Letter # 6

Letter # 6: this ain’t about music

Dear Us,

….I heard the harmonious melodies reminiscent of a revolution… we sang before them. our music predates producers. our precious ears are enough. wider rotations aren’t a synonym for freedom.

but this ain’t about music

we sing

we always have

they try to silence us

they always have

we sang anyway

we sing anyway

they tried to keep us from their language;

and cleave from us the language of our foremothers

we created our own lyrics

new lyrics (well kinda new but w/ an old  feel)

composed our own songs

we are the tempo

Blackness be the hook and the timbre

our resistance became the beat

we substituted our joy for instruments

& our blood functioned as interludes

we composed our own songs

songs that remind us of the peace and joy in our lives

that keep the peace & joy within us until it’s time to be released in harmonious melodies

songs that document our existence

songs that keep us here

songs that only we hear

songs that only we know

songs we cannot sell

*

*But we can’t sell all of our songs hoping that people who aren’t us hear and validate them. Especially when these songs are what bring us peace and joy, and function as our lives, which are much too big for a soundtrack. If we keep selling our songs for temporary external acceptance, eventually we’ll end up with no music. Then what we gon do? What will we sing? Where will our peace and joy live? It might seem like the end of the world that they can’t/won’t hear our songs, but imagine if we couldn’t hear/sing them..might that then be the end of the world?

Lyricist: Us

Vocals: Us

Additional vocals: Us                         

Assistant mixer: Us

Associated performer: Us

Composer: Us

Swag: Us

Producer: them 

=

Us: 0 integrity, $100, 000

them: unlimited money, power, & control

In a few years they’ll start charging us to perform our own music and charging our children to listen to their own legacy. They’ll present our music as theirs, leading our successors to believe they are music-less. Believing they are music-less, our successors will…

……….until the day when they engage in conversations with their ancestors and hear harmonies….

….I heard the harmonious melodies reminiscent of a revolution… we sang before them. our music predates producers. our precious ears are enough. wider rotations aren’t a synonym for freedom.

but this ain’t about music,

Shamari