Re: lo yisa goy / study war no more

[Dean Bandes <deanb...>]

Matthew Fields <fields (at) eecs(dot)umich(dot)edu> asks:

>       Any chance the "Riverside" was a Black Spiritual explanation of
>       the waters of Bavel, as in Al Naharot--?

Interesting point.  Surely many Bible verses combined to inspire
songwriters who weren't just trying to set a particular verse to music,
and the parallels with Babylonian captivity must be as strong as the
Exodus motif.  I think _Sweet Honey on the Rock_ has a song that
refers to Nahaarot Bavel; but the specific references I can think of
in earlier Black spirituals are to the Jordan.  Our ancestors hung up
their harps and stopped singing in Babylon, but the African slaves kept
on singing in their captivity in America -- and a good thing, or we
would have very little characteristically American music!

Dean Bandes   deanb (at) ma(dot)credence(dot)com

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