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Is God Funky
or What?
Black Biblical Culture and
Contemporary Popular Music
T HE ODORE W . B UR G H
Black music is a powerful art form. Artists’ creations often go where words cannot. The
music is special—sacred. However, it’s still frequently shoehorned into the ambiguous
categories of secular and sacred. Is God Funky or What?: Black Biblical Culture and
Contemporary Popular Music complicates the traditional categories of sacred and
secular by exposing religious rhetoric and contexts of contemporary popular black
music and by revealing the religious-based biblical references and spirituality that
form the true cultural context from which these genres emerge. The personal beliefs
of black music artists often include, if not revolve around, the heavens. How come we
are bombarded by the “thank Gods” in televised award shows, liner notes, or inter-
views for songs by musicians that some millennials might call “ratchet?” Is God Funky
or What? shares anecdotes probing connections between specific forms of popular
black music and religion. The qualifications of sacred and secular typically depend on
context, lyrics, location, and audience (age, race, religion). Through a woven narrative
of lyrics, godly acknowledgments, recorded and original interviews, biographies, and
recordings from various genres of black music, this book explores how artists have
intertwined views of God, perspectives regarding a higher power, spirituality, and
religion in creating their music. Their creations make up an organic corpus called the
Artistic Black Canon (ABC). Using the ABC, this book shares and explores its remark-
able interpretations and ideas about life, music, spirituality, and religion. Is God Funky
or What? also shares how we can better make use of this music in the classroom, as
well as better understand how essential it is to the lives of many.
Theodore W. Burgh is a professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. He

has a BA in music from Hampton University, MA in religious studies from Howard
University, and MA and PhD in Near Eastern studies from the University of Arizona.
His first book, Listening to the Artifacts, received the Klaus P. Wachsmann Prize from
the Society for Ethnomusicology.
www.peterlang.com
Cover image: ©iStock.com/Casarsa
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR
Is God Funky or What?
“Anyone who loves black popular music will find this work to be a masterful blend of
scholarship, memoir, and nostalgia. Told with warmth and humor, Theodore W. Burgh cites
his own musical coming-of-age to argue that secular forms, including jazz, R&B, soul, and hip-
hop, have the capacity to trigger experiential outcomes that are decidedly spiritual in nature.
He shows how this ostensibly secular music functions as sacred ritual, embellishing and
intensifying the kinds of moments that, for many, shape and articulate black identity. Is God
Funky or What? is another fine example of black music scholarship boldly situated within the
telling of first-person narrative.”
—Teresa L. Reed, Professor of Music at the University of Tulsa and
author of The Holy Profane: Religion in Black Popular Music
and The Jazz Life of Dr. Billy Taylor
“Theodore W. Burgh gets down into an idea we’ve all had some kind of intuition about: the
notion that the sacred and secular elements of black music are branches from the same tree.
On pages of revelations braided together with an easygoing tone, this spiritual man explores
what it is about the funk that puts that hump in yo’ rump. With in-depth interviews, on-point
analysis, and his own personalized musical experiences across the black musical spectrum,
Burgh tells us all how to party on the one with ‘The One’!”
—Rickey Vincent, author of Funk: The Music, the People, and the Rhythm of The One
Rochelle Brock and Cynthia Dillard
Executive Editors
Vol. 111
The Black Studies and Critical Thinking series

is part of the Peter Lang Education list.
Every volume is peer reviewed and meets
the highest quality standards for content and production.
PETER LANG
New York  Bern  Berlin
Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw
Theodore W. Burgh
Black Biblical Culture and

Contemporary Popular Music
PETER LANG
New York  Bern  Berlin
Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Burgh, Theodore W., author.
Title: Is God funky or what?: black biblical culture and
contemporary popular music / Theodore W. Burgh.
Description: New York: Peter Lang, 2019.
Series: Black studies and critical thinking, vol. 111 | ISSN 1947-5985
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018037621 | ISBN 978-1-4331-4949-8 (hardback: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4331-4948-1 (paperback: alk. paper) | ISBN 978-1-4331-6117-9 (ebook pdf)
ISBN 978-1-4331-6118-6 (epub) | ISBN 978-1-4331-6119-3 (mobi)
Subjects: LCSH: Popular music—Religious aspects—Christianity.
African Americans—Music—History and criticism.
Popular music—United States—History and criticism.
African Americans—Religion.
Classification: LCC ML3921.8.P67 B87 2019 | DDC 781.64/11208996073—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018037621
DOI 10.3726/b14612
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.

Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available
on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.
© 2019 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York

29 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10006
www.peterlang.com
All rights reserved.

Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited.
I dedicate this book to my parents, Archie and Faye Burgh. Thank you so
much for introducing me to music. Although the initial encounter was many
years ago, I continue to be inspired by it daily. I truly understand the impor-
tance of this powerful art form to my existence and well-being. Dad, I wish
you were here so we could read and talk about this work together, but I know
your spirit lives in the words.
I also dedicate this book to my sister, Felicia. You left us way too soon, but
I am truly grateful for the wonderful memories we created. Fly butterfly.
table of contents
Acknowledgements xi
Chapter One: Introduction 1

Chapter Two: Blues 19
Blues—Sacred, Secular? 19
The Overlooked Relevance of the Blues 26
Supernatural Power in the Blues 34
Chapter Three: Jazz 43

What’s So Sacred About Jazz? 43
Jazz Improvisation and the Brain 47
There’s Spirit in the Sacred Improvisation 49
The Church of Saint John Coltrane 53
Exploration of Jazz Perspectives on Sacred and Secular 58
Interviews With Living Jazz Musicians 62
Interview With Jazz Legend Joe Chambers 62
Interview With Vocalist Lori Williams 65
viii is god funky or what?
Interview With Pastor Brian Hamilton 67

Interview With Composer and Arranger Derrick Gardner 70
Interview With Arranger and Composer Jerald Shynett 74
Interview With Jazz Artist Marc Cary 77
Summary 79
Chapter Four: R&B/Soul 83

Why R&B/Soul? 85
R&B/Soul Soundtracks and Life Lessons 87
The Cassidy Clark Interviews 92
Jerry Butler 93
Booker T and the MGs 97
Gladys Knight 99
The O’Jays 101
Little Richard 101
Wilson Pickett 102
The Staple Singers and David Ruffin 104
Al Green 105
Eddie Kendricks 106
Patti LaBelle 107
Sly Stone 109
Curtis Mayfield 110
Bill Withers 112
Stevie Wonder 113
The Wonder of Religious Experience 115
Marvin Gaye 116
More R&B/Soul Artists 120
Aretha Franklin 120
The Jackson 5 121
Michael Jackson 122
Beyoncé 127
Neo-Soul 129
Jill Scott 130
India.Arie 131
table of contents ix
Lauryn Hill 132

Erykah Badu 134
D’Angelo 136
Summary 139
Chapter Five: Funk 143

Artists, Funk, and the Sacred 154
Rufus and Chaka Khan 154
Larry Graham 156
Prince 157
Chuck Brown—Father of Go-Go 160
Tom Browne 161
Earth, Wind, and Fire 168
Me’Shell Ndegeocello 170
Summary 171
Chapter Six: Hip Hop 175

Prophets, Psalmists, and Rappers 187
Influential Rap Artists From the ABC 190
Tupac Shakur 190
Public Enemy 197
NWA 199
Nas 201
Jay Z 203
Kool Moe Dee 207
What About Bitch, Ho, Nigga, and Stuff Like That? 208
Hip Hop, Rap, and a Catastrophic Disaster 212
Dollar Day/Katrina Klap 214
Summary 214
Chapter Seven: Gospel 219

Rosetta Tharpe 223
John P. Kee 225
Kirk Franklin 226
x is god funky or what?
The Extensions 229

Lyrics 229
Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On? 232
Epilogue 239
Index 241
acknowledgements
Writing a book takes a tremendous amount of time, energy, and support. There
are many to whom I am grateful for their encouragement and motivation. I
thank my wife Ann, who tirelessly supports all of my endeavors, no matter
absurd they may be. I also wish to express my gratitude:
To all of my family and friends for their constant support.
To Dr. Janet Sturman, who gave me feedback on my initial idea for this
work and encouraged me to go with it.
To Sarah Bode. The best editor ever and one of the most upbeat and pos-
itive people I know.
To Dr. Hugh Page. Our in-depth conversations about Prince and other
artists and their connections with religious activities were inspiring.
To Randall Bailey, Cheryl Kirk-Duggan, Sam Murrell, and Rodney Sadler
for their unique insight, suggestions, and ideas.
To Dr. Rickey Vincent, Professor Derrick Gardiner, Marc Cary, Joe Cham-
bers, Professor Jerald Shynett, Lori Williams, Tom Browne, and Pastor Brian
Hamilton. Thank you so much for sharing your time to be interviewed for this
project.
To the Center for Black Music Research and UNCW Cahill for your
resources and financial support in this endeavor.
xii is god funky or what?
To the Society of Biblical Literature—members of African-American

Biblical Hermeneutics Section and the American Academy of Religion for
providing an opportunity to present my initial ideas on this topic.
If I have forgotten anyone, please charge it to my head and not my heart.
·1·
introduction
It’s strange. I don’t have a memory of my life that’s not wrapped in music. I
could write the funkiest, most soulful, bluesiest, gut-wrenching soundtrack to
my life with the music I’ve heard and experienced. My mother’s humming of
church hymns and top 40 hits and my father’s respectable imitation of Nat
King Cole, the Mills Brothers, and Billy Eckstein, weave through many of my
early memories.
My formal introduction to music came my first day of middle school, and
we’ve been together ever since. The band director held an outdoor concert,
and eighth graders along with some high school students performed. After
they played a few songs, select students introduced and demonstrated their
instruments. I could hardly contain myself. The drums’ hypnotic rhythms
beckoned me, but the seductive tone of the flute was mesmerizing. I had to
have her. And the love affair with the silver woodwind began. My parents
couldn’t afford formal lessons to solidify our courtship, but we still became
inseparable. My flute let me know that with her, I could play along with the
Doobie Brothers; Earth, Wind, and Fire; Chaka Khan; Elton John; and almost
anyone whose songs came through my radio. She introduced me to different
sounds and new ways to express myself. There were also days she and music
made me cry from frustration when trying to learn a technical exercise, but
also buzz with joy, especially when I figured out a complex melody or lick. I
2 is god funky or what?
was, and still am, falling in love with her and music, and there was nothing
I could or want to do about it. We’re still intimately entangled, and our rela-
tionship continues to flourish.
Music constantly plays in mind. Unheard melodies from deep inside,
along with songs I’ve heard before—Aaron Copeland’s “Appalachian Spring”
to Salt n’ Pepa’s “Push It!” It’s like the music is on some kind of random
rotation. The tunes make their way through my inner ear, challenging me to
hear them in different ways, forcing me to listen to how they’re put together,
and at times, making me ponder the complexities of how music affects lyrics,
as well as what the crafted words and notes mean to me and others. Some of
my dreams even have soundtracks. I’ve woken many times from a dream in
which I’ve heard complete songs with orchestral and vocal arrangements. Tal-
ented, insightful artists use this art form to create priceless musical creations,
but, because of matters such as preconceived ideas, misunderstandings, and at
times misinformation or blind ignorance, we sometimes overlook the unlim-
ited specific effects music can have on our lives.
Music is powerful. It can make us react physically—tapping feet, bobbing
heads, and ecstatic dancing. It invokes emotions—tears of heartbreak and joy,
smiles, and laughter. Music has the uncanny ability to communicate where
words stop. It takes us places we need to go, as well as through spaces and areas
we don’t completely understand. Music is a major part of the worlds we’ve
labeled sacred and secular. It helps people to express how they interpret and
express aspects of each. Much has been written on the subject of sacred and
secular in music. However, I saw this as a challenge to share something new
and different. I bring unique perspectives as a performer, composer, scholar,
and teacher. I also realize the power this music holds.
I’m going to challenge us to dig deeper in understanding and interpreting
what many musical prophets, psalmists, and artists—past and present—have
to say. Through discussion of examples from blues, jazz, R&B, funk, and other
forms of what is often called black music, as well as artists’ biographies, inter-
views—previously recorded, some original, and liner notes, I will offer differ-
ent ways of interpreting music that is often labeled sacred and secular. I will
do through this by looking at artists’ creations and exploring what they have
to say, and why and how they say it. I’ll also give suggestions regarding how
we can use these invaluable, intriguing, unique creations as artistic lenses to
our advantage. Artists are often sharing how they understand, interpret, and
encounter the world in which they live, and many people identify, connect to,
and search for messages and meanings in their performance. Music has scores
introduction 3
of hermeneutics waiting to be extracted. I didn’t realize it at the time, but as a

kid, I witnessed everyday folks do this very well. Their exegesis was intelligent
and inspiring. As a matter of fact, it’s one of my favorite musical memories
from the ’70s.
I can still see my father relaxing in his black recliner, feet suspended in
the air a top the chair’s extended ottoman, beer in hand, while extolling pro-
fusely about the blues. If I pushed him long and hard enough, he’d drop a few
sagacious notes about the music. Typically on a Sunday afternoon, he and his
friends would sit in the dimly lit living room sipping beer or other alcoholic
libations skillfully combined with sodas and juices. I know this because my
sisters and I often had to make and bring them their drink orders. A floor-
model stereo blared, filling the room with nearly visible waves of emotion
packed music. The men sat comfortably, eyes closed, intoxicated—by the
music. Their heads bounced and nodded, and sometimes they leaned forward
hard as if to intercept any notes that might try to slip away. As they intensely
ingested the sounds, each spontaneously shared what they were experiencing.
“Man, did you hear that?”

“Good Lord! That boy can play some blues!”
“Listen to ’em pick that thing!”
“I hear what you talkin’ bout son! Tell ’em bout it!”
“He can make that thing talk!”
“I swear that woman is talkin’ to me!”
“Sing about it, honey!”
These men were having a sacred experience. They were listening, hearing,
and engaging the music and lyrics through their experiences. Through their
reverence for and relationship with the blues, they transformed our living
room into a sacred space. The music created a bond between them. The blues
transcended these sacred moments and even helped them prepare “to meet
the Man” and deal with other situations that lay waiting for them Monday
morning. Here were these men, folks some might label “Average Joes,” sitting
in their created sacred space, sharing special libations, communing with each
other on a level I didn’t understand, pulling and reaching to glean what these
blues prophets and prophetesses were sharing—profound, high-level exegesis.
I watched and listened as they explained candidly to each other the artistry
and pontification of B. B. King, John Lee Hooker, or Albert King, or the raspy,
bewitching moaning of Koko Taylor. They would diagram what these artists
offered and how it made them feel. Their reactions and interactions were
much like the ones I’d seen from folk at church. But in this space, they openly
described the places the music took them and the lessons the artists shared.
It was truly a sacred moment produced by what many ignorantly dismissed as
secular or even worse, the devil’s music.
When my father spun these and other artists’ records at home, or we heard
them on the radio, I remember liking some of the songs—especially those
with a fast shuffle or told funny stories. One of my favorite verses was, and still
is, comes from B. B. King’s version of “How Blue Can You Get?” King com-
plains about the troubles he’s had with a woman since the beginning of their
relationship because she refuses to be satisfied.
I let you live in my penthouse—you said it was a shack

I gave you seven children, and now you wanna give’em back
This man loved this woman, but he couldn’t do enough to mollify her. I
remember seeing some of the men in my father’s group jumping and slapping
hands after hearing Mr. King sing this line. He affirmed what they saw as part
of their truth. I wasn’t old enough to understand marriage or what having a
significant other meant, but I still understood enough of the story to know
why he wasn’t happy with this woman.
Although that song and a few others were amusing and entertaining, the
music was “old fashioned” to me. Some of the stories were over my head. I
couldn’t comprehend them the way my father and his friends did. The same
thing happened to me in church—dated music with confusing lyrics and mes-
sages. Later however, through talking with my father, other blues aficionados,
and experiencing life a little more—I began to learn how to listen to the music.
I started to understand what they were hearing. I developed a great respect for
some of the stories and messages. The ways in which the artists delivered them
began to make a little sense. I found that the groans, moans, and grunts were just
as revealing as the actual lyrics. I began to realize to some degree why my father
and his friends reacted the way they did to what they heard. One of the things
that kept them interested, and me to a certain degree, was the artists sang about
life. They crooned to folks that chose to listen to what was happening to them or
someone they knew, how they understood it, and how they dealt with it.
Although my father and his buddies hadn’t necessarily lived the lives or
encountered every experience many of their favorite blues singers sang about,
or even if the songs contained an ounce of truth, they still related to the
messages. They co-signed and affirmed many of the blues prophets’ sermonic
lines about living life. My father and the rest of the group had an understand-
ing about how to get at the blues artists’ hermeneutics, and at times applied
introduction 5
them to their own life philosophies. They related to what the performers had
to say and how they said it, and the music helped them see the world through
different, yet unique lenses.
For some time and a myriad of reasons, many types of writing, visual art,
and music like the blues received the enigmatic labels of sacred or secular. The
labeling criteria varied from style, lyrical content, who the creators were, as
well as the performance context. With that in mind, I’ve often wondered,
which songs are sacred or secular, and who gets to say so? For the most part,
sacred is defined as dedicated to a deity or religious purpose; consider with
respect and reverence; secular is understood as things that have no religious or
spiritual basis; pertaining to worldly things. Some dictionaries also mention
phrases such as “opposed to sacred” or “contrast with regular.” While I appre-
ciate these descriptions, the categories and definitions of sacred and secular are
social and cultural constructs. Societies, cultures, and communities develop
their own ideas and a criterion regarding defining these terms and what falls
into these groups.
Scholar Teresa Reed explains that the idea of the sacred-secular dichotomy
was a foreign concept to the first Africans arriving in North America.
1
These people came from a world where a “non-religious” or “non-sacred”
category did not exist. Western cultural influence introduced the categories of
sacred and secular, and Black people have generated unique perspectives and
interpretations for these groupings.
Even when we consider the Bible, the literary centerpiece for much of
sacred music, the divisions are ones that have been established and created by
a select few. The biblical book of Esther for instance does not mention God or
any other deity, the Book of Ecclesiastes reads like a blues song, and check out
this passage from the Song of Solomon:
How beautiful you are my love, how very beautiful!

Your eyes are doves behind your veil.
Your hair is like a flock of goats,
Moving down the slopes of Gilead.
Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes
That have come up from washing,
All of which bear twins,
And not one among them is bereaved.
Your lips are like a crimson thread,
And your mouth is lovely.
Your cheeks are like halves of pomegranate
Behind your veil.
Your neck is like the tower of David,

Built in courses; on it hang a thousand bucklers,
Your two breasts are like two fawns,
Twins of a gazelle,
That feed among the lilies.
(“Song of Solomon” from the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, 1:12–14)
Yet, this bit of erotica and the other books are all considered sacred. Like
West Africa, the same goes for the ancient Near East, the place from which
many argue the Bible comes. The ancient Israelites and other cultures of
Africa and the Near East did not compartmentalize their lives, traditions, or
rituals. It was all a part of life. Everything was sacred.2
Are there truly differences between sacred and secular music? Are they
completely separate entities, or are the perceived disparities based on personal
perceptions of the subject matter, language or “appropriateness,” or the place
and time the music is performed? In my experience as a musical artist, scholar,
and listener—when it comes to music, considering the present definitions of
both terms, I view all music as sacred. That doesn’t mean that all music can or
should be played or sung at any time or any place, but with any genre or type
of black music, regardless of the performance context, there is often some-
one who is moved emotionally, provoked to critical thought, entertained,
or inspired. Thankfully, the question regarding what is sacred and secular in
music has been discussed and debated thoroughly in scholarship, and most
agree that all music is sacred. It’s special. But if all music is sacred, then what
do we do with it? How else can it benefit us? Sure, it’s entertaining, but as my
father and his buddies showed me, there’s so much more it can offer.
I spent the ’60s and ’70s, those formative adolescent years, in a little coun-
try town in the middle of North Carolina, where my family and I attended
a small United Church of Christ (UCC) church. There was a short period
when we lived only 30 yards from the church—packed into a tiny, white make
shift parsonage—even though my parents were far from being clergy. This
gave us no excuse for not being at the church all the time. We’d escape the
confines of the house, skipping across the yard and the church driveway, tum-
bling right into the church. In our youth, my four sisters and I were often at
church two to three times a week for our mother’s choir rehearsals or some
mandatory auxiliary meeting—preparing for holiday plays and programs, or
participating in of some kind of “young peoples” activity. I’d even spend many
Sunday mornings helping my dad clean the sanctuary and shovel coal for the
furnace. If we started before 6 a.m., he’d let me make noise on the organ while
introduction 7
he cleaned trash from the pews. Those early Sunday hours also allowed for
explorations of the nooks and crannies of the building few people saw.
My parents insured we attended church regularly, in order to better our
spiritual selves. But it was my grandmother, MaMa, who was my gateway to
religion and spirituality. This beautiful, fair-skinned, bow-legged (her legs
looked like a set of parentheses), quick tongued, incredibly strong woman
introduced me to her world of spirituality through uniquely creative versions
and interpretations of biblical stories. She also taught me cleverly, entertain-
ing mnemonic scriptural sayings I had to perform for her preacher friends and
other family members when they came to visit. One of the famous acts from
our little vaudeville show was a Q&A skit:
MaMa: “Where was Moses when the lights went out?”

Me: “Standing in the dark with his shirttail out!”
At four, I was killing my audience with my delivery.

When I reflect upon how my grandmother introduced me to this world,
a lot of lessons, many of which I am still learning from, were found in her
actions and attitude. She was what I would call a “spiritual” woman. She read
the Bible—or parts of the Bible regularly, but she wasn’t rigid or judgmen-
tal—about most things. She let a couple of four-letter words fly out, precisely
punctuated, when she stubbed her toe or got angry. She enjoyed church ser-
vices for the most part, but didn’t stand for the drama, nor did she let it step
too far into her home. Looking back, I can say that she was one who seemed
to have a sensible perspective and tempered interpretation about church and
its function in one’s life, at least regarding what it meant to her. She loved her
God, but neither the church nor the people in it ran her life. She didn’t even
go to church every Sunday or feel the need to stampede through the doors
every time they opened.
When I was a child and stayed with her for any length of time, she often
took me with her to church. This was the same church my family attended,
but my grandmother went when she wanted to, and even had an unofficial
reserved seat on the fourth pew from the front.
I have vivid memories of sitting next her and quietly being transfixed
by what I call “the show.” It was fascinating to me and still is. There I was,
a wide-eyed little boy, trying to absorb and interpret all of what was happen-
ing around and to me. The big attraction however was the music. I thought
some of it was really hip. When my cousin cranked out Edwin Hawkins’ tunes
on the organ for the young adult choir to sing, it was a great time. He had
impeccable skills at making that Hammond B3 organ groove and rock the
church. The Hawkins’ 1969 crossover hit “Oh Happy Day” was a congrega-
tion favorite. The best part to me was when my cousin jammed on the vamp
at the end of the song. He would, as church members said, “Do his thang!”
He’d improvise all over the organ for a while—feet and hands flying, eyes
closed, head bobbing back and forth, whipping everyone into a lather. He’d
eventually bring the choir back in to end the song. As far as I was concerned
they could have sung the intro and jumped straight to the groove at the end.
That was the good part!
When I think of music and “the show,” I’m reminded of a clip from the
movie, Wattstax, a 1973 documentary about a concert given by artists from Stax
Records in Los Angeles to commemorate the 1965 Watts riots. In the scene,
Ted Lange, a black actor noted for his work as “Isaac” on the ’70s television
show, “The Love Boat,” shared his youthful experience in the black church.
We used to go to a movie house. It wasn’t a church. It was a movie house. It used

to bug me, man. It was like everywhere, everyplace else you went to, it looked like
a church. But in the black neighborhood, man you had to go to a movie house. But
when you got in the movie house, man, it was bad! I mean—people got down. Like I
remember join’ in there man, and I used to go to a Catholic church, went to a Meth-
odist church, went to all them other churches man, but then I went to this black
church in Oakland, man. And we went up—and I went up, and I saw tambourines,
and trombones, and drums. And I said, ‘this is church’? I don’t understand this, man.
And the preacher got up and start talking’ bout God, and I was listening, and I said, I
ain’t never heard nobody like this before. This cat start talking about God and what
God did. And he got this band join’ behind him, man. The band started getting’ into
it, and cats was plain’ [sic] and shit, and I said, ‘Goddamn!’ And I start feelin’ good!3
Lange and I shared a love of certain church music from “the show.” But,
like some of the blues songs my father and his friends listened to, some of the
older hymns and anthems didn’t do much for me. Actually, the problem may
have been with how some of the songs were rendered and me being a child
who didn’t comprehend the lyrics. For the longest time when the choir would
sing any song with the phrase “God knows,” I would picture this large Cauca-
sian nose in the sky. Believe me. I have no idea either. It scratches the surface
of some deep indoctrination and propaganda. Also, when the choir would sing
the hymn, “When Jesus Came into my Heart,” there’s a line that says, “Floods
of joy o’er my soul like the sea billows roll.” I was an adult before I knew what
a billows was and how one rolled. Back then for some reason I used to imagine
someone feverishly and pointlessly squeezing a large black bellows.
introduction 9
Nevertheless, no matter what music was being sung or played in the ser-
vice, I noticed that it always elicited some kind of response from the congre-
gation—folks swayed to the beat, hummed, nodded their heads, closed their
eyes in prayer and meditation, shouted, danced, or fainted. Even when they
passed around the grape juice and saltine crackers, there was music. The music
for the show was powerful. It was exceptional. It was magic.
Now what was completely baffling to me was that the church wasn’t the
only place I saw similar actions and the special, yet almost identical effects of
musical magic. My parents would sometimes throw house parties in that little
make shift parsonage on the weekend, and many of the same people I saw sit-
ting and rocking in the church pews or swaying in the choir, would come over
to our house for some celebrating. Like the church services, the parties were
shows as well. During these late night get-togethers my sisters and I usually were
safely confined to a bedroom just off the living room where the party took place.
We could see what was happening by taking turns peeping through the keyhole
or carefully peering through a strategically manipulated crack in the door.
Someone was in charge of the music. This person, at their discretion or
per the direction of the participants, would play 45s, selections from albums,
or bands from 8-track tapes. The music regulated the flow and level of energy
and the timbre of the party. Certain songs produced some of the same expres-
sions and exclamations I heard in church:
“Sing it!”
“That’s what I’m talking about!”
“Tell yo’ story!”
“That’s right!”
There was also dancing. Sometimes there were choreographed line dances.
Other times, dancers would pair up—some shimmying loosely together, others
grinding so closely that no daylight could shine between them. Inevitably, at
least one dancer would get so hyped up by the beat thumping through the
speakers, they would start dancing alone, while others watched, cheered, and
shouted encouragingly,
“Do your thang!”

“Get it!”
Libations and food were part of the celebration. People sometimes passed
out or had to be assisted to a seat from dancing so intensely. It’s also possible
that their exhaustion may have had a little something to do with the over
consumption of libations. I’d even seen men and women cry because particu-
lar songs made them think about love or love for a significant other. It’s pos-
sible that libations may have also contributed to this emotional expression.
Still, there was a liturgical like order to the festivities my parents hosted:
WEEKEND CELEBRATION
August 29, 1969
8:00 p.m.–until
WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Leader: Glad to see everybody. We’re gonna have a good time tonight,
right?
Response: That’s right! Amen! Say that!
Leader: That’s right! Let’s get this party stared, and make sure you use a
coaster!
LIBATION OFFERING:
Leader: (Holding drink in the air) Thank God it’s the weekend!
Response: (Holding drinks in the air): Amen! That’s what I’m talking
about! You got that right! Come on!
Leader: Let’s have a party!
Response: Alright now!
MUSICAL SELECTIONS FOR CELEBRATION AND RITUAL

DANCING
I Thank You (Sam and Dave)
I Don’t Won’t Nobody to Give Me Nothing (James Brown)
It’s Your Thing (The Isley Brothers)
Tighten Up Part 1 (Archie Bell and Drells)
I Can’t Get Next to You (The Temptations)
I’ve Been Loving You For Too Long (Otis Redding)
Sweet Sweet Baby (Since You Been Gone) Aretha Franklin
You’re All I Need to Get By (Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell)
Other selections will be added by the musical director
BENEDICTION:
Leader: (Holding the front door open) It’s time to go. Y’all ain’t got to go
home, but you got to get the hell outta here!
introduction 11
Whether at church or my parents’ parties, in these realms identified by

most as polar opposites—sacred and secular, I saw distinctive parallels. I didn’t
know what to make of them, but I knew that music, the primary thread that
ran through and connected these worlds, was something special, but I didn’t
understand why. I didn’t know what to make of it either, but I knew that this
music thing was transcendent—it didn’t matter where or when we heard it, it
stirred up the same reactions and similar emotions.
Here I am now, one might say, “all grown up.” I’ve developed thoughts
and ideas about parties and similar activities, but I still sometimes struggle
with the perceived perceptions of what is called sacred and secular music. As
a musician, I’ve performed in both arenas, and I’m often reminded by the
responses to music I saw as a child. I continue to see a number of common-
alities. Part of this is the indelible relationships these worlds have with each
other. I still watch “the shows” at some churches, parties, and clubs, and yes, I
continue to see and hear many similar reactions and interactions to and with
the music.
Yet, what is intriguing and mystical to me is that special energy that gen-
erates physical and vocal reactions to many types of black music. I call it spirit,
the universal spirit of black music. Understand that I’m not saying other types
of music don’t have spirit. My focus here is on black music. I offer that it’s
perpetually omnipresent in many kinds of black music, but musicians, singers
and the sounds they produce bring it to the forefront.
James Cone, world-renowned theologian and religion scholar, talks about
witnessing the spirit of Black music while growing up in his hometown of
Bearden, Arkansas. He explained that there were folks who needed to refresh
their spirits in the sounds and rhythm of Black humanity.4 They did this
through the music of blues artists like Little Milton. Cone also shares that
everyone didn’t react to artists like Little Milton or care for his expression
of the blues. Rather, they desired “church music” or the spirituals. Instead of
Saturday night, Sunday was their time to unleash the pent-up emotions of the
week.
I see these ways of refreshing spirits and releasing suppressed emotions
as the same in both spaces. The contexts, dogmas, and boundaries are differ-
ent. But they’re using the same twelve notes. They’re singing and speaking in
the same language. Spirit ushers forth the power to generate primal, guttural
verbal and emotional and physical responses from listeners in both contexts.
Spirit is that thing in Black music—whether the setting is considered sacred
or secular—that makes one utter words and phrases like—
“Yes!”
“That’s my song!”
“That’s my jam!”
“Sing it!”
“Play that thang!”
“Make that thing talk!”
Spirit is what makes folks close their eyes, smile, nod, move their body, or
throw their hands in the air, sometimes not uttering a word in affirmation to
what is being sung, said, or played. It can provide unspoken exegesis.
Spirit is that something that makes one stop in their tracks when a couple
of the notes of a song’s introduction are heard.
Spirit is what makes people rock, shake their head, faint, cry, or shout. It’s
a visible manifestation of what may be going on inside the mind and heart of
an individual and the connection with the music. Spirit is all of this, but parts
of it remain elusive, unidentifiable, and immeasurable, but it’s the primary
element that blurs the imposed line between sacred and secular, particularly in
Black music and the Black community.
What do I mean by Black music and Black community?
First, Black music. There is no single agreed upon definition of the term,
but in this discussion, it means music created and listened to primarily by
people of African descent. This covers many categories and crosses over a
number of them—blues, jazz, R&B, funk, hip-hop, rap, reggae, etc. This is
music of the African Diaspora.
Second, Black community. Defining this term and comprehending its var-
ious organic and ever-changing dimensions is understandably difficult. The
definition for us takes a similar approach to Black music, in that the Black
community is understood as people of African descent.
I can safely say that while I may not speak for everyone, but I know that I
speak for many in saying that as a musician, when I play music, I play from a
place that no one can touch or define, at least in human terms. When I com-
pose, I compose from the same place. This is not something everyone can do.
Granted, some of the music I play or write may be heard in particular spaces
or activities, but given the place from which it comes, I deem it as special. It
is definitely all sacred.
Many of the human responses to music performed in sacred or secular
venues are similar, and these emotional responses are to artists sharing expres-
sions about life and how they experience the world in which they live. Spirit
is that common thread in music that makes one smile, move, listen deeply,
introduction 13
feel, think, or identify with the music’s lyrics and melodies. It’s a remarkable
art form.
Many in the Black community often make connections between musical
ability and a deity or higher power. A prevailing thought is that music is a gift
from God or a source beyond the human realm. According to many with this
perspective, God “places songs in one’s spirit or heart,” or they are “divinely
inspired.” Whether intentional or not and given the definition of sacred, this
thought in the Black community pertains to all music.
Consider that on televised award shows in the U.S., particularly those of
the popular music genre among the Black community, there is consistently
the invoking of a supreme being by recipients referred to as God, the Creator,
Savior, Inspiration, the Inspirer, etc. As individuals or groups accept their
honors, they may thank this deity in a variety of ways. Not only do artists
often acknowledge a higher power or supreme being when accepting awards,
they sometimes share perspectives of this deity or being in their compositions
and performances. I’ve often wondered if this activity is ritualistic, a cultural
requirement, an unspoken formality, a method to seek a section of the audi-
ence’s approval, a tipping of one’s hat to a specific sect of the audience, or an
actual heartfelt thanks. In any case, a higher power is often acknowledged.
Jennifer Hudson: “Wow, I’m just in awe right now. But I first would like to thank
God…”
Michael Jackson: “First of all I’d like to thank God…”
Whitney Houston: “First I must give thanks to God who makes all things possible
for me…”
Maxwell: “I just want to thank God…”
R. Kelly: “I’d just like to thank God…”
Mariah Carey: “I’d like to thank God…”
India.Arie: “What else is there to say…of course thank God…”
Patti LaBelle: “I’m just so honored. Thank God, Jesus. God. I do thank God.”
Mary J. Blige: “Praise you Father. Thank you Jesus.”
Natalie Cole: “Thank you…Especially the Lord.”
Stevie Wonder: “God, thank you so very much.”
Jodi Watley: “Thank God.”
Kanye West: “Thanks to God.”
Lil’ Kim: “Thank you God.”
Marvin Gaye: “Thank God.”
Anita Baker: “Thank you Jesus!”
Chili of the R&B group TLC: “We bumped into God also and He said
don’t forget to thank me when you get up there. So…thank you God.”
These invocations and expressions of gratitude may give insight regarding

how artists, particularly singer-songwriters, at times perceive their lives, how
they possibly understand and interpret events and activities happening to and
around them, or see themselves in relation to a higher power.
Cedric the Entertainer on his variety show Cedric the Entertainer Presents
presented an enlightening fun parody regarding Black artists thanking God at
awards shows. It’s entitled, “Killionaire Forgets to Thank God.” The skit goes
like this:
Ice Cube: “What’s up LA? And the nominees for Rap Album of the Year are—
Hollow Point with There’s No Such Thing as a Stray Bullet. My home-
boys from the Dirty South, The Negative Crew, with the platinum
album, That Ain’t My Baby Ho. And Killionaire, with Bullets, Bucks,
and Bitches.”
Ice Cube: “The winner is (perplexed): Killionaire with, uh Bullets, Bucks, and
Bitches?”
Killionaire and a member of his entourage stroll on stage to accept the award.
Killionaire (with enthusiasm): “First of all I wanna thank my Mama. I made it Mama!
I wanna thank Shoot a Brotha Dead in da Street Records for allowin’ me to record this
album from jail. I wanna also thank my baby mamas LaNeesha and Becky, my sons,
Remy and Martin. Also wanna thank my man Raul the Rolex maker for lacin’ a
brother one mo’ time.”
As Killionaire steps off the stage, a gentleman backstage stops him and asks a question.
Gentleman: “Hey man, are you crazy?”

Killionaire: “What?”
Gentleman: “You thanked all them people and you didn’t thank God?”
Killionaire: “I didn’t? Damn! You think he noticed?”
A thunder rumble and blast of white smoke flashes and Killionaire disappears. He then
finds himself sitting in a white chair in a white room in front of a white desk. God, played
by Cedric the Entertainer, sits behind the desk. He’s dressed in a white sweat suit/ suit and
sports a white derby.
Killionaire: “What’s going on? Who are you?”

God: “I’m God. So, Killionaire, why didn’t you thank me?”
Killionaire: “I meant to thank you, but I had a lot of people to thank. I mean—
what’s the big deal—I mean you know how everybody feels about
you.”
God: “It’s the Grammys, man! That’s my night!”
Killionaire: “What about Sundays?”
introduction 15
God: “Ah, Sundays. With football and the Sopranos, it’s like I don’t exist.”
God picks up a bowl of candy off his desk and extends it towards Killionaire.
God: “Skittles?”
Killionaire declines the offer.
God: “What am I going to do with you Killionaire, huh?”

Killionaire: “Look. God I’m sorry.”
God: “Killionaire. Look here. So, this is what we gon’ do. Send you back.
But this time get it right!”
Killionaire: Hey, while I’m here, you mind if I talk to Tupac and Biggie?
A jolt of thunder and a blast of white smoke flashes and Killionaire finds himself sitting in the
audience waiting to hear the winner of Rap Album of the Year.
Ice Cube: “And the winner for Rap Album of the Year is—The Negative Crew!”
Ice Cube looks to the sky.
Ice Cube: “Thanks God.”
Killionaire looks to the sky
Killionaire: “What happened?”

God: “Hey, that’s Cube. I love those Fridays movies. They funny!”5
This parody and the list of Black singers, rappers, and musicians thank-
ing God or a higher power presents how some artists understand or view the
connection between an all-powerful being and how many interpret the con-
nection with music. These artists and others like them create and perform
music that talks about sexuality, love, pimps, survival, erotica, state of the
world—subjects that are a part of daily life for many.
The artists all pay homage to what they understand to be a divine power
as the source of their talents, performances, and songs—among other things.
This perspective has a strong West African influence—they write and sing
about many aspects of life, and how they share them are linked to a higher
power. Even though in the U.S. there is at times the imputed dualism of sacred
and secular, the artists share creative expressions about their perspectives of
what is happening around and to them, and listeners identify with what they
have to say and how they express themselves.6 While most the songs they
write or sing may not be performed in churches or other religious settings,
giving reverence to a deity for all of their creations seems to satisfy some kind
of need or protocol.
A broad spectrum of listeners spanning vastly in age, ethnicity, economic
backgrounds, among other varying characteristics, often identify with the
lyrics, thoughts and ideas of artists and use them to generate personal philos-
ophies and perspectives, as well as a means to comprehend the world around
them. These artists’ expressions also shape lives, define and chronicle views
of daily life events, become the soundtracks of movements, and all the while
maintaining degrees of status in what I call the Artistic Black Canon (ABC).
Artistic Black Canon
1. Meaning. The Artistic Black Canon is the name I’ve given to the
organic corpus of what’s defined as art that’s created and consumed
primarily by the Black community.
2. Artistic Black Canon Contents. Poetry, comedy, painting, sculpture,
film, music, and dance, are among the many components of this living
massive body of work.
3. Development of the Canon. This is not an official canon consisting of
material that has been voted on by an appointed body, accepted, and
established as an “approved” collection like sacred texts and objects of
a religious tradition. Rather, it is the Black community, or parts of the
community, who set the degrees of standards, vet, accept, or reject the
works.
The canon doesn’t have a specific set of rules for what’s accepted, but the
criteria for acceptance into the canon are organic with ever-changing sub-
tleties. For instance, different genres of Black music have specific standards
(e.g., funkiness of the groove, quality of the lyrics), and the community may
also establish certain criteria for particular artists based on what they’ve pro-
duced previously (e.g., artists with a string of hits—Beyonce, Wynton Marsa-
lis, Michael Jackson). Chronology can also affect what how things are viewed
in the canon. Disco, for example, is part of the ABC, but it, or all of its songs,
would have a very difficult time being included or recognized by many at the
present moment. Although some songs may be considered classic, this hap-
pens with all genres. In the end members of the community decide what is or
isn’t a part of the ABC. And of course, there are always exceptions.
But think about this. Oftentimes at most predominantly Black family
reunions and weddings, when the DJ spins songs like the Frankie Beverly and
introduction 17
Maze hits “Joy and Pain,” or “Before I Let Go,” Jill Scott’s “Family,” Cameo’s
“Candy,” or similar songs, each composition generates an inexplicable energy
that causes many in the room to move. Whether it’s to be part of a “slide” (a
choreographed line dance—Electric Slide, Cha-Cha Slide, etc.), to nod one’s
head, or to simply sway to the music. There’s something about the almost
ritualistic, ubiquitous reactions to these songs that shows their acceptance by
the community and their place in the ABC.
Like interpretations, perspectives, and canonizing of sacred texts, some
people will reject certain kinds of music because they feel it’s dated, contains
inappropriate lyrics, don’t think it’s musically intellectual enough, doesn’t
meet certain standards, or, in many cases, they just don’t understand it.
You may not hear all or any of the previously mentioned songs or ones like
them at an event for 20-somethings or tweens, at least not in their original
form. Sampling and mash-ups bring together music from different eras and
genres in new and innovative ways. And there are hardcore classical music
lovers, jazz aficionados, and other genre enthusiasts, that may not choose
listen to that kind of music at all. Still, a large portion of the Black community
continues to create and use the ABC. Songs become anthems, rallying cries,
and catalysts for inspiration and express. They are in many ways, magical,
special and sacred.
Understand that the title of this book is meant to be probing and chal-
lenging while infused with a bit of rhetoric. For some, it is a tad uncomfort-
able; for others it can be affirming or initiate probing thought and extensive
discussion. The information shared as we move forward may contribute to
how responses and thoughts are crafted regarding the query. We will come
back to it shortly.
Notes
1. Reed, Teresa L. The Holy Profane: Religion and Black Popular Music. Lexington: University
of Kentucky, 2003, 1.
2. Ibid. “In the religion of the Yoruba, for example, the divinity Esu, whose role is to deceive
and investigate mischief, has often been equated with Satan or the ‘the trickster’ by Chris-
tians and Western anthropologists. The Yoruba themselves, however, see it differently.
Noel King states: ‘There is no dualism in Yoruba tradition, where all is of God…’” Also
see, King, Noel, An Introduction to Religion in Africa. Belmont: Wadsworth Co., 1985,
10–11.
3. Wattstax, directed by Mel Stuart (1972: Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 2006), DVD.
4. Cone, James, The Spirituals and the Blues: An Interpretation. Westpoint: Greenwood, 4–6.
5. Cedric the Entertainer Presents. Disc Two, Episode 10, “Killionaire Forgets to Thank God.”
Directed by Bruce Leddy. Written by Rachel Ramras, Jay Johnson, Chuck Deezy. Fox
Broadcasting, Air Date January 15, 2003.
6. Reed, Teresa L. The Holy Profane: Religion and Black Popular Music. Lexington: University
of Kentucky, 2003, 1–3.
·2·
blues
Blues—Sacred, Secular?
It was 2005, August 29th, that’s when my world came tumbling down
Katrina gave a party, FEMA was the host, and no one, no one was having fun
(Lyrics from Ms. Marva Wright’s song, “Katrina Blues”
from her album, After the Levees Broke)
The images from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the broken levees
are seared and indelibly vivid in my mind’s eye. From those pictures and
videos incessantly plastered by the media, I could practically feel the heat
and smell the stench from folks stranded in and around the New Orleans
Superdome with no working facilities, no food, no water. I remain in awe
of the people I saw standing on rooftops surrounded by toxic, garbage filled
rising waters, waving signs begging for help. And then there were the floating
bloated bodies. The bodies left along the roadside covered with a sheet or
whatever would suffice. To make matters worse, there were warped, racial prej-
udiced accusations of one group of folks looting, while another was described
as taking necessary items in order to survive. It all still makes me shudder.
The disregard for those who endured subhuman treatment and the degrad-
ing label, “refugees” stamped on fellow citizens, is unforgiveable. My powerful
imagination cannot bring me to fathom having my world turned upside down

in the blink of eye, being shipped to some strange land with people I’ve never
met before, and forced to live with folks who engage and navigate life differ-
ently from how I have.
Still, out of this deplorable tragedy comes music. People used music to
cope, to vent. To share how they understood and dealt with what was happen-
ing to them. We’ve heard and read about countless horror stories following
the aftermath in New Orleans, but I was most moved and encouraged when I
heard “Katrina Blues.”
Mrs. Marva Wright belted what she lived in these lyrics. The passion with
which she delivers the song shows vividly that she sang her experience as
well as that of others. Mrs. Wright told Times-Picayune reporter Keith Spera
that eight feet of water filled her home as a result of Hurricane Katrina and
the overflowing levees, and she had no choice but to leave the only home
she knew. Hearing Mrs. Wright live her story through “Katrina Blues” took
me with her on her journey. Her music forged a window into her devastated
world. Her twisted notes, syllables, impeccable word choice, and color of her
voice add an intangible but incredible depth to her plight and candid social
commentary. Those that listen to Mrs. Wright sing can see and experience the
results of this unspeakable tragedy through the eyes of marginalized, displaced
folks—many of which whose stories will never be told. Honestly, how in the
world can this composition and others like it be considered any less sacred
than traditional spirituals such as “Go Down Moses” or “Sometimes I Feel
Like a Motherless Child?”
When Israel was in Egypt land

Let my people go
Oppressed so hard they could not stand
Let my people go
Go down Moses
Way down in Egypt land
Tell old Pharaoh
Let my people go
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
A long ways from home
Call my brother
blues 21
The effects of this record-breaking storm and uncontrollable water run

deep. Katrina not only forced Mrs. Wright and her husband to Bel-Air, Mary-
land for a while, and according to her, the time there was not pleasant. The
biggest complaint—she was forced to change her diet. This may not seem
like a big issue for many, but that’s because predicament has never really been
forced on us—at least not for any length of time. Imagine having no choice
but to evacuate your home immediately, with little to no personal effects, not
knowing exactly where you’re going and when or if you’re ever going to come
back. Imagine having no idea where your loved ones are, if they’re alive, or
in your own country, receiving the bogus title “refugee.” Imagine being con-
stantly denigrated and dehumanized by insensitive, ignorant talking heads
and religious zealots all over the media, and then, on top of that, being told
that your favorite foods aren’t available where you are now. Talk about adding
insult to injury.
This seemingly minor issue let Mrs. Wright know that she was a long way
from home in more ways than one. She said that one of the biggest issues
regarding her diet was that she couldn’t make gumbo like she was used to.
Cooking gumbo without New Orleans crab and shrimp and the proper sea-
sonings was blasphemous!1
These folks not only lost their homes, but their culture had been altered
abruptly. People living in these places that were foreign to the New Orleans
folks saw them as odd when they tried to eat and live as they did when they
were home. They were truly strangers in a strange land.
Yet, Mrs. Wright and numerous others survived the devastating onslaught
of crises brought by Katrina and eventually returned to New Orleans. Her musi-
cal offering of “Katrina Blues” gives an insightful look at a harrowing adventure
and gives the listener a glimpse of how she interpreted and navigated what
was happening to her and others that were violently uprooted. She and many
Katrina survivors were traversing through what life had thrown at them.
It’s also intriguing that Mrs. Wright shared an understanding of the blur-
ring of the imputed sacred and secular lines in music. When asked about her
2001 release Marva on which she sang covers of Bob Dylan’s “Gotta Serve
Somebody,” and “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” Mrs. Wright explained, “To
me, those are gospel. It’s new wave gospel, but it’s gospel.”2
“Katrina Blues” is an artistic creation generated from a catastrophe. It’s
the blues. If we had to classify it, “Katrina Blues” is a sacred song through
which listeners trek with Mrs. Wright through intricate, trying situations,
as she expresses perspectives of what happened. Her lyrical description and
delivery of her story through the magic of blues is forever frozen snapshot, a
priceless contribution to the ABC, available for any listeners or those seeking
solace and understanding, as they make their way through similar trials.
Sacred, Secular Blues?
No one claiming to play or enjoy any kind of popular music from the United
States can avoid some encounter with the blues. This indigenous art form is
the foundation for R&B/soul, rock, jazz, hip-hop, and has affected many other
genres. While many performers and listeners are aware of the ineffaceable
influence of the blues, defining this music and its precise origins, particularly
because of the strangling limitations placed on it, can be challenging. We
can say however that the blues is a vocal and instrumental form of music that
developed from spirituals, work songs, chants, and shouts, probably with early
roots in West Africa.3 It also expresses Black sensuality and a quest for truth.
The blues is often candid and at times, in your face—probing perspectives of
sexuality, lust, and love, along with the emotions that come with them. It can
be raw, genuine, and brutally honest. Mrs. Wright’s vocal expression of what
happened to her as a result of Katrina takes us through her experience using
everyday language.
Katrina gave a party

FEMA was the host
In one of his earlier works, theologian James Cone explains that, much
like Mrs. Wright and others have and continue to do, the creation and per-
formance of the blues in particular and Black music in general wasn’t just for
creating art.4 It shared the emotions and thoughts of African people trying
to survive in a foreign place. They were making mental shifts, dealing with
severe oppression, and a new language and culture being thrown at them. To
combat these daunting, sometimes life-threatening changes, and to survive,
they used music to turn arduous labor into games and dances. Cone says that
this approach to and use of music applied to slave seculars, ballads and the
blues.5
Whether for art’s sake or conveying thoughts, the blues still expresses an
array of emotions and situations, but in my opinion, the moniker “blues” for
this musical style can be misleading.6 Most definitions reveal that those seek-
ing to explain the blues understand it to be music created by Black folks that’s
melancholy, full of gloom, and unhappiness. These are such poor treatments
blues 23
of the art form. The definitions are all truncated and incomplete. Contrary
to popular belief, the blues is not always sad and depressing. It’s a common
misconception to confuse “having the blues” with blues music, and this per-
ception creates the idea that all songs from the genre are unhappy or “blue.”
This perspective has generated familiar colloquialisms such as:
Don’t let the blues get you down.

Blue Monday.
I got the blues today.
She’s got him singing the blues.
These sayings and phrases have their place, but the definitions and con-
ceptions completely miss the fact that not only do the blues convey a spec-
trum of emotions—the genre is diverse within itself. Some of the categories of
blues include and are not limited to:
• Country (mostly acoustic, folk style, acoustic guitar)
• Urban (rhythmic, may have band = piano, bass, guitar, drums)
• Jump (strong precursor for rhythm and blues and rock and roll; com-
bined blues and swing)
• Hoodoo (involves conjuring, spells, etc.).
Blues artists, in whatever style they choose, creatively convey a range of feel-
ings. They critique political, social, and cultural happenings, as well as share
unique perspectives of human relationships. Blues lyrics show the range of
emotions and thoughts.
“Jockey Blues”
My father was no jockey, but he sure taught me how to ride
He said first in the middle, and then you swing from side to side
“Yodeling Blues”
I’m gonna yodel, yodel my blues away, I said my blues away
I’m gonna yodel ‘til things come back my way
“Get ‘Em From the Peanut Man”

Sellin’ nuts, hot nuts, anybody here want to buy my nuts?
Sellin’ nuts, hot nuts, I’ve got nuts for sale
“Black Bottom” by Ma Rainey

Want to see the dance you call your Black bottom
They put you in a trance
“I’ve Got What It Takes”

I’ve been savin’ it up for a long, long time
To give it away would be more than a crime
The songs have sexual innuendos, humor, and share perceptions of life
events to which people can relate, not only during the periods of the compo-
sitions, but the lyrics continue to transcend time. The creative way in which
blues artists write and sing about these subjects make links with listeners, as
they’re able to visualize and experience vicariously the crafted stories, and
comprehend the various meanings. They also do personal exegesis, develop
interpretations, and feel the profundity of the emotions.
Much like the West African griot, blues artists are also poets, storytellers,
and prophets. As poets, the artists use rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, double
entendres, and other literary devices to convey messages. As storytellers, they
create complex characters and salacious engaging storylines to captivate and
educate listeners. As prophets, they offer social commentaries or suggest what
one should do to overcome specific situations. Their musical tales may be
humorous, sensual, vilifying, direct, didactic, and admonishing, but all the
while entertaining. Clearly, all blues songs are hardly sad and depressing.7
Like many types of music, artists that perform this seemingly simple art
form use the medium to express emotions in ways that words alone cannot. For
those that link to blues performers, the lyrics, music, and performance style,
the very sounds of the instruments, for instance the subtle bending of notes on
a guitar, the moaning and growling sounds of the human voice, the warm har-
monies of horns, and repetitive, hypnotic rhythms often convey non-verbal-
ized messages to the listener. My father and his friends tried to communicate
their understanding of these non-verbal messages in their descriptions and
epithets. Actually, listeners are constantly trying to do this. J.D. “Jelly Jaw”
Short’s talks about his view of how bluesman Charlie Patton played his instru-
ment. “Even Charlie Patton’s guitar used to say, ‘Lord have mercy.’ Now that’s
what Charlie Patton’d make the guitar say.”8 R&B singer Jerry Butler makes
similar observations and shares his thoughts about the connection he made
with instrumental music through listening to blues/jazz organist Jimmy Smith:
I listen to Jimmy Smith play. And though I’ve never played, he plays exactly the
way I would play. You know? So, when he makes the thing say…and I say yeah! You
know? Cause if I had made it at the moment that’s how I would’ve done it. Like I
knew he was going to do that before he did it. And the fact that he did it…that was
the communication. It was like my mind moving his hands, you know. And I think
this is the thing that happens with an audience.9
blues 25
Short and Butler understand that a listener not only feels but also “hears”
emotions through a musician’s instrument.
As a performer, I can relate to and speak directly to the experiences Short
and Butler mention. There’ve been occasions when I’ve played the blues with
musicians and heard players use their instruments to express themselves in
ways that words couldn’t. I’ve been able to do the same, and listeners and
fellow performers shared their connection and understanding of what I was
attempting to say with my instrument. This is particularly gratifying when
someone whose native tongue may not be the one spoken, and nor are they
a musician, but they’re still able to relate to the sound and emotions of the
player and the instrument. Music in general, but blues especially, not only
communicates the unspoken, it transcends cultural and language barriers. It’s
magical. It’s sacred.
In addition to these connections, there are performance aspects of the
blues. Along with lyrics, storytelling, and sounds of the instruments, art-
ists often make the audience part of songs through their delivery or perfor-
mance—call and response, soliciting audience participation through clapping
or dancing, facial expressions, talking to the crowd, etc. Many of these types
of activities are linked with Black church activities and the styles of preaching
from that tradition.
I’ve watched preachers—male and female—stand in silence and work the
crowd into a frenzy using nothing more than facial expressions and a few ges-
tures. Contemplation, deep thoughts, prayerful, sadness, despair, shaking the
head in disbelief or amazement, eyes closed in meditation, or clasped hands
communicate messages the audience interprets or appears to understand.
Blues prophets use many of these same gestures and facial expressions, as they
play. Buddy Guy, Albert King, Robert Cray, and many others use their entire
bodies to create, shape, and bend musical notes and accentuate lyrics. Buddy
Guy explained that he was one of the first guitar players to reject sitting in a
chair and playing. Instead, he jumped on the stage and ran up and down the
bar during his performances to build a reputation.10
I’ve witnessed Black preachers do similar acts in their sermon delivery for
the same reason. The contortion of their faces sometimes display what appear
to be painful, deeply intense expressions, but it’s the preacher, much like the
artist, conveying emotions. In the case of the musicians, the expressions and
emotions are a physical part of playing the musical notes. The combination
of the music and the physical movements add depth to the performance and
help to share another level of emotion and information.
Many live blues performances are much like the show at church and the
party liturgy at my parents’ home. There are three specific common elements
in the church show and party liturgy:
Listen to me. The blues artist, preacher, and DJ/person playing the music
command attention to what they’re doing and what they have to say.
Blues artist: Howlin’ Wolf enters the stage crawling on all fours and yells, “I’m the
Taildragger! They don’t call me the Wolf no mo!”11
Preacher: “God told me told me to tell you I’m getting ready to bring their
tomorrow into their today!”12 Prophetess Janice Mixon
DJ: “You with the world famous Brucie Bee! Just listen to me! Just listen
to me!”13
Practice of music magic. They use music to take the audience where they
want them to go.
Blues artist: “Are you ready for the blues? We goin’ all the way down in the base-
ment!”14 Koko Taylor
Preacher: “Come on young people!”15 Rev. Kirk Franklin
DJ: “If y’all know the words, sing this!”16 DJ Scratch
In the moment. They can inspire and direct collective or individual impro-
visation.
Blues artist: Hey everybody! Let’s have some fun! You only live once, and when
you’re dead, you’re done! So let the good times roll! B. B. King
Preacher: “I need about fifteen worshipers to jump up. We gonna sing just a little
bit.”17 Rev. John P. Kee
DJ: “If you love hip hop, reach to the clouds right now!”18 DJ Kid Capri
None of these happens without the blues artist, preacher, or DJ’s influ-
ence.
The Overlooked Relevance of the Blues

Blues music is universal and appreciated by many, but there are people who,
for various reasons, have and continue to denigrate and demean this art. Some
of the comments I’ve heard and still hear are: “It’s boring.” “The music is so
gloomy.” “Blues is simple music,” which is, depending upon the person shar-
ing this opinion, code for backwards, stupid, silly, or useless. Yet, I’ve found
blues 27
through casual conversations with colleagues, acquaintances, and students,

often the disparaging and demeaning critiques are the result of ignorance and
unfounded negative attitudes towards the music and the artists. I’ve used this
lack of knowledge as a teaching opportunity.
Early in the semester as I set the objectives for my classes, two of which
are for students to work to think critically and express their thoughts clearly, I
start by asking them what kinds of music they like, and as one might expect, I
receive an array of answers ranging from rock to reggae. I then ask them what
kinds of music they dislike, and again, the types vary greatly. But it never fails
that the blues makes the “dislike list.” I then revisit both questions and ask
them to explain why they like a particular type of music. They like the beat,
the lyrics, the voice, the artists—typically there’s a reference or attraction to
a performer’s physical features—“He’s cute!” or “She’s sexy!” They also relish
the presentation, musicianship, video (if there is one), or the messages. But
when I ask them to explain why they don’t like a specific style of music, say
for instance, the blues, the answers are similar but in the negative. I’ve found
however that their dislikes are often from ignorance about the genre, or some
have never discussed or understand how to listen to the music. Sadly, some
of the students’ dislikes border on vitriolic hatred and xenophobia. In other
words, they think of certain artists as foreigners or outsiders when it comes to
specific music and have no desire nor have they made any kind of connection
with it. They haven’t considered the music’s messages, lyrics, or stories. It’s old
and corny. Their ignorance about the blues in particular generates negative
and derogatory comments. The basic thought of many of them is, “What I
don’t understand is insignificant and irrelevant.” On another level, it conveys
unspoken messages about what they may think about people who listen to the
music they detest.
But after some frank discussion regarding their preconceived notions,
what they think the music is about, the stories, the messages, its impact and
influence, and sharing of select blues music and lyrics, many begin to develop
a new or different way of listening or at least approaching the blues. Instead
of dismissing the music out of ignorance, misconceptions, stereotypes, and
untruths, they can begin to develop some relation and a level of respect. As
I learned from my father and his friends, a number of the students start to
learn how to listen. They get a glimpse of what people are listening to and for
in the blues. Of course it’s unrealistic to think that they will become aficio-
nados, start listening to the music on a constant basis, or come to like it, but
through education they can better understand the depth and power many find
in the blues and realize that blues artists, like some of the artists of musical
genres they enjoy, are sharing interpretations of life events that come from
the world around them. The allure of the blues, which numerous people have
firmly entrenched in aspects of their lives and cultures, continues to live in
the works of giants such as B.B. King, Ko Ko Taylor, Bobby Blue Bland, and
countless others. It’s important not to let this indigenous music perish for a
lack of knowledge and unnecessary ignorance. It’s vital to convey and state its
value and sacredness.
Some are misinformed regarding the blues, but there are also others who
continue to perpetuate the belief that the music, along with other genres
of Black music, is a “tool of the devil,” or describe it as “a temptation that
ultimately must be exorcised.”19 Nevertheless, blues songwriters and perform-
ers have and continue to artistically and skillfully syncretize this music with
interpretations of activities of daily life, the world in which they live, and
shaping theology.20 A host of blues artists have done this, but some of the
more popular early 20th and 21st century performers who have penned com-
positions displaying this approach include but are not limited to artists such
as the impeccable Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Tampa Red, blues writing partner
of Rev. Thomas Dorsey, and Rev. Gary Davis. I’ll share a few words regarding
each of these and a few others.
Reverend Gary Davis (1896–1972) was absolutely incredible. His record-
ings and the numerous stories told about him paint the picture of a true artist,
poet, and prophet. For many blues fans, Rev. Davis was a master guitarist, who
played banjo, harmonica, piano, and possessed a distinctive singing voice.
With all of his impeccable talent and creativity, I also describe Rev. Davis
as a passionate musical entity. Whether playing blues or gospel, Davis gave
everything to his music—on stage and off, in the pulpit or in the pew. And
with this passion and skill, he reached and still continues to touch so many.
His musical messages transcend race, time, and in some instances, musical
genres. Rev. Davis taught countless students, and the testimonials shared by
them speak further about his tireless energy and love for music and people.
One of his famous quotes demonstrates this period, “You come to me, and I’ll
teach you how to play, not fool around with the guitar.”21
He had very little sight at birth and lost it all by the time he reached
adulthood. Yet, this self-taught guitar player was a prodigy. Rev. Davis started
playing the instrument at age six, and by his early twenties, his technique was
far more than advanced than most blues players who had been playing much
blues 29
longer than him. He said that, “the Lord put something in my hands so I could
take care of myself.”22
Rev. Davis made his first studio recordings in the 1930s, praying and
singing blues and spirituals. I’ve listened to numerous recordings by him, and
his impeccable technique still leaves me speechless. A number of musicians
watching and attempting to study what he was doing made the faulty assump-
tion that he was an ignorant ol’ blind bluesman from somewhere in the woods,
and he was just a good ear player. They were sadly mistaken and quickly hum-
bled. Rev. Davis knew exactly what he was doing and could explain the musi-
cal theory of it with ease. Yet, with all of his skill and experience, Rev. Davis
struggled with the sacred and secular even in his early years when it came to
playing blues. Dave von Ronk, responding to questions regarding whether it
was clear if music or religion was Rev. Davis’ calling explained,
I think music probably came first. As a matter of fact, I’d bet on it. Both from things
he told me and by inferring about things I know about his life. But he did not want
to sing secular songs except for friends in a social context. It really made him nervous
when he recorded for I guess it was the thirties. They put the arm on him to record
some blues because blues sold. He never forgave them for that. It bothered him. I
don’t know if it was the secular music or the devil’s music or he just resented having
an arm put on him. Either one would be a sufficiently good reason but they did put
the arm on him, and he did resent it.23 (emphasis mine)
Gary Davis became an ordained minister in 1935. It would be roughly 20

years before he returned to the recording studio however because of his answer
to a call to the ministry. Consequently, he seldom performed blues, or what
he understood to be secular music. He even referred to himself as a different
person then. “Oh yeah, I was a blues cat then.”24 He took his ministry seri-
ously. “Well, how did I come to be a preacher? Now you see that was for me to
come to. I was chosen.” And he credited everything back to God—“Everything
I get I get from God, and I just love you to know that.”25
Rev. Davis meant that statement. Blues to gospel—it was all a part of him.
Even his maniacal behavior. For instance, it seems that some of the seedy sides
of the old blues life remained with the Reverend. In an interview with Mrs.
John Hurt, she said that Rev. Davis claimed that he always carried a pistol
for protection—although she never saw it!26 This makes sense. The blues, the
music with which he grew up, created, played, and sang for years, was an indeli-
ble part of Rev. Davis. It was a piece of who he was. The music, the life, the cul-
ture, the language, infused all that he played in the spirituals and gospels—the
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applied also to the parchment-trade carried on at the Fair of St.
Germain.
It is evident from the many renewed edicts and ordinances
referring to this trade that it was not easy to carry out such
regulations effectively, and that much friction and dissatisfaction was
produced by them. It seems probable also that, with the trade in
parchment as in other trades, the attempt to secure uniformity of
price, irrespective of the conditions of manufacture or of the market,
had the effect not infrequently of lessening the supply and of causing
sales to be made surreptitiously at increased prices.
After the use of parchment had in large part been replaced by
paper made of linen, the supplies of Paris came principally from
Lombardy. Later, however, paper-mills were erected in France, the
first being at Troyes and Esson. These earlier paper manufacturers
were, like the book-dealers in Paris, made free from tax. This
exemption was contested from time to time by the farmers of the
taxes and had to be renewed by successive ordinances. Later, the
university associated with its body, in the same manner as had been
done with the parchment-dealers, the manufacturers and dealers in
paper, and confirmed them in the possession of the privileges
previously enjoyed by the librarii and stationarii. The privileges of the
paper manufacturers extended, however, outside of Paris, which
was, of course, not the case with the librarii.
While, in connection with the requirements of the university and
the special privileges secured through university membership, the
book-trade of Paris and the trades associated with it secured a larger
measure of importance as compared with the trade of the provinces
than was the case in either Italy or Germany, there came into
existence as early as the middle of the fourteenth century a
considerable trade in manuscripts in various provincial centres.
In Montpellier, the university was, as in Paris, a centre for
publishing undertakings, but in Angers, Rouen, Orleans, and
Toulouse, in which there are various references to book-dealers as
early as the beginning of the fourteenth century, the trade must have
been supported by a public largely outside of the university
organisation. The statutes of Orleans and of Toulouse, dating from
1341, regulate the supervision of the trade in manuscripts.
In Montpellier, there appears to have been, during the beginning of
the fourteenth century, a business in the loaning of the manuscripts
and of manuscript hefts—pecias, similar to that already described in
Bologna. The university authorities, usually the bedels, supervised
the correctness of the pecias and prescribed the prices at which they
should be rented. The stationarii who carried on this business and
also the venditores librorum were members of the university body.
The sale of books on commission was also supervised under
regulations similar to those obtaining in Bologna.
No stationarius was at liberty to dispose of a work placed in his
hands for sale (unless it belonged to a foreigner) until it had been
exposed in his shop for at least six days, and had at least been three
times offered for sale publicly in the auditorium. This offering for sale
was cared for by the banquerii, who were the assistants or tenants of
the rectors. These banquerii were also authorised to carry on the
business of the loaning of pecias under the same conditions as
those that controlled the stationarii. They were also at liberty, after
the close of the term lectures, to sell their own supplies of
manuscripts (usually of course the copies of the official texts) at
public auction in the auditorium.
It is difficult to understand how, with a trade, of necessity, limited in
extent, and the possible profits of which were so closely restricted by
regulations, there could have been a living profit sufficient to tempt
educated dealers to take up the work of the stationarii or librarii.
It is probably the case, as Kirchhoff, Savigny, and others point out,
that the actual results of the trade cannot be ascertained with
certainty from the texts of the regulations, and that there were
various ways in which, in spite of these regulations, larger returns
could be secured for the work of the scholarly and enterprising
librarii.
An ordinance issued in 1411 makes reference to booksellers
buying and selling books both in French or in Latin and gives
privilege to licensed booksellers to do such buying and selling at
their pleasure. This seems to have been an attempt to widen the
range of the book-trade, while reference to books in the vernacular
indicates an increasing demand for literature outside of the circles of
instructors and students.
In the beginning of the fifteenth century, there was, among a
number of the nobles of families in France, a certain increase in the
interest of literature and in the taste for collecting elaborate,
ornamented, and costly manuscripts.
The princely Houses of Burgundy and of Orleans are to be noted
in this connection, and particularly in Burgundy, the influence of the
ducal family was of wide importance in furthering the development of
the trade in manuscripts and the production of literature.
A large number of the manuscripts placed in these ducal family
libraries were evidently originally prepared by scribes having
knowledge only of plain script, and the addition of the initial letters
and of the illuminated head and tail pieces was made later by
illuminators and designers attached to the ducal families. It was to
these latter that fell the responsibility of placing upon the
manuscripts the arms of the owners of the libraries. In case
manuscripts which had been inscribed with family arms came to
change hands, it became necessary to replace these arms with
those of the later purchaser, and many of the illuminated
manuscripts of the period give evidence of such changing of the
decorations, decorations which took the place of the book-plate of to-
day.
The taste for these elaborate illuminated manuscripts, each one of
which, through the insertion of individual designs and of the family
arms, became identified with the personality and taste of its owner,
could not easily be set aside, after the middle of the fifteenth century,
by the new art of printing. As a matter of fact, therefore, it not
infrequently happened, towards the latter part of the fifteenth century,
that these noble collectors caused elaborate transcripts to be made,
by hand, of works which were already in print, rather than to place in
their own collection books in the form in which ordinary buyers could
secure them.
By the year 1448, the number of certified librarii in Paris had
increased to twenty-four.[366] Kirchhoff is of opinion that a certain
portion at least of these librarii carried on also other trades, but it is
evident that there had come to be in these years, immediately
preceding the introduction of the printing-press, a very considerable
development in the demand for literature and in the book-trade of the
capital.
In 1489, the list of book-dealers and of those connected with the
manufacture of books who were exempt from taxation included
twenty-four librarii, four dealers in parchment, four dealers in paper,
seven paper manufacturers (having mills outside of Paris), two
illuminators, two binders, and two licensed scribes.
In the following year, the list of librarii free from taxation was
reduced to seventeen. It is probable that those librarii whose names
had been taken off the exemption list undertook a general book
business carried on outside of the university regulations, and were
probably able to secure returns more than sufficient to offset the loss
caused by the curtailing of their freedom from taxation and of their
university privileges.
This reduction in the number of manuscript-dealers who remained
members of the corporation was, however, very promptly made up
by including in the corporation the newly introduced printers. As early
as 1476, one of the four officials of the guild was the printer Pasquier
Bonhomme.
The cessation of the work of the scribes and the transfer of the
book-trade from their hands to those of the printers took place
gradually after the year 1470, the printers being, as said, promptly
included in the organisation of the guild. There must, however, have
been, during the earlier years at least, not a little rivalry and
bitterness between the two groups of dealers.
An instance of this rivalry is given in 1474, in which year a librarius
juratus, named Herman von Stathoen (by birth a German), died.
According to the university regulation, his estate, valued at 800
crowns of gold, (there being no heirs in the country) should have
fallen to the university treasury. In addition to this property in Paris,
Stathoen was part owner of a book establishment in Mayence,
carried on by Schöffer & Henckis, and was unpopular with the Paris
dealers generally on the ground of his foreign trade connections.
Contention was made on behalf of the Crown that the property in
Paris should be confiscated to the royal treasury, and as Schöffer &
Henckis were subjects of the Duke of Burgundy, whose relations with
Louis XI. might be called strained, the influence of the Court was
decidedly in favour of the appropriation of any business interest that
they might have in their partner’s property in Paris. In the contention
between the university and the Crown, the latter proved the stronger,
and the bookseller’s 800 crowns were confiscated for the royal
treasury, and at least got so far towards the treasury as the hands of
the chancellor.
As a further result of the issue which had been raised, it was
ordered on the part of the Crown that thereafter no foreigner should
have a post as an official of the university or should be in a position
to lay claim to the exemption and the privileges attaching to such
post.
While in Paris the manuscript-dealers had been promptly driven
from the field through the competition of the printers, in Rouen they
held their own for a considerable term of years. The space which
had been assigned to the librarii for their shops at the chief doorway
of the cathedral, continued to be reserved for them as late as 1483,
and the booksellers keeping on sale the printed books, were
forbidden to have any shops at this end of the cathedral, but were
permitted to put up, at their own cost, stalls at the north doorway.
The oldest Paris bookseller whose name has been placed on
record is described as Herneis le Romanceur. He had his shop at the
entrance to Notre Dame. His inscription appeared in a beautiful
manuscript presenting a French translation of the Code of Justinian,
a manuscript dating from the early part of the thirteenth century. It is
possible that Guillaume Herneis, whose name appeared in the tax
list of 1292 with a rate of ten livres, was the scribe and the publisher
of the above manuscript, but if this were the case he must have been
at the time of this tax rating well advanced in years.[367] In 1274, the
name of Hugichio le Lombard appears recorded on several
manuscripts which have been preserved in existing collections. In
the taxes of 1292, appears the name of Agnien, Libraire, in the Rue
de la Boucherie, assessed for thirty-six sous. The tax is too large to
make it probable that Agnien was a mere pedlar or did business from
an open stall, and it is Géraud’s opinion that he was charged
probably as a university bookseller to whom the tax collector had
refused the exemption belonging to university members.[368]
In the year 1303, the stock of books of a certain Antoine Zeno,
libraire juré, was scheduled for taxation. Among the titles included in
this schedule are the commentaries or lectures of Bruno on S.
Matthew (57 pages, price one sol), the same on Mark, Luke, and
John, the commentaries of Alexander on Matthew, the Opera Fratris
Richardi, the Legenda Sanctorum, various texts of the Decretals,
commentaries of S. Bernard on the Decretals, a treatise of a certain
Thomas on metaphysics, on physics, on the heavens and the earth,
and on the soul, and a series of lectures on ethics, and on politics.
The scheduled price ranged from one sol to eight sols, the latter
being the price of a manuscript of 136 pages. The books were
probably confined exclusively to texts used in the university
work.[369]
In 1313, appears in the tax list, assessed for twelve sous, the
name of Nicholas L’Anglois, bookseller and tavern-keeper in Rue St.
Jacques.
It is to be noted that the booksellers, and for that matter the
traders generally of the time, are frequently distinguished by the
names of their native countries. It is probable that Nicholas failed to
escape taxation as a bookseller because he was also carrying on
business (and doubtless a more profitable business) in his tavern.
The list of 1313 includes in fact but three booksellers, and each of
these is described as having an additional trade.[370]
A document of the year 1332 describes a sale made by a certain
Geoffroy de Saint Léger, a clerc libraire, to Gérard de Montagu,
avocat du roy au parlement. Geoffroy acknowledges to have sold,
ceded, assigned, and delivered to the said Gérard a book entitled
Speculum Historiale in Consuetudines Parisienses, comprised in
four volumes, and bound in red leather. He guarantees the validity of
this sale with his own body, de son corps mesme. Gérard pays for
the book the sum of forty Parisian livres, with which sum Geoffroy
declares himself to be content, and paid in full.[371] It appears that
the sale of a book in the fourteenth century was a solemn
transaction, calling for documentary evidence as specific as in the
case of the transfer of real estate.
In the year 1376, Jean de Beauvais, a librarius juratus, is recorded
as having sold various works, including the Decretals of Gregory IX.,
illustrated with miniatures, a copy of Summa Hostiensis, 423
parchment leaves, illustrated with miniatures, and a codex of
Magister Thomas de Maalaa.[372]
In the year 1337, Guidomarus de Senis, master of arts and
librarius juratus, renews his oath as a taxator. He seems to have put
into his business as bookseller a certain amount of literary gaiety, if
one may judge from the lines added at the end of a parchment codex
sold by him, which codex contains the poems of Guillaume de
Marchaut.
The lines are as follows:
Explicit au mois d’avril,

Qui est gai, cointe et gentil,
L’an mil trois cent soixante et onze.
D’Avril la semaine seconde,
Acheva à un vendredi,
Guiot de Sens c’est livre si,
Et le comansa de sa main,
Et ne fina ne soir ne matin,
Tant qu’il eut l’euvre accomplie,
Louée soit la vierge Marie.[373]
Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, was one of the more important
book collectors of his time. In 1386, the Duke paid to Martin
L’Huillier, dealer in manuscripts and bookbinder, sixteen francs for
binding eight books, six of which were bound in grain leather.[374]
The Duke of Orleans also appears as a buyer of books, and in 1394,
he paid to Jehan de Marsan, master of arts and dealer in
manuscripts, twenty francs in gold for the Letters of S. Pol, bound in
figured silk, and illuminated with the arms of the Duke.
Four years later, the Duke makes another purchase, paying to
Jehan one hundred livres tournois for a Concordance to the Bible in
Latin, an illuminated manuscript bound in red leather, stamped.
The same Duke, in 1394, paid forty gold crowns to Olivier, one of
the four principal librarii, for a Latin text of the Bible, bound in red
leather, and in 1396, this persistent ducal collector pays sixty livres
to a certain Jacques Jehan, who is recorded as a grocer, but who
apparently included books in his stock, for the Book of the Treasury,
a book of Julius Cæsar, a book of the King, The Secret of Secrets,
and a book of Estrille Fauveau, bound in one volume, illuminated,
and bearing the arms of the Duke of Lancaster. Another volume
included in this purchase was the Romance of the Rose, and the
Livres des Eschez, “moralised,” and bound together in one volume,
illuminated in gold and azure.[375]
In 1399, appears on the records the name of Dyne, or Digne
Rapond, a Lombard. Kirchhoff speaks of Rapond’s book business as
being with him a side issue. Like Atticus, the publisher of Cicero,
Rapond’s principal business interest was that of banking, in which
the Lombards were at that time pre-eminent throughout Europe. In
connection with his banking, however, he accepted orders from
noble clients and particularly from the Duke of Burgundy, for all
classes of articles of luxury, among which were included books.
In 1399, Rapond delivered to Philip of Burgundy, for the price of
five hundred livres, a Livy illuminated with letters of gold and with
images, and for six thousand francs a work entitled La Propriété de
Choses. A document, bearing date 1397, states that Charles, King of
France, is bound to Dyne Rapond, merchant of Paris, for the sum of
190 francs of gold, for certain pieces of tapestry, for certain shirts,
and for four great volumes containing the chronicles of France. He is
further bound in the sum of ninety-two francs for some more shirts,
for a manuscript of Seneca, for the Chronicles of Charlemagne, for
the Chronicles of Pepin, for the Chronicles of Godefroy de Bouillon,
the latter for his dear elder son Charles, Dauphin. The King further
purchases certain hats, handkerchiefs, and some more books, for
which he instructs his treasurer in Paris to pay over to said Rapond
the sum of ninety francs in full settlement of his account; the
document is signed on behalf of the King by his secretary at his
château of Vincennes.[376]
Jacques Rapond, merchant and citizen of Paris, probably a
brother of Dyne, also seems to have done a profitable business with
Philip of Burgundy, as he received from Philip, for a Bible in French,
9000 francs, and in the same year (1400), for a copy of The Golden
Legend, 7500 francs.
Nicholas Flamel, scribe and librarius juratus, flourished at the
beginning of the thirteenth century. He was shrewd enough, having
made some little money at work as a bookseller and as a school
manager, to carry on some successful speculations in house
building, from which speculations he made money so rapidly that he
was accused of dealings with the Evil One. One of the houses built
by him in Rue Montmorency was still standing in 1853, an evidence
of what a clever publisher might accomplish even in the infancy of
the book business.
The list of booksellers between the years 1486-1490 includes the
name of Jean Bonhomme, the name which has for many years been
accepted as typical of the French bourgeois. This particular
Bonhomme seems, however, to have been rather a distinctive man
of his class. He calls himself “bookseller to the university,” and was a
dealer both in manuscripts and in printed books. On a codex of a
French translation of The City of God, by S. Augustine, is inscribed
the record of the sale of the manuscript by Jean Bonhomme,
bookseller to the University of Paris, who acknowledges having sold
to the honoured and wise citizen, Jehan Cueillette, treasurer of M. de
Beaujeu, this book containing The City of God, in two volumes, and
Bonhomme guarantees to Cueillette the possession of said work
against all. His imprint as a bookseller appears upon various printed
books, including the Constitutiones Clementinæ, the Decreta
Basiliensia, and the Manuale Confessorum of Joh. Nider.
Among the cities of France outside of Paris in which there is
record of early manuscript-dealers, are Tours, Angers, Lille, Troyes,
Rouen, Toulouse, and Montpellier. In Lille, in 1435, the principal
bookseller was Jaquemart Puls, who was also a goldsmith, the latter
being probably his principal business. In Toulouse, a bookseller of
the name of S. Julien was in business as early as 1340. In Troyes, in
the year 1500, Macé Panthoul was carrying on business as a
bookseller and as a manufacturer of paper. In connection with his
paper-trade, he came into relations with the book-dealers of Paris.
Manuscript Dealers in Germany.—The information
concerning the early book-dealers in Germany is more scanty, and
on the whole less interesting, than that which is available for the
history of bookselling in Italy or in France. There was less wealth
among the German nobles during the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries, and fewer among the nobles who had means were
interested in literary luxuries than was the case in either France,
Burgundy, or Italy.
As has been noted in the preceding division of this chapter, the
references to the more noteworthy of the manuscript-dealers in
France occur almost entirely in connection with sales made by them
to the members of the Royal Family, to the Dukes of Burgundy, or to
other of the great nobles. The beautifully illuminated manuscript
which carried the coat-of-arms or the crest of the noble for whom it
was made, included also, as a rule, the inscription of the manuscript-
dealer by whom the work of its preparation had been carried on or
supervised, and through whom it had been sold to the noble
purchaser. Of the manuscripts of this class, the record in Germany is
very much smaller. Germany also did not share the advantages
possessed by Italy, of close relations with the literature and the
manuscript stores of the East, relations which proved such an
important and continued source of inspiration for the intellectual life
of the Italian scholars.
The influence of the revival of the knowledge of Greek literature
came to Germany slowly through its relations with Italy, but in the
knowledge of Greek learning and literature the German scholars
were many years behind their Italian contemporaries, while the
possession of Greek manuscripts in Germany was, before the
middle of the fifteenth century, very exceptional indeed. The
scholarship of the earlier German universities appears also to have
been narrower in its range and more restricted in its cultivation than
that which had been developed in Paris, in Bologna, or in Padua.
The membership of the Universities of Prague and of Vienna, the
two oldest in the German list, was evidently restricted almost entirely
to Germans, Bohemians, Hungarians, etc., that is to say, to the races
immediately controlled by the German Empire.
If a scholar of England were seeking, during the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries, special instruction or special literary and scholarly
advantages, his steps were naturally directed towards Paris for
theology, Bologna for jurisprudence, and Padua for medicine, and
but few of these travelling English scholars appear to have taken
themselves to Prague, Vienna, or Heidelberg.
In like manner, if English book collectors were seeking
manuscripts, they betook themselves to the dealers in Paris, in
Florence, or in Venice, and it was not until after the manuscript-trade
had been replaced by the trade in the productions of the printing-
press that the German cities can be said to have become centres for
the distribution of literature.
Such literary interests as obtained in Germany during the
fourteenth century, outside of those of the monasteries already
referred to, centred nevertheless about the universities. The oldest of
these universities was that of Prague, which was founded in 1347,
more than a century later than the foundations of Paris and Bologna.
The regulations of the University recognised the existence of scribes,
illuminators, correctors, binders, dealers in parchment, etc., all of
which trades were placed under the direct control of the university
authorities.
Hauslik speaks of the book-trade in the fourteenth century as
being associated with the work of the library of the university, and
refers to licensed scribes and illuminators, who were authorised to
make transcripts, for the use of the members of the university, of the
texts contained in the library.[377]
If we may understand from this reference that the university
authorities had had prepared for the library authenticated copies of
the texts of the works required in the university courses, and that the
transcribing of these texts was carried on under the direct
supervision of the librarians, Prague appears to have possessed a
better system for the preparation of its official texts than we have
record of in either Bologna or Paris. Hauslik goes on to say that the
entire book-trade of the city was placed under the supervision of the
library authorities, which authorities undertook to guarantee the
completeness and the correctness of all transcripts made from the
texts in the library. Kirchhoff presents in support of this theory
examples of one or two manuscripts, which contain, in addition to the
inscription of the name of the scribe or dealer by whom it had been
prepared, the record of the corrector appointed by the library to
certify to the correctness of the text.[378]
The second German university in point of date was that of Vienna,
founded in 1365, and, in connection with the work of this university
the manuscript-trade in Germany took its most important
development. There is record in Vienna of the existence of stationarii
who carried on, under the usual university supervision, the trade of
hiring out pecias, but this was evidently a much less important
function than in Bologna.
The buying and selling of books in Vienna was kept under very
close university supervision, and without the authority of the rector or
of the bedels appointed by him for the purpose, no book could be
purchased from either a magister or a student, or could be accepted
on pledge.
The books which had been left by deceased members of the
university were considered to be the property of the university
authorities, and could be sold only under their express directions.
The commission allowed by the authorities for the sale of books was
limited to 2½ per cent., and before any books could be transferred at
private sale, they must be offered at public sale in the auditorium.
The purpose of this regulation was apparently here as in Paris not
only to insure securing for the books sold the highest market prices,
but also to give some protection against the possibility of books
being sold by those to whom they did not belong.
The regulation of the details of the book business appears to have
fallen gradually into the hands of the bedels of the Faculty, and the
details of the supervision exercised approach more nearly to the
Italian than to the Parisian model.
The third German university was that of Heidelberg, founded in
1386. Here the regulations concerning the book-trade were
substantially modelled upon those of Paris. The scribes and the
dealers in manuscripts belonged to the privileged members of the
university. The provisions in the foundation or charter of the
university, which provided for the manuscript-trade, make express
reference to the precedents of the University of Paris.
By the middle of the fifteenth century, there appears to have been
a considerable trade in manuscripts in Heidelberg and in places
dependent upon Heidelberg. In the library of the University of
Erlangen, there exists to-day a considerable collection of
manuscripts formerly belonging to the monastery of Heilsbronn,
which manuscripts were prepared in Heidelberg between 1450 and
1460. The series includes a long list of classics, indicating a larger
classical interest in Heidelberg than was to be noted at the time in
either Prague or Vienna.[379]
The University of Cologne, founded a few years later, became the
centre of theological scholarship in Germany, and the German
manuscripts of the early part of the fifteenth century which have
remained in existence and which have to do with theological subjects
were very largely produced in Cologne. A number of examples of
these have been preserved in the library of Erfurt.
One reason for the smaller importance in Germany of the
stationarius was the practice that obtained on the part of the
instructors of lecturing or of reading from texts for dictation, the
transcripts being made by the students themselves. The authority or
permission to read for dictation was made a matter of special
university regulation. The regulation provided what works could be
so utilised, and the guarantee as to the correctness of the texts to be
used could either be given by a member of the faculty of the
university itself or was accepted with the certified signature of an
instructor of a well known foreign university, such as Paris, Bologna,
or Oxford.
By means of this system of dictation, the production of
manuscripts was made much less costly than through the work of
the stationarii, and the dictation system was probably an important
reason why the manuscript-trade in the German university cities
never became so important as in Paris or London.
It is contended by the German writers that, notwithstanding the
inconsiderable trade in manuscripts, there was a general knowledge
of the subject-matter of the literature pursued in the university, no
less well founded or extended among the German cities than among
those of France or Italy. This familiarity with the university literature is
explained by the fact that the students had, through writing at
dictation, so largely possessed themselves of the substance of the
university lectures.
In the Faculty of Arts at Ingolstadt, it was ordered, in 1420, that
there should be not less than one text-book (that is to say, one copy
of the text-book) for every three scholars in baccalaureate. This
regulation is an indication of the scarcity of text-books.
The fact that the industry in loaning manuscripts to students was
not well developed in the German universities delayed somewhat the
organisation of the book-trade in the university towns. Nevertheless,
Richard de Bury names Germany among the countries where books
could be purchased, and Gerhard Groote speaks of purchasing
books in Frankfort. This city became, in fact, important in the trade of
manuscripts for nearly a century before the beginning of German
printing.[380]
Æneas Silvius says in the preface of his Europa, written in 1458,
that a librarius teutonicus had written to him shortly before, asking
him to prepare a continuation of the book “Augustalis.”[381] This
publishing suggestion was made eight years after the perfection of
Gutenberg’s printing-press, but probably without any knowledge on
the part of the librarius of the new method for the production of
books.
In Germany there was, during the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries, outside of the ecclesiastics, very little demand for reading
matter. The women had their psalters, which had, as a rule, been
written out in the monasteries. As there came to be a wider demand
for books of worship, this was provided for, at least in the regions of
the lower Rhine, by the scribes among the Brothers of Common Life.
The Brothers took care also of the production of a large proportion of
the school-books required.
During the fourteenth century and the first half of the fifteenth, the
Brothers took an active part in the production and distribution of
manuscripts. Their work was distinct in various respects from that
which was carried on in monastery or in university towns, but
particularly in this that their books were, for the most part, produced
in the tongue of the common folk, and their service as instructors
and booksellers was probably one of the most important influences
in helping to educate the lower classes of North Germany to read
and to think for themselves. They thus prepared the way for the work
of Luther and Melanchthon.
As has been noted in another chapter, the activity of the Brothers
in the distribution of literature did not cease when books in
manuscripts were replaced by the productions of the printing-press.
They made immediate use of the invention of Gutenberg, and in
many parts of Germany, the first printed books that were brought
before the people came from the printing-presses of the Brothers.
Some general system of public schools seems to have taken
shape in the larger cities at least of North Germany as early as the
first half of the thirteenth century. The teachers in these schools
themselves added to their work and to their earnings by transcribing
text-books and sometimes works of worship. Later, there came to be
some extended interest in certain classes of literature among a few
of the princes and noblemen, but this appears to have been much
less the case in Germany than in Italy or even than in France. In the
castles or palaces where there was a chaplain, the chaplain took
upon himself the work of a scribe, caring not only for the
correspondence of his patron, but occasionally also preparing
manuscripts for the library, so called, of the castle. There is also
record of certain stadtschreiber, or public scribes, licensed as such
in the cities of North Germany, and in some cases the post was held
by the instructors of the schools.
Ulrich Friese, a citizen of Augsburg, writing in the latter half of the
fourteenth century, speaks of attending the Nordlingen Fair with
parchment and books. Nordlingen Church was, it appears, used for
the purpose of this fair, and in Lübeck, in the Church of S. Mary,
booths were opened in which, together with devotional books,
school-books and writing materials were offered for sale.
In Hamburg also, the courts in the immediate neighbourhood of
the churches were the places selected by the earlier booksellers and
manuscript-dealers for their trade. In Metz, a book-shop stood
immediately in front of the cathedral, and in Vienna, the first book-
shop was placed in the court adjoining the cathedral of S. Stephen.
Nicolaus, who was possibly the earliest bookseller in Erfurt, had his
shop, in 1460, in the court of the Church of the Blessed Virgin.
From a school regulation of Bautzen, written in 1418, it appears
that the children were instructed to purchase their school-books from
the master at the prices fixed in the official schedule.[382] A certain
schoolmaster in Hagenau, whose work was carried on between 1443
and 1450, has placed his signature upon a considerable series of
manuscripts, which he claims to have prepared with his own hands,
and which were described in Wilken’s History of the library in
Heidelberg. His name was Diebold Läber, or, as he sometimes wrote
it, Lauber, and he describes himself as a writer, schreiber, in the
town of Hagenau. This inscription appears in so many manuscripts
that have been preserved, that some doubt has been raised as to
whether they could be all the work of one hand, or whether Lauber’s
name (imprint, so to speak) may not have been utilised by other
scribes possibly working in association with him.[383]
Lauber speaks of having received from Duke Ruprecht an order
for seven books, and as having arranged to have the manuscripts
painted (decorated or illuminated) by some other hand. Lauber is
recorded as having been first a school-teacher and an instructor in
writing, later a scribe, producing for sale copies of standard texts,
and finally a publisher, employing scribes, simply certifying with his
own signature to the correctness of the work of his subordinates.
There is every indication that he had actually succeeded in
organising in Hagenau, as early as 1443, an active business in the
production and distribution of manuscripts. The books produced by
him were addressed more generally to the popular taste than was
the case with the productions of the monastery scribes.
In part, possibly, as a result of this early activity in the production
of books, one of the first printing-presses in Germany, outside of that
of Gutenberg in Mayence, was instituted in Hagenau, and its work
appears to have been in direct succession to that of the public writer
Lauber.
The relations between Hagenau and Heidelberg were intimate,
and the scholarly service of the members of the university was
utilised by the Hagenau publishers. The book-trade of Hagenau also
appears to have been increased in connection with the development
of intellectual activity given by the Councils of Constance and Basel.
In regard to the latter Council, Kirchhoff quotes Denis as having said:
Quod concilium, qui scholam librariorum dixerit haud errabit.[384]
Either as a cause or as an effect of the activity of the book
production in Hagenau, the Hagenau schools for scribes during the
first half of the fifteenth century became famous.[385] The work of
producing manuscripts appears to have been divided, according to
the manufacturing system; one scribe prepared the text, a second
collated the same with the original, a third painted in the rubricated
initials, and a fourth designed the painted head-pieces to the pages,
while a fifth prepared the ornamented covers. It occasionally
happened, however, that one scribe was himself able to carry on
each division of the work of the production of an illuminated
manuscript.
Hagen quotes some lines of a Hagenau manuscript, as follows:
Dis buch vollenbracht vas,

In der zit, also man schreip vnd las,
Tusent vnd vyer hundert jar.
Nach Christus gebort daz ist war,
Dar nach jn dem eyn vnd siebentzigsten jar,
Vff sant Pauly bekarung, daz ist ware,
Von Hans Dirmsteyn, wist vor war,
Der hait es geschreben vnd gemacht,
Gemalt, gebunden, vnd gantz follenbracht.[386]
Hagenau was one of the few places of book production (excepting

the workshops of the Brothers of Common Life) in which, during the
manuscript period, books were prepared to meet the requirements of
the common folk. The literature proceeding from Hagenau included
not only “good Latin books,” that is to say, copies of the accepted
classics as used in Heidelberg and elsewhere, but also copies of the
famous Epics of the Middle Ages, the Sagas, Folk Songs, Chap-
Books, copies of the Golden Bull, Bible stories, books of worship,
books of popular music, books of prophecy, and books for the telling
of fortunes, etc.[387]
Throughout both Germany and the Low Countries, it was the case
that, during the manuscript period, the work of the school teachers
was closely connected with the work of the producers and sellers of
manuscripts, and the teachers not infrequently themselves built up a
manuscript business. The school ordinance of the town of Bautzen,
dating from the year 1418, prescribed, for example, the prices which
the scholars were to pay to the locatus (who was the fifth teacher in
rank in the institution) for the school-books, the responsibility for
preparing which rested upon him.
A history of the Printers’ Society of Dresden, printed in 1740, gives
examples of some of these prices:
For one A. B. C. and a paternoster, each one groschen.
For a Corde Benedicite, one groschen.
For a good Donat, ten groschens.
For a Regulam Moralem et Catonem, eight groschens.
For a complete Doctrinal, a half mark.
For a Primam Partem, eight groschens.
In case no books are purchased from the locatus, there shall be

paid to him by each scholar, if the scholar be rich, two groschens, if
he be in moderate circumstances, one groschen, and if the scholar
be poor, he shall be exempt from payment.[388]
A certain Hugo from Trimberg, who died about 1309, is referred to
by Jaeck as having been a teacher for forty years, at the end of
which term he gave up the work of teaching with the expectation of
being able to make a living out of his collection of books. The
collection comprised two hundred volumes, of which twelve are
specified as being original works, presumably the production of
Trimberg himself. Jaeck does not tell us whether or not the good
schoolmaster was able to earn enough from the manifolding or from
the sale of his books to secure a living in his last years.[389]
Kirchhoff refers to the importance of the fairs and annual markets
for the manuscript trade. It is evident that, in the absence of any
bookselling machinery, it was of first importance for the producers of
copies of such texts as might be within their reach, to come into
relations with each other in order to bring about the exchange of their
surplus copies.
There is record of the sale and exchange of manuscripts, during
the first half of the fifteenth century, at the Fairs of Salzburg, Ulm,
Nordlingen, and Frankfort. It was in fact from its trade in manuscripts
that Frankfort, by natural development, became and for many years
remained the centre of the trade in printed books.[390] Ruland
speaks of one of the most important items of the manuscript-trade at
the Frankfort Fair between 1445 and 1450, being that of fortune-
telling books and illustrated chap-books.
It appears also from the Fair records that in Germany, as in Italy,
the dealers in parchment and paper were among the first to
associate with their goods the sale of manuscripts. In 1470, occurs
the earliest record of sales being made at the fair in Nordlingen of
printed books.[391] The earliest date at which the sale of printed
books at the fair at Frankfort was chronicled was 1480. In 1485, the
printer Peter Schöffer was admitted as a citizen in Frankfort.
While Kirchhoff maintains that the distribution of books in
manuscript was more extensive in Germany than in either France or
Italy, and emphasises particularly the fact that there was among
circles throughout Germany a keener interest in literature than
obtained with either the French or the Italians, he admits that the
record of noteworthy booksellers in Germany, during the manuscript
period, is, as compared with that of France and Italy, inconsiderable.
In Cologne, he finds, as early as 1389, through an inscription in a
manuscript that has been preserved, the name of Horstan de
Ledderdam, who called himself not a librarius, but a libemarius. The
manuscript that bears this record is a treatise by Porphyry on
Aristotle.
In Nordlingen, the tax list of 1407 gives the name of Joh. Minner,
recorded as a scriptor. There is an entry of a sale made by Minner to
the Burgermeister Protzen of a German translation of the Decretals.
The tax list of 1415 gives the name of Conrad Horn, described as a
stadtschreiber. Horn seems to have carried on an extensive
business in the production and the exchange of manuscripts.
Kirchhoff quotes a contract entered into by him in 1427 with a certain
Prochsil of Eystet for the purchase of a buch, the title of which is not
given, for the sum of forty-three Rhenish gulden.
The name of Diebold Lauber has already been mentioned. His
inscription appears on a number of manuscripts that have been
preserved principally through the Heidelberg University. On the first
sheet of a Legend of the Three Holy Kings from this library, is written
the following notice, which can be considered as a general
advertisement:

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Is God Funky or What Black Biblical

Culture and Contemporary Popular

What Is This Thing Called Soul Conversations on Black

Understanding Popular Music Culture 5th Edition Roy

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God Is a Black Woman 1st Edition Christena Cleveland

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Theodore W. Burgh is a professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. He

The Black Studies and Critical Thinking series

Is God Funky or What?

Black Biblical Culture and

Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.

© 2019 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York

All rights reserved.

Chapter One: Introduction 1

Chapter Three: Jazz 43

Interview With Pastor Brian Hamilton 67

Chapter Four: R&B/Soul 83

Lauryn Hill 132

Chapter Five: Funk 143

Chapter Six: Hip Hop 175

Chapter Seven: Gospel 219

The Extensions 229

To the Society of Biblical Literature—members of African-American

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Ice Cube looks to the sky.

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imagination cannot bring me to fathom having my world turned upside down

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through casual conversations with colleagues, acquaintances, and students,

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Explicit au mois d’avril,

Dis buch vollenbracht vas,

Hagenau was one of the few places of book production (excepting