Nothing to Write about? – Wrong “Again”
As most of my readers know it is my habit on Sunday mornings to tune into the NPR program “On Being” with Krista guests Tippett who consistently has these amazing guests from whom I always learn something spiritual. So, this past Sunday morning, July 5, 2015, I faithfully tuned in. Her guests were Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn, apparently quite well known in the music world, but unknown to this music novice. The banjo! I almost missed the rich experience of having these two individuals feed my mind and my heart. In honor of complete disclosure, I have very limited knowledge of the banjo. Immediately what came to mind were the dueling banjos in the frightening movie “Deliverance”. Although I appreciate country and Appalachian music as well as the struggles, which are often communicated via that music, I was not in the habit of tuning to this sort of music or even thinking of the banjo when I thought of music, which helps to spiritually center me. I did often enjoy the banjo music of my friend Ed Mahonen.
Early on in the interview it was revealed that Bela Fleck’s earliest banjo influence was hearing Earl Scruggs play the theme song on a show called “The Beverly Hillbillies”. He goes so far as to describe that as a coming to God moment.
For. Ms. Washburn, listening to Doc Watson. She says,
“…and loving Chinese culture and studying the language really intensely and been there a number of times. And when I heard Doc Watson, I felt like I heard the beauty of authentic American culture. And I wanted it so badly. I'd been looking for it so badly. And I finally heard it when I heard Doc, this high, lonesome, searching, struggling, suffering, hopeful voice singing this ancient, ancient melody and these old, old words. And it didn't matter who owned it or where it came from but this man was sharing it with me. And I knew that I had to go get a banjo and I had to learn “Shady Grove.” And instead of doing karaoke in China with my clients, when I would become a lawyer someday, I would play ballads from Appalachia, . ..”
Mr. Fleck made a documentary entitled “Thrown Down Your Heart”. It is called that because “as people were being boarded onto the slave ships, they said, “Thrown your heart down here. You’re not going to want to carry it where you are going.” And a lot of the slave masters figured out that if they had a banjo player onboard playing the music of home, more of the cargo would live to the other side. So the origins of the banjo in America are the bitterest of roots.”
Mrs. Tibbett quotes from a blog entitled “The Rabbi’s Pen” (cannot locate name of the rabbi) who says of these two people and their music:
“Music is a language, a way of communicating, a vehicle for bringing greater peace, tolerance and humor into our heart and into the world. Music is a spiritual discipline and a great teacher. Great musicians, like Bela Fleck and the Flecktones are also great teachers.”
Mrs. Washburn continues to talk about the origins of the banjo,
“And it formed an amazing origin to what became a blend of traditions from Africa, Ireland, and Scotland, when those banjo players from African and those fiddlers from Scotland and Ireland started playing plantation dances together. That’s what really started what we know of that early Appalachian and that early American sound. A sound is based in this bitter root, but with this actual hope- this hope that I can live, I can survive. It is an amazing tradition.”
Hearing about the origin of the banjo use in the U.S. Culture, I am reminded of the body of music called the Holocaust Music. Music was frequently performed in the Nazi Ghettos. Those who ran the concentration camps also discovered that allowing those awaiting the gas chamber to have and play their instruments made the prisoners easier to manage. The prisoners were then also forced to play “for the pleasure of German camp personnel.
“In some camps and killing centers, the Germans formed orchestras from among the prisoners and forced them to play when new prisoners arrived in the camp, as they marched to work, and on their way to the gas chambers. The orchestras also played for the pleasure of German camp personnel. At one point, Auschwitz had six orchestras - the largest of which, in Auschwitz I, consisted of 50 musicians. A women’s orchestra in Auschwitz-Birkenau was made up of 36 members and 8 transcribers under the musical direction of the singer Fania Fénelon. Treblinka, Majdanek, Bełżec, and Sobibór all had orchestras.” (www.yadvashem.org)
I was further reminded of the many roles of the Negro spiritual. In a paper written by Randye Jones entitled “The Gospel Trust About the Negro Spiritual, one is reminded that the negro spiritual not only was a safe way to express their faith and the pain of their suffering, it was also a secret way to communicate about their masters. The spiritual today remains a rich part of the legacy of a the determination of a people to not only survive but to also thrive.
Mrs. Washburn relates another story of an male elder from one of her times in China:
“And he showed up and he saw me in this wonderful band of musicians that I was there with from America. And he just didn't look happy at all. He looked at me, he said, [speaks Chinese], Americans and Chinese cannot — simply cannot play music together. It's too different. And I looked at him and I was like, "Oh, OK. Uh, well, would you just play for us then? [speaks Chinese]. And he pulled out his erhu and he started playing this breathtakingly gorgeous melody from Tibet actually. And the band, as we were listening, we just started to tune up our instruments to match his tuning and we just started playing along with him.
And you could see this — it was barely there, but you could see just…
[laughter]
...that corner of his mouth kind of turn up ever so slightly. And that night we performed that song that we created in that moment for 1400 people in a theater in that town. And at the end of the show, he came up to me and he said, [speaks Chinese]. Tonight I discovered something, [speaks Chinese] it's not that Americans and Chinese can't play music together, [speaks Chinese] it's just that music is actually the communication of hearts.
Once again this morning I was confronted with more of the biases. There have been many such discoveries. Each time there is a fresh discovery of another of the roads to connecting the hearts of all we humans, I am hopeful that I will be more open in the future and not risk the danger of missing the lessons from yet another teacher. This morning, I discovered biases about the roads of the banjo and about Appalachian and country music.
I had the pleasure of listening to Mr. Fleck play the music of Bartok on the banjo as well as another classical piece he composed.
It seems that I have always known that music is a universal language which speaks to my heart, but apparently I had unwittingly limited the range of music which I would allow access to my heart.
For those who, like me, are not familiar with Beta Fleck and Abigail Ashburn I urge you to listen to these wonderfully gifted musicians and these deeply loving and spiritual people. One can listen to the “On Being” podcast of this interview, to music recorded by Mr. Fleck and Ms. Washburn on CDs, go to You Tube or go the website to hear and learn from these amazing people.
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