Capitalizing on a variety of  contexts from picnics to revivals, barrooms to riverbanks, The Land presents the views  of Black cultural giants, both men and women, who worked skillfully and tirelessly  throughout their lives as farmers, axmen roustabouts muleskinners and railroadmen.Although the film seeks ultimately to document the social milieu that spawned the Delta  Blues tradition, through careful planning and construction even more far-reaching results  have been produced. First, in the opening scenario featuring Lonnie Pitchford on  "diddley bow" (a one-string guitar or fiddle), this instrument is visually and aurally  contrasted with the African musical bow to establish an undeniably concrete link  between African and African-American musical traditions.As the film progresses, the acute perceptiveness and sensitivity of producers Lomax and  Long is further evident in their skillful juxtaposition of items from both sacred and secular  Afro-American cultural traditions, thereby documenting the behavioral and aesthetic  unity that characterizes virtually every aspect of Black American culture, The preacher is  contrasted with the teller of toasts;i the intensity, phrasing, and mood of the blues singer  is juxtaposed to that of the singers of the a cappella lined hymn and Negro spiritual in a  rural. presumably Baptist, Black church.It is the exceptional work that incorporates such a wealth of diverse materials, and yet  succeeds in producing an effectively integrated product. The Land includes:  demonstrations of instrument construction and tuning- fife and diddley bow; dances- the  slop, camel walk, and dog- popular during the 1950s; work songs performed in context;  and even a church service, complete with uniformed ushers, funeral parlor fans, and a  mourner's bench. One special feature is the inclusion of a fife and drum band, an  extremely unusual Afro-American tradition. The Land is by no means just a film about  the blues"; rather, as its producers intended, it ably and accurately documents a way of  life.In the process of shooting both ongoing events and controlled interview/performances,  the producers of The Land succeed in portraying Black performers with dignity and  stature," and in conveying "the sense of excitement that makes folk performers so  important to their own communities" (Bishop ). This film is a welcome, major  contribution to research in Afro-American music. It will undoubtedly become a model for  ethnographic films in our discipline.Mellonee Burnim  Indiana University --Ethnomusicology vol. XXV #3 pp 565-567 Sep. 1981