benjamin Zephaniah. Extract reproduced by permission of Benjamin Zephaniah. “Come Into My House” by Dana Owens and Mark James. Copyright © 1989 by T-Boy Music Publishing, Inc /Queen Latifah Music/45 King Music. Used by permission. All rights reserved. “Harlem Dancer” by Claude McKay. Used by permission of The Archives of Claude McKay, Carl Cowl, Administrator. “Yoke the Joker” by V. Brown, A. Criss, and K. Gist. Copyright © 1991 by T-Boy Music Publishing, Inc./Naughty Music. Used by permission. All rights reserved. CONTENTS List of Illustrations / vii Acknowledgments / ix Introduction / 1] CHAPTER ONE A Rap on Rhythm / 5 Juliette Bowles CHAPTER TWO Jazz Time and Our Time: A View from the Outside In / 15 Mark Sumner Harvey CHAPTER THREE Some Aesthetic Suggestions for a Working Theory of the “Undeniable Groove”: How Do We Speak about Black Rhythm, Setting Text, and Composition? / 32 William C. Banfield CHAPTER FOUR Rhythm and Rhyme in Rap / 46 Angela M. S. Nelson CHAPTER FIVE The Music of Martin Luther King, Jr. / 54 Richard Lischer CHAPTER SIX Rhythm in Claude McKay's “Harlem Dancer” / 63 Ronald Dorris CHAPTER SEVEN Chanting Down Babylon: Three Rastafarian Dub Poets / 74 Darren J. N. Middleton CHAPTER EIGHT Rhythm as Modality and Discourse in Daughters of the Dust / 87 D. Soyini Madison vl CONTENTS CHAPTER NINE Rhythms of Resistance: The Role of Freedom Song in South Africa / 98 Alton B. Pollard III CHAPTER TEN The Rhythm of Everyday Politics: Public Performance and Political Transitions in Mali / 125 Zeric Kay Smith Notes / 137 Selected Bibliography / 151 Notes on Contributors / 153 Index / 157