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The Journal of Traditions & Beliefs
Michael Schwartz Library
2016
African and African-Influenced Sacred Music
Suzanne Flandreau
Center for Black Music Research
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Recommended Citation
Flandreau, Suzanne (2016) "African and African-Influenced Sacred Music," The Journal of Traditions & Beliefs: Vol. 2, Article 6.
Available at: http://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/jtb/vol2/iss1/6
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Flandreau: African and African-Influenced Sacred Music
Introduction
Thisbibliographyisintendedtointroducereaderstoresourcesonthemusicaltraditionsof
AfricanreligiousexpressioninAfricaandthroughoutthediaspora,definedinthiscaseas
NorthandSouthAmericaandtheCaribbean.Itisintendedaspartofacelebrationofthe
publicationofJohnS.Mbiti’sgroundbreakingbook,AfricanReligionsandPhilosophy.Inhis
book,Mbitiseldommentionsspecificmusicalpractices,commentingonlythat“[m]usic,
singinganddancingreachdeepintotheinnermostpartsofAfricanpeoples,andmany
thingscometothesurfaceundermusicalinspirationwhichotherwisemaynotbereadily
revealed.”1Thisbibliographyattemptstocovertheeffortsofindividualswhohave
answeredMbiti’sunspokenchallengetointerpretmusicinareligiouscontext,using
historical,ethnomusicological,ortheologicalmethodologies.Itincludeseverythingfrom
ethnographicstudiesofsinglegroups,churches,ordenominations,tocross-diaspora
comparativestudies.
InAfrica,spirituality,music,anddancearesocloselyinterrelatedthatitis
sometimesdifficulttoidentifystudiesthatfocusontraditionalAfricanmusicinapurely
religiouscontext.Mostdiscussionsofmusicarefoundinanthropologicalstudiesof
particularpeoplesorgroups,whicharetoonumeroustonoteinthisbibliography.Instead,
anefforthasbeenmadetosingleoutwritingsthatdealspecificallywithreligiousmusic,in
Africaandthroughoutthediaspora.Thebibliographyisorganizedgeographicallyby
region,butthefirstsectionconsistsofgeneralreferencebooksthatthereadercanconsult
tofinddiscussionsofspecificcountriesandtopics,orcitationstomoreresources.For
example,thetwodiscographiescitedcoverrecordingsofnearlyacenturyofAfrican
Americanreligiousmusic.Somevenerableyetclassicreferencebooksareincludedsothat
itispossibletostudytheevolutionofthescholarshiponAfricandiasporicreligiousmusic.
Thebibliographydoesincludearticles,becauseinsomecasestheyprovideeither
themostconciseortheonlydescriptionofmusicinaparticularreligiouscontext.The
booksincludedaremostoftenethnomusicologicalstudiesofparticularreligiousgroupsor
churches,orcollectionsofessays.Biographiesandbiographicalstudieshavebeenexcluded
asacategory,althoughthismeansthatsomebooksconsideredtobeclassicsarenot
included.Twoinparticularshouldbementioned:MichaelW.Harris’sTheRiseofGospel
Blues:TheMusicofThomasAndrewDorseyintheUrbanChurchandWe’llUnderstandIt
BetterByandBy:PioneeringAfricanAmericanGospelComposerseditedbyBerniceJohnson
Reagon.2Beyondtheseclassics,therearesimplytoomanybiographies,especiallyin
Americangospelmusic,toincludethemall.Twostrictlymusicalstudiesareincludedinthe
LatinandCaribbeansectionbecausetheyspeakdirectlytotheimportanceofmusical
practice,especiallydrumming,intwoAfrican-derivedreligions—VodouandSanteria.
Finally,afewcomparativestudiesthatattempttomakeconnectionsbetweenreligious
1JohnS.Mbiti,AfricanReligionsandPhilosophy(Oxford;Portsmouth,N.H.:Heinemann,1990),67.
2Formoreinformation,seeMichaelW.Harris,TheRiseofGospelBlues:TheMusicofThomasAndrewDorseyin
theUrbanChurch(NewYork:OxfordUniversityPress,1992)andBerniceJohnsonReagon(editor)We’ll
UnderstandItBetterByandBy:PioneeringAfricanAmericanGospelComposers.(Washington,DC:Smithsonian
2Formoreinformation,seeMichaelW.Harris,TheRiseofGospelBlues:TheMusicofThomasAndrewDorseyin
theUrbanChurch(NewYork:OxfordUniversityPress,1992)andBerniceJohnsonReagon(editor)We’ll
UnderstandItBetterByandBy:PioneeringAfricanAmericanGospelComposers.(Washington,DC:Smithsonian
InstitutionPress,1992).
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The Journal of Traditions & Beliefs, Vol. 2 [2016], Art. 6
musicalpracticesthroughoutthediaspora,orthatspeculateontheseconnections,have
beenincludedattheend.
NoefforthasbeenmadeinthesectionsonLatinAmericaandtheCaribbeanandon
Africaitself,toisolatethebooksthatdealwithChristiantraditions.Resourceson
indigenousAfricanpractices(includingtrance),LatinAmericanandCaribbeansyncretic
religions,andJewishandChristianreligiouspracticescanbefoundinonerichmix,with
thehopethatthereaderwillbeinspiredtousetheseresources—andtheir
bibliographies—toexplorefurther.
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Flandreau: African and African-Influenced Sacred Music
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