Creativity

LIFE SUCKS but God is Great--this sould seem to be the wellspring of all great art. But since I don't care to defend this proposition in public, much less in print, let me just say that this twin insight, this whammy-pop filling the philosophical maw, is the basic assumption of a very fine and sometimes even exciting album by the Kuumba Singers called I'm Gonna Sing. It allows them to sing, without contradiction, exalting jubliees followed by blues that scrape notes out of this lower intestine called life. And sometimes, it allows them a fusion of the two, songs that get you high and low at the same time. It happens a couple of times on this album, and it's quite an impressive effect.

For the record, I'm Gonna Sing consists of 14 tracks: four spirituals, three gospel numbers, three soul numbers, a jubilee, two recitations, and a chant. Spirituals and jubilees were the traditional Afro-American forms, out of which grew gospel and soul. Outside of that, I really can't tell you anything about this genre except that, regardless of musicology, it works. Kuumba was formed ten years ago to plumb the genius and majesty of the Black heritage; I'm Gonna Sing accomplishes this.

The best tracks on the album are by an ensemble called The Brothers, a subgroup of Kuumba tenors and basses. On Side One The Brothers sing a gospel, "One More Day," that achieves the fusion I was talking about, what Tennyson called "pleasure and pain in exquisite extremes:"

When darkness

Gets all around

And I know the moon

Is drifting away

I know the days

Are getting shorter now

I just have to pray

The triumph of the song lies in the haunting variations in the harmonies and the rhythmic creativity of the solo, both the work of Dennis Henderson '79, who arranged the song and performs the solo. Henderson has graduated, but Kuumba will not miss him, not because he isn't talented (he obviously is), but because Kuumba seems to be one of the few campus organizations flourishing in these postlapsarian times.

The other Brothers' song is "Just My Imagination," the old Temptations' hit. "'Magination" is one of my Absolute/Top Ten/Slopes of Parnassus favorites, and the Brothers do it well enough to justify alone the cost of the album which is only $5, and you can't even fart for $5 these days). Lee Davision arranged it real slow and bluesy, like it wasn't just imagination but maybe a friendly visit to the hookah as well; a bass dum-de-dums the rhythm in the background, and altogether: well, listen to it yourself. 'Just My Imagination' is the showpiece of the second side, which is generally more accessible to someone unacquainted with traditional Afro-American music: besides "Imagination," it includes 'Natural High' and Stevie Wonder's Saturn,' a Broadway/Godspell arrangement of 'Sing a Song About Jesus,' and a real jumper called 'Show Me the Way.'

A word should be mentioned here about a woman named Carmen Williams, a sophomore at Harvard. Williams performs a couple of spectacular solos on the first side; on "I Wanna Be Ready," one of the records' two or three cuts, she is a force of nature, her voice powerful and richly toned, her technique perfectly wedded to the lyrics.

Of course, I am doing something invidious or even evil by singling out members of the choir. The quality is generally good, and what I single out probably says more about me than the album. There are any number of nice things I might say in addition. And there are, of course, flaws. Sometimes the singing is a little thin, sometimes a little restrained--you wish they'd let loose more. The recitations do nothing for me, and the chant, "Blessed Are Those Who Struggle," is more thematically important than listenable.

BUT WHAT DO I KNOW, as Montaigne used to say? You could write five books about what I don't know about Black music and you still wouldn't be finished. All I can tell you is that I dug it. And if de gustibus non est disputandum, hell, I don't know much Latin either.