In thoughts printed in the program for the 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival, Dr. Martin Luther King wrote eloquently on the role that music, and jazz in particular, played in the Civil Rights movement and, more universally, as a "stepping stone" in the universal struggles of modern man to find peace, meaning, love, happiness and faith. On this day on which we celebrate Dr. King's life, I thought I'd share these words:
On the Importance of Jazz
God has wrought many things out of oppression. He has endowed his creatures with the capacity to create—and from this capacity has flowed the sweet songs of sorrow and joy that have allowed man to cope with his environment and many different situations.
Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life's difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph.
This is triumphant music!
Modern jazz has continued in this tradition, singing the songs of a more complicated urban existence. When life itself offers no order and meaning, the musician creates an order and meaning from the sounds of the earth which flow through his instrument.
It is no wonder that so much of the search for identity among American Negroes was championed by Jazz musicians. Long before the modern essayists and scholars wrote of racial identity as a problem for a multiracial world, musicians were returning to their roots to affirm that which was stirring within their souls.
Much of the power of our Freedom Movement in the United States has come from this music. It has strengthened us with its sweet rhythms when courage began to fail. It has calmed us with its rich harmonies when spirits were down.
And now, Jazz is exported to the world. For in the particular struggle of the Negro in America there is something akin to the universal struggle of modern man. Everybody has the Blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to love and be loved. Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy. Everybody longs for faith.
In music, especially this broad category called Jazz, there is a stepping stone towards all of these.
Hat tips to the NextBop and Lubricity blogs who turned me on to this speech in 2011 (the latter updating us to some work by historians showing these words were the festival program and not a speech, since MLK was not at the festival).
Leave a Reply