I am very involved with a community in Northern Ghana, West Africa. In their festivals the "linguist" performs, that is, he recites/sings the history of the "family" accompanied by drums. The family, the Nantumba people, are actually a large group of cousins whose ancestors can be traced back centuries to the ancient Dagbon Kingdom of West Africa. The linguist among them is trained from childhood to remember their stories. He grows up in a family of linguists. This is his job. To remember the stories of the family and to recite them at all the important events during the year. Many if not all of these linguists can neither read or write in any language. They've trained their bodies to remember the stories.
Love this piece, Ellie. Thank you. Cleaning out my files today, I came across this passage that feels appropriate to share:
“The powers of creation are eternally musical, their mystic cadences swell from star to star with note divine. All nature, seen and unseen, formed and unformed, listens in rapt awe to the endless symphonies of the Great Unknown. Then there is another music, the song of Life, the beating of human hearts, the peals of merry laughter, the broken sobs of sorrow. All these blend into a mystic orchestra, ofttimes unheard, which swells in note invisible through eternity to the very footstool of the Divine. Man’s nature pours forth from his being with the expression of living music... the very emotions of his soul pour out in divine harmonies from the instrument that registers and seems to live the innermost thoughts of the musician, the innermost symphonies of his soul.”
Another meaningful piece, Ellie! Thank you!
I love this idea that the body can hold a story.
I am very involved with a community in Northern Ghana, West Africa. In their festivals the "linguist" performs, that is, he recites/sings the history of the "family" accompanied by drums. The family, the Nantumba people, are actually a large group of cousins whose ancestors can be traced back centuries to the ancient Dagbon Kingdom of West Africa. The linguist among them is trained from childhood to remember their stories. He grows up in a family of linguists. This is his job. To remember the stories of the family and to recite them at all the important events during the year. Many if not all of these linguists can neither read or write in any language. They've trained their bodies to remember the stories.
Love this piece, Ellie. Thank you. Cleaning out my files today, I came across this passage that feels appropriate to share:
“The powers of creation are eternally musical, their mystic cadences swell from star to star with note divine. All nature, seen and unseen, formed and unformed, listens in rapt awe to the endless symphonies of the Great Unknown. Then there is another music, the song of Life, the beating of human hearts, the peals of merry laughter, the broken sobs of sorrow. All these blend into a mystic orchestra, ofttimes unheard, which swells in note invisible through eternity to the very footstool of the Divine. Man’s nature pours forth from his being with the expression of living music... the very emotions of his soul pour out in divine harmonies from the instrument that registers and seems to live the innermost thoughts of the musician, the innermost symphonies of his soul.”
– Manly P. Hall, The All-Seeing Eye, 1923