The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-12-24
NEGRO MUSIC.
Devoid of Art, Perhaps, But Not De-
void of Melody.
From the Chicago Record.


From the Chicago Record.
The strange, fantastic melody of the
old plantation music has always possessed
a deep fascination for me, says a cores
pondent. There is an indiscribable charm
in it-a certain poetic sadness that ap-
peals strongly to the artistic in one's ma
ture. The idea that art had really any
thing to do with this quality of negro
music l never for a moment entertained.
But, question as l might. could never
lind out its source until passing through
Midway Plaisance some weeks ago |
heard the Dahomeyans singing instantly
the idea flashed into my mind: 1T is
heritage"
Perhaps this thought has already struck
many Others but | must confess that it
has Just dawned upon me, and l am star
tied at its suddenness and evident plausi-
bility.
l heard in the Dahomeyans' sing ing the
same rich melody, the same mournful
minor cadence that have touched the
heart of the world through negro music.
1t is the unknown something in the voice
that so many people have tried to define
and failed.
The DahOmeyan sings the music of his
native Africa; the American negro spends
this silver heritage of melody, but adds
TO 1t the bitter ring of grief for wrongs
and Universities which only he has known.
The mahomeyan startles us; the negro
American thrills u.s. The Dahomeyan
makes US smile; the negro American
makes us weep and smile to weep again.
If my hypothesis be correct, the man
who asks where the negro got all those
strange tunes for his songs is answered.
They have been handed down to him
from the matted jungles and sunburned
deserts of Africa, from the reed huts of
the Nile.
When f. J. Loudin of the Fisk Jubilee
singers, told me how the people focked
to hear this troup sing their simple old
plantation songs l wondered When
heard college glee club, or a white male
quartet sing these same song, with strict
attention to every minute detail of time,
attack and harmony, l no longer won
dered. 1t is only the negro who can sing
these songs with effect. The white pro-
fessional acts, the negro feels. Here lies
the difference. With the black mans
heritage of song has come the heritage of
sorrow, giving to his song the expression
of sorrowful sweetness which the mere
imltator can never attain.
Many of the old plantation hymns, rude
and uncouth as they were, improvised by
the negroes themselves under the in
of melodic beauty. Underlined almost in
variably by strain of sadness, they
sometimes burst out into paeans of hope,
rising above the commonplace and reach
ing up to the sublime.
Through them all can be traced the eff
feet of the condition of the people. The
years of depression and fear, with their
intermittent moments of Pickering hope,
going out again in despair, and then
again Frightening into hope that is al
most surety.
Even at the present day go into some of
the small churches of the south and lis
ten to their hymns. The voices of the
singers assume a tone that one cannot de-
scribe. There is still that wavering mi
nor cadence that cannot be initiated. 1t
is that heritage of expression still there,
and through it all one can hear the strain
running like the theme of a symphony
the strain supplication to God for de-
liverance.
1t is said that the negro is ashamed of
his music. If it be so, it is a shame to be
rebuked and one which he must over
come, for he has the most beautiful melo-
dies of any in the world. They are his
by inheritance and it is for him to make
the best use of his rich legacy.