Abstract
“Tell Old Pharaoh, Let my people go!” This Swahili translation of “Go Down Moses,” one of the most familiar of over 6,000 extant African-American spirituals, sets the context of this study of “African-American Liturgical Music in a Global Context.” To hear this translation emotionally rendered in services of worship in Limuru and Nairobi, Kenya, and translations of this and other texts of African-American songs in Debrechen, Hungary; Johannesburg, South Africa, and at numerous ecumenical meetings in other places around the world, awakened a new awareness of the impact of African-American songs on the global community. Not only is there evidence of cross cultural sharing of biblical interpretations and experiences of the faith of a people captured and enslaved in an alien land, there is also a reminder of God’s gift of song through people in a variety of circumstanees. Like many of the songs created by African-American communities, “Go Down Moses” is a universal call to obedience to God with a special concern for social justice, which transcends time and liturgical boundaries. This and other songs are classical examples of ways in which God speaks to the world through sincere expressions of the faith of a people. African-American liturgical music has impacted the world in ways that have not yet been fully explored.