Together Let Us Sweetly Live: The Singing and Praying Bands (Music in American Life)

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Description

 A forgotten and beautiful African American folk tradition reexamined

Together Let Us Sweetly Live offers a rare look at the unique grassroots African American religious institutions known as the Singing and Praying Bands. This folksong and ring shout tradition began in Chesapeake Bay country in the early nineteenth century, with a fusion of Methodist prayer meeting worship and African religious, danced song traditions. Even if scholars have assumed ring shouts died out long ago, Jonathan C. David shows in a different way, ushering us inside tidewater communities of Maryland and Delaware where they continue to thrive.

A traditional band service represents a cultural commitment to mutual aid, known as “help,” operating as a system of social reciprocity, as a performance aesthetic, and because the foundation of community spirituality. The book’s nine chapters tell the story of the Singing and Praying Bands at these services and products through oral histories, every told by a different member of a group. Seventy-eight photographs in conjunction with more than a few song notations bring the spirit of the culture to life. The creator’s introduction provides the historical and ethnographic context needed to bear in mind the bands and their tradition. An accompanying CD of original field recordings provides an opportunity to hear the service as if you were there.

A volume in the series Music in American Life


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