Table Of Content“THIS IS HOW WE FLOW"
RHYTHM IN BLACK Ci!L TURES
EDITED BY ANGELA M. $. NELSON
“This Is How We Flow” explores the meaning, motif,
and theme of rhythm in black cultures throughout
the United States and Africa. In ten pathbreaking
essays the volume’ contributors illustrate how
rhythm is the foundation of all African expression—
from music and dance to the visual arts, architec-
ture, theater, literature, and film. They suggest, by
example, that an African aesthetic does indeed
exist, an aesthetic that revolves around the motif of
rhythm.
In essays that focus on the medium most com-
monly associated with the motif, Juliette Bowles dis-
cusses rhythm’s place in African American music,
and Mark Sumner Harvey examines its conceptual-
ization in jazz music. William C. Banfield suggests a
methodological framework for composing black —
music, and Angela M. S. Nelson identifies the pri-
macy of rhythm in African American rap music.
From Martin Luther King’s speeches to Claude
McKay’ poetry, the contributors also consider
rhythm as a quality in black oratory, literature, and
film. Richard Lischer offers a detailed analysis of
Kings speeches, Ronald Dorris elucidates rhythm’s
meaning in McKays poem “Harlem Dancer,” and
Darren J. N. Middleton considers the power of
rhythm to move people to write and act for social
Justice, as in the poetry of Rastafarian dub poets.
Suggesting that it is through the lens of rhythm that
the meaning of black film of the 1980s and 1990s
becomes clearest, D. Sonyini Madison exposes
rhythm as ritual, modality, and discourse in the film
Daughters of the Dust.
Two contributors round out the discussion by
examining expressions of rhythm in African coun-
tries. Alton B. Pollard III provides a historical-criti-
cal survey of freedom songs in South Africa from the
nineteenth century through the 1990s, and Zeric
Kay Smith examines “macro- and micro-rhyvthms”
in Malian politics, lending credit to the contributors?
collective conviction that rhythm cirganixes snd
frames African behavior regardless of «:ontxt,
* THIS
IS HOW
WE FLOW"
* THIS
IS HOW
WE FLOW
RHYTHM IN
BLACK CULTURES
Edited by
ANGELA M. $. NELSON
abs
University of South Carolina Press
© 1999 University of South Carolina
Published in Columbia, South Carolina, by. the
University of South Carolina Press
Manufactured in the United States of America
03 02 010099 54321
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
This is how we flow : rhythm in Black cultures / edited by Angela M. S. Nelson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 1-57003-190-8
1. Afro-Americans. 2. Blacks. 3. Rhythm. 4. American literature—Afro-American
authors—History and criticism. 5. Afro-American aesthetics. 6. Aesthetics, Black.
7. Afro-American arts. 8. Arts, Black. I. Nelson, Angela M. S., 1964—-
E185 .T45 1999
305.896'073—dc21 98-40207
Permission to reprint current copyrighted material quoted in this volume is gratefully
acknowledged: Chapter 6 is from The Preacher King: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Word That
Moved America by Richard Lischer. Copyright © 1989, Oxford University Press, Inc. Used by
permission of Oxford University Press, Inc. T. J. Anderson, Variations on a Theme by M. B. Tolson.
Copyright © 1969 by T. J. Anderson. Extract reproduced by permission of T. J. Anderson.
William C. Banfield, Spiritual Songs for Tenor and Cello. Extract reproduced by permission of
William C. Banfield. “Can’t Keep a Good Dread Down,” “Dread Eyesight,” “Dread John
Counsel,” and “Ganga Rock” by Benjamin Zephaniah. Copyright © 1985 by Benjamin
Zephaniah. Extract reproduced by permission of Benjamin Zephaniah. “Come Into My House”
by Dana Owens and Mark James. Copyright © 1989 by T-Boy Music Publishing, Inc /Queen
Latifah Music/45 King Music. Used by permission. All rights reserved. “Harlem Dancer” by
Claude McKay. Used by permission of The Archives of Claude McKay, Carl Cowl,
Administrator. “Yoke the Joker” by V. Brown, A. Criss, and K. Gist. Copyright © 1991 by T-Boy
Music Publishing, Inc./Naughty Music. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations / vii
Acknowledgments / ix
Introduction / 1]
CHAPTER ONE
A Rap on Rhythm / 5
Juliette Bowles
CHAPTER TWO
Jazz Time and Our Time: A View from the Outside In / 15
Mark Sumner Harvey
CHAPTER THREE
Some Aesthetic Suggestions for a Working Theory
of the “Undeniable Groove”: How Do We Speak
about Black Rhythm, Setting Text, and Composition? / 32
William C. Banfield
CHAPTER FOUR
Rhythm and Rhyme in Rap / 46
Angela M. S. Nelson
CHAPTER FIVE
The Music of Martin Luther King, Jr. / 54
Richard Lischer
CHAPTER SIX
Rhythm in Claude McKay's “Harlem Dancer” / 63
Ronald Dorris
CHAPTER SEVEN
Chanting Down Babylon: Three Rastafarian Dub Poets / 74
Darren J. N. Middleton
CHAPTER EIGHT
Rhythm as Modality and Discourse in Daughters of the Dust / 87
D. Soyini Madison
vl CONTENTS
CHAPTER NINE
Rhythms of Resistance: The Role of Freedom Song in South Africa / 98
Alton B. Pollard III
CHAPTER TEN
The Rhythm of Everyday Politics: Public Performance and Political Transitions
in Mali / 125
Zeric Kay Smith
Notes / 137
Selected Bibliography / 151
Notes on Contributors / 153
Index / 157
