The Music of Song of Solomon

"Jake the only son of Solomon
Come booba yalle, come booba tambee
Whirled about and touched the sun
Come konka yalle, come konka tambee

Left that baby in a white man's house
Come booba yalle, come booba tambee
Heddy took him to a red man's house
Come konka yalle, come konka tambee

Black lady fell down on the ground
Come booba yalle, come booba tambee
Threw her body all around
Come konka yalle, come konka tambee

Solomon and Ryna Belali Shalut
Yaruba Medina Muhammet too.
Nestor Kalina Saraka cake.
Twenty-one children, the last one Jake!

O Solomon don't leave me here
Cotton balls to choke me
O Solomon don't leave me here
Buckra's arms to yoke me

Solomon done fly, Solomon done gone
Solomon cut accross the sky, Solomon gone home."

- "Song of Solomon" (pg. 303)

As a writer whose prose often resembles an immense work of lyrical craft it is perhaps no surprise that music plays a critical role in Toni Morrison’s novels. For the characters of Morrison’s Song of Solomon the singing of music and the history woven into those songs serve as both an important cultural vessel and a catalyst for emotional resolution.

One interesting thing to preface this is to note that in many ways, music isn’t just an aspect of Song of Solomon, but a framework for it. As Morrison herself stated about the central Sugarman song in the novel, “…that was always part of the folklore of my life; flying was one of our gifts. I don't care how silly it may seem. It is everywhere -- people used to talk about it, it's in the spirituals and gospels. Perhaps it was wishful thinking -- escape, death, and all that. But suppose it wasn't. What might it mean? I tried to find out in Song of Solomon” (LeClair).

Something that Morrison explores throughout the novel is the idea that the songs themselves are used to carry stories throughout generations of black people. This is an idea that is closely tied into the actual folklore that Morrison references. For traditional African music, the lyrics were often meant to pass on familial stories as well cultural touchstones that were otherwise impossible to keep track of in their society (Wilentz). For the character Milkman, for example, he literally discovers that one of the key moments in his family history is chronicled in a song. This is deeply rooted in African music, where history was often an oral tradition rather than a written one (Levine).

Like in Song of Solomon, the songs were often closely intertwined with mythic or folkloric elements. Songs used symbolic imagery or fantastical events to transfer not only the literal events but also the feeling of the historical events being documented (Levine).

The music in Song of Solomon bears a tremendous emotional weight for its characters that is in many ways linked with the historical use of music in African culture. In fact, Morrison argued herself in an interview that music was "for a long time, the art form that was healing for Black people” (Visvis). In other words, black music is seen as a sort of “talking cure” in which the weight of individual problems is alleviated through traditional songs as a form of catharsis (Visvis). This can be seen most explicitly through Pilate who receives both internal and literal direction through singing.

For many Africans and early African-American’s the use of music was one of the only ways to achieve a collection expression of their burdens (Visvis). Morrison acknowledges this in Song of Solomon – perhaps the most powerful example is Pilate singing for Hagar during her funeral. Unable to find the words to express her grief, she taps into music to channel a timeless sorrow that exists not only in the novel but also in the very real history era the Morrison’s characters inhabit.

The development of African American music is strongly rooted, developmentally, in the history of slavery. While slaves were adapting to the customs of the foreign culture that they were restricted to, they preserved their traditional culture which led to the creation of African American music. Entering into unknown territory, the African Americans were unsure of how to gain their identity, so they held onto who they were and also discovered new cultural concepts to grow off of and that allowed them to stand by their identity.From the beginning of slavery, what was called cross fertilization allowed the slaves in North America to take Western European and Western African music and produce their own style of African American music. African slaves grasped the image of their own culture’s beauty not only through music but also through the artistic modes of art, dance and storytelling. Western European forms of music, such as folk songs, orchestra music and operas, were the most well known developments in this cross fertilization. This style of music, for African Americans, emerged into jazz, gospels and work songs, which were songs or rhythms to assist the workers in completing their tasks. Since the African Americans took other arrangements and created their own style of music, songs were of great importance to the slaves, as this is something that gave them an existence of their own and molded them as their own unique civilization. It is also of great importance that the a culture such as the Western Europeans was able to share what they have built as their own and contribute their knowledge to the slaves, who came into a foreign territory with no identity, and no way of constructing a unique name for themselves. While religion influenced the slaves' acceptance of Western European music, the slaves had no opportunity to branch off into other cultural ideas. Therefore they learned to affiliate with the spirituality of European music, which later transformed into the African American music that is listed above. The Western Europeans and the African Americans could easily depict two very diverse spiritual backgrounds, but the African Americans developed their own belief of music off of what the Western Europeans had established for themselves.(Davis)

In modern culture musical expression continues to be a prevalent component of African American communication. To understand the significance of music to a society it must first be noted that music is “ideological” (Conyers). In times of social change it “gives direction to the social reconstruction of that society” (Conyers). When jazz first started at the turn of the twentieth century the African American community took the restrictions of classical music and dismissed them. This rejection mirrored the political and social movements of the era.

Following this revolution the musical culture of blacks reemerged in western culture; so that it was “both critical and analytical of the social substance of the society” (Conyers). The jazz movement was far reaching and expressive.

Continuing the historical relevance of African American music, in the late 1970’s, the first rap music emerged. This movement surfaced to depict the struggle of urban living in the black community. William Eric Perkins describes rap music as an “ongoing and bewildering love/hate relationship with American society” (Eric Perkins).

The rap culture impacts many areas of our entire society, including our music, our clothes, and our speech. Musical expression through rap allows the underrepresented black community to expose its ideals and political views to the larger society. Rap is a complaint from the inner city black communities and much of its strength comes from the large and multiethnic audience that it holds. Rap embodies a controversial culture of drugs, sex and political views. From the beginning of this nation music has been used as a means to communicate the most essential revolutions of the time period and this continues today.

Works Cited

LeClair, Thomas. "The Language Must Not Sweat: A Conversation with Toni Morrison." Taylor-Guthrie 119-128.

Conyers, James. (2001). African american jazz and rap socail and philosophical examinations of black expressive behavior. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers.

Davis, Nathan. (1996). African american music: a Philosophical look at African American Music in Society. Simon and Schuster Custom Publishing.

Levine, Lawrence W. Black Culture and Black Consciousness. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977.

Eric Perkins, William . (1996). Droppin science; 11 critical essays on rap music and hip hop culture, . Retrieved fromhttp://books.google.com/books?id=zGC_ZNOrKDwC&pg=PA151&dq=Droppin+Science%3B+11+Critical+Essays+on+Rap+Music+and+Hip+Hop+Culture&hl=en&ei=HWzITIbyO9ChngfzyvSpAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Stapleton, Katina . (1999). From the margins to mainstream: the political power of hip-hop. Media, Culture and Society, 20(219), Retrieved from http://mcs.sagepub.com/content/20/2/219.short

Visvis, V. (2008). Alternatives to the "talking cure": Black music as traumatic testimony in toni morrison's song of solomon. African American Review, 42(2), 255.

Wilentz, Gay. "Civilizations Underneath: African Heritage and Cultural Discourse in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon." African American Review 26.1 (1992): 61-76.