Dr. Martin's lecture today was riveting, exuberant and refreshing; I was in stitches listening to his historical antics on Black Culture and as he coins it, “keeping it real”. When talking about America, you cannot exclude African-Americans from the pot of American cultural mix. Our music has roots as far back as Africa; the griots are the time keepers and orators of storytelling of ancestral stories of years ago. As the villagers listen to the griot, the melodic beating of the drums are keeping rhythm as the griot passed down the history from generation to generation of stories long ago. And as our music transcends in time and places our music becomes the crown of our souls. As Dr. Martin’s book states, “authentic” soul music has reigned in gospel precisely because “church people understand spirit, 'soul' if you will, better than anyone.”
The Black Cultural Movement could not have survived without the sounds of Black music. The Black music was the cornerstone of the Civil Rights Movement. The Freedom Songs began in the church; the churches were the meeting and gathering places for Sit-ins, Freedom Riders, The Boycotts, and demonstrations. The church was the main artery for the renewal of body and soul. Every weary soul who crossed the threshold of the church was deemed a needed shot of this heart thumping, rejuvenating elixir of spirituality. One dose of this spiritual elixir was good for the soul in many ways as it manifested through expressions of chanting, spirituals, gospels, hymnals, and call and response songs. These songs were the catalyst in keeping up the hope and faith in imprisoned activists as well as invigorating (the Crowns), the warriors, the foot soldiers, the marchers back onto the battlefield of Freedom. Soul is the music and without soul there is no music.
-- Charlie Eruchalu
