by Carl Settles

American culture is at a crucial turning point. With violence and such "pervading young peoples' minds," the debate rages on about the effects rap and grunge music on the American psyche. Despite America's prosperity, each style of music seems to reflect a general sense of dissatisfaction or rebellion against the status quo. Both of these musical forms have been more or less created by the so-called "X-Generation," with the former generally being black and the latter white.

Why are younger people in America so angry? Is the spector of not being more economically successful than our parents so daunting? Should we expect more money or is it something more fundamental that we truly need? There are many opinions and each one whether black, brown, white, liberal or conservative is likely to have some grain of truth. This is the dilemma of diversity in America and perhaps the most important subject of our times.

Rebellion is not a new thing to American music or its people. Our country was formed by a revolution. Be-bop was a rebellion against "watered down" swing. Baby-boomers rebelled with Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Motown and the Beatles. Each of these examples has had a great effect on how we conduct and perceive our daily lives. Many Americans look back on these events and people with nostalgia and awe. So who is to say this won't happen with today's popular music and people? Rebellion may be just a natural part of being American.

On the other hand, I find it troubling that while we are the most prosperous country in the world, we also seem to be the most unhappy. Well-read, upper-middle class mostly white kids drone out melancholy blues riffs and shuffles about suburban angst. Mostly black rappers speak about the hard realities of "street life." The idea of spirituality for many seems to be a "flower child who took too much LSD." Is that really all that we have left from the sixties or have we collectively misinterpreted the true roots of our music and subsequently our culture?

Looking back on the time period, it was only logical that those were such tumultuous times. It took 100 years after the Civil War for America to be shamed into allowing people of color to vote and participate more fully in the "American Dream." Then white teenagers found it hard to reconcile widely held beliefs of white Christians that segregation was acceptable and consequently rejected many of the other beliefs. By way of artists like Elvis and the Rolling Stones, they had also embraced many of the musical elements of Black America (chief among them was rhythm) substituting the sexual reference of "Rock & Roll" for what was previously called Rhythm & Blues.

The sixties was also a time when the black church took center stage in America. Dr. King had amassed a huge multi-ethnic coalition of Americans that became the primary catalyst for positive change. The Nation of Islam had also gained a great deal of power under the Honorable Elijah Muhammad whose influence was fueled by the fiery rhetoric of Malcolm X. The "race question" was the defining issue of that time as well. Since integration and the murder of key political figures, race still causes unrest in the American conscience. These facts coupled with growing economic pressures may shed light on our present dilemma.

What started as white youth's rebellion against repression and morally corrupt ideas mushroomed into a climate where excessive freedom reigned. Their new exposure to the primal elements of the black musical vernacular was limited, for the most part, to its superficial aspects, i.e. its driving rhythm and physically engaging dance. The deeper spiritual aspects of the music were left virtually unexamined or simply misinterpreted, not only by whites but the African-American church as well. Throughout the latter's history a strange dichotomy has existed between black gospel and the so-called "devil's" music we describe as the blues. W.C. Handy, more or less the founder of the blues form, struggled to the point of psycho-somatic blindness after he temporarily gave up the blues for the church music of his father.

The blues, which is based on the forms of call and response developed by African slaves to replace the sacred function of the drums, was perhaps one of the few tangible links to their ancestry allowed to remain in the "New World." In fact, ancestry is an over-riding aspect of African spirituality not yet fully addressed by the African-American church. Newly imported slaves, who were stripped of their language, used metaphors and brought a new tonal function to English. Syllables of African dialects change meaning according to their juxtaposition in a phrase, just as their corresponding rhythmic elements do when played on the drum. An example of this in English might be the phrase "He is one bad dude!" The word "bad," depending on how it is used in a sentence, may have a positive or negative connotation. This is what we usually call slang.

Another aspect of African spirituality is the element of the dance. When an orisha or African Saint comes forward through the body of a human host, it is said to "mount" or be "seated" upon them during the dance. Those present are able ask this spirit of the past for guidance and clues about achieving their destiny. In the African-American church we may describe this person as "being filled with the Holy Ghost." Nevertheless, the function in either situation is at the very least cathartic.

The spiritual aspects of American music have historically been difficult to discuss due to our problem with race. It was in the interest of whites to make African slaves believe they came from savagery in order to hold the balance of power. Church doctrines of the time sanctioned and even encouraged this practice. It was called the "seasoning" process in which they endeavored to break the spirit and consequently dislodge them from their ancestry. Those who resisted were beaten, called devil worshippers, murdered and/or raped. This legacy has been passed on to the black church and shamed the institution into disavowing much of its cultural heritage. This remains a major obstacle in communicating, due to access to information through technology, with a more sophisticated but angry new generation.

Today we have an unprecedented opportunity to re-explore our collective history. In doing so, I believe we can unravel the string of misconceptions about the roots of our culture and find answers to our current problems. The African influence has permeated throughout American culture. We simply lack a framework in which we can begin to understand how. It's time to meet down at the crossroads.