University of Pennsylvania - Folklore and Folklife

For more information about Folklore and Folklife,at UPenn, contact Professor Dan Ben-Amos at dbamos@sas.upenn.edu.

For assistance with the Folklore and Folklife website, contact Linda Lee at lindalee@sas.upenn.edu.

Friday Lunchtime Colloquium with Jonathan David

Friday April 8, 12 p.m.
Folklore Archive, Room 312, Logan Hall.
Lunch will be provided.

Together Let Us Sweetly Live: The Singing and Praying Bands

Beneath the radar of historians, African-Americanists, musicologists and folklorists, the Afro-Methodist Singing and Praying Bands of tidewater Maryland and Delaware appropriated the Methodist prayer-meeting and camp-meeting traditions to continue and celebrate their own, more African-derived tradition of ring shouting. This talk will examine the contemporary practice of the Singing and Praying Bands, trace their history, and explain their importance in the communities that nurtured them.

Jonathan David holds a Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife. He teaches at the University of the Arts. His forthcoming book, Together Let Us Sweetly Live: The Singing and Praying Bands, is currently in press.

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