Singing in harmony is part of white culture, I suppose. I never thought of it that way.
That black people have appropriated it is all to the good, to my mind. They've done a great job with it, and that's what cultural sharing is all about.
I don’t know about harmony, but the sea songs belong to the Sea Kings who sailed the world and tamed it. All came to do it — recall Queequeg — but it is not neutral. It belongs to the ship, to the need to pull together, and to the works that made sailing the world possible.
Singing in harmony is part of white culture, I suppose. I never thought of it that way.
ReplyDeleteThat black people have appropriated it is all to the good, to my mind. They've done a great job with it, and that's what cultural sharing is all about.
Here's another neat old shanty:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS5xR7jBxDw
I've always thought that singing in harmony was spontaneously cross cultural.
I don’t know about harmony, but the sea songs belong to the Sea Kings who sailed the world and tamed it. All came to do it — recall Queequeg — but it is not neutral. It belongs to the ship, to the need to pull together, and to the works that made sailing the world possible.
ReplyDeleteActually, you might have heard this one before, as part of a medley by The Fisherman's Friends that I posted here some time ago.
ReplyDeleteThey billed it as "A Drop of Nelson's Blood," though.
https://youtu.be/wmE87g9li5c
Worth listening to again.
Call-and-response may be worldwide. Harmony is mostly European.
ReplyDeleteHm. I don’t remember, but these days that happens now and then.
ReplyDeleteWell, it was three years ago.
ReplyDelete