I am the type to read the book before I see the movie, and I tried to do something similar with the podcasts for the 1619 series, which both encompass and differ from the essays they address.
But I accidentally hit play on the third podcast on “The Birth of American Music” before reading Wesley Morris’s article, titled “For centuries, black music, forged in bondage, has been the sound of complete artistic freedom. No wonder everybody is always stealing it.”
Here’s the podcast link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/06/podcasts/1619-black-american-music-appropriation.html
Once I started listening, I couldn’t stop, especially because the podcast includes excerpts from some of the music he references.
It’s not a lighter topic since it traces the pain and indignities from which arose what Morris calls black American music. But there are some light moments in the podcast, and I especially appreciated Morris as narrator, the emotion, the irony, even moments of amusement that he conveys.
In light of that lightness (hmmm), I will mention that as I listened to it, and this is all me, I kept wondering, what is Yawk music? I am very out of it when it comes to music, which also means that I absolutely recognized all of the so-called Yawk songs. Anyway, hopefully you’ll listen to the podcast AND read his article so that you’ll get why I’m laughing at myself.
The experience of listening to the podcast is very different from that of the article even though both contain similar information. So it is well worth engaging with both. And I am glad it is my policy not to summarize these articles because I could not do this one justice.
There were some searing lines in Morris’ essay that I dare not quote because they don’t work out of context. But I also liked this one:
What we’ve been dealing with ever since is more than a catchall word like “appropriation” can approximate. The truth is more bounteous and more spiritual than that, more confused. That confusion is the DNA of the American sound. (Morris)
And although I really don’t want to steal the thunder of the podcast, I have to quote part of his closing lines. I suspect that this line, plus that one from Hannah-Jones’ essay, will be one I will return to again and again:
What you respond to in black music is an ultimate expression of belief in that freedom, the belief that the struggle is worth it, that the pain begets joy, and that that joy you’re experiencing is not only contagious, it’s necessary and urgent and irresistible. (Morris on podcast)
Wow.
reader. writer. 