A01=Jonathan David
African American folk culture
African American folk tradition
African American music of Delaware
African American music of Maryland
African American religious traditions
African American worship
Author_Jonathan David
Category=AVL
Category=JHM
Category=QR
community spirituality
Delmarva music
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_music
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
ethnography of Singing and Praying Bands
folk songs
gospel
music of Delaware
music of Maryland
oral history
oral history of Singing and Praying Bands
photographs of Singing and Praying Bands
religious dance
ring shouts
singing and praying band artists
singing and praying band tradition
Singing and Praying Bands
social reciprocity
tidewater
tidewater communities
Product details
- ISBN 9780252074196
- Weight: 594g
- Dimensions: 178 x 254mm
- Publication Date: 08 Jun 2007
- Publisher: University of Illinois Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Together Let Us Sweetly Live offers a rare look at the unique grassroots African American religious institutions called the Singing and Praying Bands. This folksong and ring shout tradition began in Chesapeake Bay country in the early nineteenth century, with a fusion of Methodist prayer meeting worship and African religious, danced song traditions. Although scholars have assumed ring shouts died out long ago, Jonathan C. David shows otherwise, ushering us inside tidewater communities of Maryland and Delaware where they continue to thrive.
A traditional band service represents a cultural commitment to mutual aid, called "help," operating as a system of social reciprocity, as a performance aesthetic, and as the foundation of community spirituality. The book's nine chapters tell the story of the Singing and Praying Bands at these services through oral histories, each told by a different member of a group. Seventy-eight photographs along with twenty-one song notations bring the spirit of the culture to life. The author's introduction provides the historical and ethnographic context needed to understand the bands and their tradition.
An accompanying CD of original field recordings offers an opportunity to hear the service as if you were there.
Jonathan C. David is an independent scholar living in Philadelphia. He has produced and annotated a CD, On One Accord: The Singing and Praying Bands of Tidewater Maryland and Delaware. Richard Holloway is a professional photographer based in Philadelphia.
