Sitting in church on September 6, 2009 I became overwhelmed with the need to write. Here is the product of that experience...

This is why there is little separation of soul music (rhythm and blues) and spirituals. It is literally one in the same. It is derived from the same origin within the core of Africans transported to America.
This music is the remembrance of that passage; of that struggle through the terrain, to the dungeons, on to the sandy beaches, into the bowels, across the raging waters, amongst the stench of death, hearing the wailing cries, blindly walking upon the shores of this once sacred land now desecrated with greed, and the faith to know through this song peace can (will) prevail.
The sorrow song, soul song, the spiritual song of the African transported to America is where we reside. It is the safe haven of our ancestors' collective spirits. It is a song that can not be replicated by anyone else. You can hear the very distinct differences of voice, tone, reverence, and emotion when sung by someone other than the ones who spirits crossed those seas just a few short years ago. Their rendition of these soulful songs are just standard and customary. For them it is a process by which to praise or ackowledge a love's exisitence.
But to the African in the Americas the soul/spiritual represents our humanity. It is more than a show or performance, it is the rememberance and store house of our humanity. These songs represent the promise of return. A return to a time and place where we were defined by world humanity not as chattle but as human beings. When the voices sing "swing low sweet chariot, coming forth to carry me home" you feel the tremor of voice seeking refuge in a promised land. You experience the depth of their need to grasp a reality that they can only envision in their nightly dreams