As much as I would love to write a listicle about the unsung heroes of the Black diaspora, I'm more interested in highlighting an aspect of Black History Month that tends to go unnoticed. This week, I wanted to talk about something that has been on my mind for months now. Black Americans are probably the most culturally interesting group in North America. The grand majority of us are not descendants of immigration, but rather chattel slavery, we probably hold more in common in terms of culture and family history with an Appalachian miner than someone from a traditional West African family, and we are constantly defining our identities through our familial relationships, and the stories they tell about where we came from. Black culture is something that we can identify, but can't define.
Black culture, art, and music tends to be mistaken for American culture, art, and music over time and faulty claims of originality. The aspect of Black History Month that is underrated is the global influence of Black culture. I was revisiting an old YouTube playlist I made with plenty of choral works that gave me goosebumps the first time I heard them. One video was of the Heritage Mass Choir, the praise & worship group at Doongsoong Presybeterian Church in Hyewah, Seoul. They were singing a fantastic rendition of Byron Cage's upbeat gospel song 'Yet Praise Him' in Korean (Hangukmal). They weren't trying to be anyone but themselves in their presentation of a mainstay in Black Ameican church culture, yet they embedded all the essential aspects of gospel music into their performance– tight harmonies, highlighting of different vocal parts, relaxed consonants, and of course, an enthusiastic worship leader who goes by the name Kim Hyo-sik. The choir itself is almost fifteen years old and is more than eighty members strong. Bishop Nelson K. Williams, a black senior pastor at Unity Christian Fellowship International in Virginia helped educate the choir on gospel choral techniques and the history of the genre while he was stationed in South Korea. Today, in addition to rehearsals, they do community service and lead Bible Study.
