The exact evolution of the song is somewhat mysterious, but Samuel G. "The Gullah have always fascinated folklorists because they have kept major parts of their African language and speak in a unique English dialect to this day." The song is an African-American spiritual "that was collected in the 1920s from the Gullah - or Geechee - people of the South Carolina and Georgia coast," says Jeff Place of the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. The lyrics are simple and innocent: Someone's singing, Lord, kumbaya. The word "kumbaya" is believed by many music historians to be pidgin English - and a transliteration - for the prayerful plea to God: "Come By Here." The song became sneering shorthand for blissful agreement. Then something changed in the American psyche, and "Kumbaya" - along with the unity it represents - began to be mocked, especially by political figures and the people who cover them. Through labor protests, folk masses, civil rights marches, student uprisings, postprandial programs at church spaghetti suppers, the song was treated in a straightforward manner, held up without irony as a ritual of reverence, a soft-voice anthem of togetherness, a choral group hug.
The contemporary connotation is especially ironic, considering the song's storied history. Ross, writing in The Root in 2008, observes that "Derision of the song and its emotional foundation has become a required sign of toughness and pragmatism in American politics today, and this is especially true since the Sept. In current political parlance, Vatz says, a reference to the song is used to sarcastically disparage consensus "that allegedly does not examine the issues or is revelatory of cockeyed optimism." Pete Seeger sings "Kumbaya" and talks about the song's history in 1963. "That's not what the nation's business is about." "I don't think that anybody expected or expects Washington to be a campfire where everybody holds hands together and sings 'Kumbaya,' " Carney said.
In a news briefing a few days ago, White House press secretary Jay Carney also alluded to the song. "Kumbaya"? Why are these politicos invoking a sincere, melodic popular American folk song in a disparaging manner? And it's not just the Republicans. Singing "Kumbaya," former presidential candidate Herman Cain told a Chicago Tea Party rally in April of 2011, to much laughter, "is not a foreign policy strategy." Regarding the rancor among the remaining Republican presidential hopefuls as they migrate from New Hampshire to South Carolina, Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor and erstwhile candidate himself, told ABC News this week that "There's not going to be some magic moment at which three or four of these people sit around a campfire toasting marshmallows, singing 'Kumbaya' and giving the nod to one of their competitors."Ĭandidate Rick Perry told The New York Times in October: "If you're looking for somebody that's going to say, 'Hey listen we're not going to make it hard on you, it's all going to work it out, and it's just, you know, "Kumbaya," ' I'm not your guy." It wasn't kumbaya, but the GOP presidential hopefuls found harmony in the national anthem before a debate in November.
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