Iron County register., 1893-12-14
PLANTATION MUSIC.

n.cn aerisage from tho Matted Jun.
-, "u Sun"rned Deserts of Africa.
Inc strange, fantastic melody of the
oiu Plantation music has ALWAYS nos.
sessed a deep fascination for me. There
Is an lndescribable charm in it-a GER
tam poetic sadness that appeals strong
70 the artistic in ones nature.
Inc IDEA that art really had any,
'hing to do with this quality of negro
music L never for a moment enter.
tanned But, question as 1 might. I
could never find out its source until
passing through Midway plaisance dur
ing the fair l heard the Dahomeyans
singing. Instantly the idea flashed in
TO my mind: 'It is heritage"
Perhaps this thought has already
struck many others, but must confess
that 1T has but just dawned upon me.
and l am startled at its suddenness
and evident plausibility.
heard in the Dahomeyans, sinpinp
the same rich melody. the same mourn
1ul minor cadences, 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
MS native Africa; the American NEGRO
spends this silver heritage of melody.
but adds to cthe bitter ring of grief
Tor wrongs and adversities which ONLY
he has Known. The Dahomeyan startles
us; the negro American thrills us. The
Dahomeyan makes US smile; the negro
American makes us weep and smile to
weep again.
II 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 sun
burned deserts of Africa, from the reed
huts of the Nile.
when +. 3. Loudin, of the Fisk iubi-
lee singers, told me how the people
focked to hear his troupe sing their
simple old plantation songs l won
dercd. When l heard a college rlee
club or white male quartettc sing these
same songs, with strict attention to
every minute detail of time, attack and
harmony, / no longer wondered. 1t is
only the negro who can sing thess songs
with effect The white professional
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 e:S-
preston of Il sorrowful sweetness
which the mere imitator can never at
tain.
Many of the old plantation hymns,
rude and uncouth as they were. i'm
provised by the negroes themselves un-
der the influence of strong religious
1@l -
Underlined almost invariably by
strain of sadness, they sometimes
burst ont into p8ans of hope. rising
above ,;.e commonplace and reaching
up to the sublime.
Through them all can beetraced the
effect of the condition of the people
The years of depression and fear, with
their intermittent moments of flicker
ing hope, going out again in despair,
and then again frightening into a
hope that is almost 4 surety.
Even ut the present day go into some
of the small churches of the south and
listen to their hymns. The voiees of
the singers assume tone that /neA Aan
not deserf6e. There ~ stiff that
wsnefiug minor saSehce that can not
"a initiated. 1t is that heritage of ex-
preston, still there, and through it all
one can hear the strain running like
the theme of a symphony-the strain
a supplication to God for deliverance-
1t is said, and generally conceded to
be true that the negro is ashamed of
his music. If it be so, it is a shame to
be rebuked and one which he must
overcome, for he has the most beautiful
melodies of any in the world. They
are his by inheritance and it is for him
to make the best use of his rich legacy.
Let black composers-and there are
such-weave these melodies into their
compositions, and to him who laughs
and says that they are only fit to be
played upon the banjo let them say that
the banjo makes quite as sweet music
as the bagpipe.
Foreign critics have said that these
plantation songs were the only original
music that America has produced. This
is misstatement, for America has not
produced even these: she has only taken
what Africa has given her.
If the American negro consults his
best interests he will seize upon these
songs, preserve them and make them
distinctively his own. 1t has been re-
Gently demonstrated that what he re-
fuses to accept as gift others will
steal. Let him out with false pride
and come into the heritage which is his
.own.-Paul Dunbar, in Chicago Record