40 Days on Anti-Racism: Singing Justly

Learning

On one occasion at the church where I worked, the mostly White, English-speaking, and left-leaning congregation joined a sister Spanish-speaking community for service. As the music director, I ensured that we had a mix of hymns in both languages. After one service, a stalwart member of the English-speaking community said, “I don’t know why we have to sing so many songs in Spanish. I miss the old hymns.” Surprised by this anti-immigrant racism, I initially said nothing. Upon reflection, I’ve wondered what would have happened if I had invited her to reflect on what it was like every day for members of the sister community to function in English. Or I may have invited her to understand that singing in Spanish is a gesture of solidarity and an embodiment of Jesus’ edict to love our neighbours as ourselves through singing another’s song.

Another time, I was planning a service with my son to thank those who had supported us while he was being treated for a life-threatening illness. In addition to a song from the Spanish-speaking community, he chose “Mungu Ni Mwe Ma” (More Voices 104), an affirmation in Swahili that God is good—a song he loved deeply. I suggested that we sing a verse in English, but he insisted that it needed to be sung only in its original language. My son was teaching me about singing justly. For him, the congregation’s repertoire included singing “Mungu Ni Mwe Ma” properly—in Swahili. His insistence provoked me to reflect on how to move beyond the celebratory affirmation of God’s goodness by honouring the context of a song coming from a painful history of colonization.

As a White song leader, my anti-racist commitment includes working toward right relations, justice seeking, and love for humankind and wider creation. My first story showed how anti-immigrant racism can be exposed when people are challenged to sing an unfamiliar song in a different language or culture. The second showed how we can learn to make space for songs from different cultural traditions and racial groups; our understanding about what “our” songs are can change.

Faith Reflection

Tender and compassionate God,
whose voice sounds justice throughout creation,
help me to sing justly.
Be with me when my body vibrates with the joy of praising you as part of the body of Christ.
Liberate me so that I might help build your realm of justice and peace.
Weave together the sinews of my being so that I am ready to welcome the tender, subversive, and justice-seeking breath of the Holy Spirit.
Convert me to an-other song, an-other way of singing,
that my singing might become a praxis of liberation, a cry for justice, a celebration of life.
In the name of God the singer, Jesus the song, and the Holy Spirit who sings. Amen.

Living It Out

People often ask me how we can sing songs justly from traditions that are not our own. Singing an-other people’s music can be an expression of appreciation and respect. It can also be an act of cultural misappropriation, or even a violation against the people who created the song. How do we sing justly? Here are three principles I’ve learned over the years.

• We need to pay attention to context and relationship. Are we learning about the place where the song comes from? Are we including that place and its people in our prayers?
• We need to be accountable in relationship. Are there people from the song’s community in the congregation or surrounding community? Could they be invited to share in the leadership of the song? Is there someone from the song’s community who could be paid to teach the song to the choir and congregation? Tangible actions deepen practices of accountability.
• We need to be open to transforming relationships. Singing justly changes us. Singing justly means building relationships with communities near and far that are connected to the songs we sing. Do actions for justice in community connect to what we sing?

“Living with Respect: A Theology of Copyright” is a new United Church statement. One guideline states: “Work towards reparation, restoration, and right relations.” Reparation means remunerating the song’s creator. If we don’t know who wrote the song, we can consider donating the fee to an organization from the community of the song. Restoration is an important principle because sometimes we make mistakes. When that happens, we need to “restore broken relationships when work has been mis-used or exploited.” Finally, building relationships and nurturing them is one of the great benefits of singing justly!

Resources

How Can We Sing An-other’s Song?

Dismantling Racism in Worship: Volume 55.2 in Call to Worship (needs subscription)

Anti-Racism in Worship resources

Mungu Ni Mwe Ma from Music that Makes Community

—Becca Whitla (she/her) is the professor of pastoral ministry and the Dr. Lydia E. Gruchy Chair in Pastoral Theology at St. Andrew’s College in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where she teaches worship and liturgy, preaching, and religious education. Her book Liberation, (De)Coloniality, and Liturgical Practices: Flipping the Song Bird (Palgrave McMillan, 2020) examines ways to decolonize liturgical practices, especially community singing.

This reflection originally appeared in 40 Days on Anti-Racism 2022.