“Go Down Moses” and the ongoing debate around cultural appropriation in music
Should we be singing “Go Down Moses” at the Seder table?
Go down Moses,
Way down in Egypt land,
Tell all Pharaohs,
To let my people go!
The words of the gospel song about the story of the Exodus from Egypt resurface every spring, whether incorporated into family Seders or as part of media around the Passover holiday that concluded on Thursday. In recent years, however, the presence of the song in connection to Passover has prompted conversation about whether it should be included in holiday practices at all, and whether there are ways to incorporate it respectfully.
“Go Down Moses” first appeared in recordings as a Fort Monroe battle hymn in 1862 with speculation that it makes reference to Harriet Tubman. It is among many songs about freedom from before emancipation that have become part of the repertory of Black spiritual music. The song uses the biblical narrative of Jewish emancipation from Egypt as a coded message for the path the freedom from slavery via the Underground Railroad.
Because of the particular subject matter of “Go Down Moses” it has taken on a life beyond the realm of American Black gospel music, particularly as part of some Passover traditions. While this was never part of my own family’s traditions, it would pop up often enough between Hebrew school, friends’ houses, and Jewish students’ events that the link between the song and the Seder was something I, rightly or wrongly, long took for granted. Yes, we were borrowing, but it was part of how we celebrated. Now it’s time for a deeper discussion about it.
While the argument against including “Go Down Moses” at Passover takes many forms, they can almost all be categorized under the umbrella of cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation has been somewhat of a buzzword in recent years, but can generally be understood as the inappropriate or unacknowledged adoption of elements of a culture or identity by members of another cultural or identity. Examples of this that have made headlines in recent years have included when H&M, the fast-fashion retail giant, sold hair accessories resembling Indigenous ceremonial pieces or when the haute couture designer, Jean Paul Gaultier debuted a collection resembling classic Chassidic garb such as shtreimels. This type of behaviour most often comes to our attention as problematic when it involves a dominant or majority group adopting elements of minority cultures.
In the case of “Go Down Moses” the lines of cultural appropriation get a little fuzzy. The lyrics of the song are adopting a Jewish story and combining it with musical styles that are particular to the traditions of the American Black community. When it is sung in the context of Passover, what is being borrowed? Definitely the melody, but what about the story? I would argue it’s open for debate. We also need to layer in the context of the song as a coded message about fleeing the Southern states towards freedom. While the song is less on the nose about it’s true meaning than one like “Strange Fruit”, its origins, at least in my own experience, do not go unacknowledged by Jews who choose to incorporate it into their practices. While there may not be a discussion of the origins of the song every year at the Seder table, I knew from a very young age that it was using the story of the Jewish Exodus from Egypt to talk about freedom from slavery in America. Is its adoption inappropriate if we are doing it with an understanding of its origins and an appreciation for how the story of the Exodus is meaningful to more than just the Jewish community?
What is taking place is a rather complicated moment of minority groups borrowing from each other. While our experiences in the Diaspora have and continue to differ, both the Jewish and Black communities are minorities and have their own distinct experiences of oppression and victimization as such. They are not the same, but they are both undoubtedly minority experiences. When the song first began to appear in Reform and Reconstructionist Seders in the 1940s the relationship between Jews and freedom and the Jewish and Black communities and freedom was very different. In the wake of the Holocaust, freedom from oppression and tyranny were topics that were front of mind for the Jewish community, who had just experienced an attempted eradication and were still struggling against quotas and exclusion. Though, much to the dismay of myself and many others, the relationship between the Black and Jewish communities has changed in recent years, throughout the Civil Rights and Martin Luther King Jr era, the two communities were deeply supportive of one another in the struggle for equality for Black Americans.
This debate about whether or not it is appropriate to sing “Go Down Moses” at Passover is part of a larger conversation taking place particularly in the world of music around who can perform what styles of music. There have been debates about whether White artists can adopt rap, hip hop or R&B into their tracks, and who owns the patterns and grooves jazz, blues, even parts of folk music. It’s a complicated conversation. The drive to protect one’s culture, particularly for members of minority communities, is strong and understandable. This is why many Jews take offence at the practice among some segments of the Evangelical Christian community of hosting Seders that began during the Pandemic, and why Quebec has implemented strict laws to protect French language and culture. But we have to be careful with how far we take this.
In all things, be it science or art, we have evolved through the exchange of culture and ideas. Even some of our most famous works, like Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is potentially derived from pre-existing Italian stories of starcrossed lovers from warring families. When we listen to almost any style of music, from classical to blues to jazz to rock to folk, we will find elements that were inspired by other styles and cultures. If we can’t borrow from other cultures or adopt elements of them into our art, we run the real risk of stagnation.
While these may be forms of cultural appropriation, they are also part of the long history of sharing, copying, and building on the practices of cultures and ideas we encounter to evolve a subject area. And sometimes that may not be as dangerous as our reactionary brains want to tell us.
When we are deciding whether or not to be upset about the use of “Go Down Moses” at the Seder table or something like the combination of country and hip hop music in the 2019 Lil Nas X song “Old Town Road”, maybe we should ask ourselves whether there is harm. If borrowing and/or adopting an element from another culture does not cause harm to anyone and is not intended to cause harm to anyone, then perhaps it is part of sharing elements of cultures and ideas that has been so integral to our evolving world.
Another great article, Ms. Sadie-Rae! Thoughtful, respectful, honest-well done. V