Description:
For people of African descent, music constitutes a unique domain of expression. From traditional West African drumming to South African kwaito, from spirituals to hip-hop, Black life and history has been dynamically displayed and contested through sound. Shana Redmond excavates the sonic histories of these communities through a genre emblematic of Black solidarity and citizenship: anthems. An interdisciplinary cultural history, Anthem reveals how this "sound franchise" contributed to the growth and mobilization of the modern, Black citizen. Providing new political frames and aesthetic articulations for protest organizations and activist-musicians, Redmond reveals the anthem as a crucial musical form following World War I.
Beginning with the premise that an analysis of the composition, performance, and uses of Black anthems allows for a more complex reading of racial and political formations within the twentieth century, Redmond expands our understanding of how and why diaspora was a formative conceptual and political framework of modern Black identity. By tracing key compositions and performances around the world-- from James Weldon Johnson's "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" that mobilized the NAACP to Nina Simone's "To Be Young, Gifted & Black" which became the Black National Anthem of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)-- Anthem develops a robust recording of Black social movements in the twentieth century that will forever alter the way you hear race and nation.Brief description: Shana L. Redmond is Assistant Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. She is a former musician and labor organizer.
Review Quotes: "Music as a form of expression in the Black community is not a new phenomenon. However, Redmond offers new interpretations of this old paradigm. She depicts music as a diasporic weapon of resistance, ambitiously expanding the boundaries of Black politics by carefully towing the line between sonic manifestos, social movements, and solidarity. The author judiciously wades through literature from myriad disciplines, exposing inconsistent arguments and confronting the intersection of social movements and solidarity, while positioning music both as a repository for collective memory and mobilizing agent throughout the diaspora. Her work deftly illuminates the role of the communitive and communicative aspects of the performer and the performance.... Redmond's study is innovative and groundbreaking. She expands the boundaries of interdisciplinary studies by intersecting ethnomusicology, America political development, and Black politics. Each song travails to tap into the spirit of resistance and unity, while functioning as a balm to the wounds of domination and oppression. She clearly illustrates that music functions as a refuge, allowing performers and listeners to safely wade through "translocal" forms of state sanctioned oppression as she demonstrates and demarcates a continuum of Black music as a form of resistance."--National Political Science Review