It has been said
If you cross the river in a crowd
The crocodile won’t bite you
And We have crossed many rivers
With many more to cross
As shipmates we crossed the sea
Some squares tried to destroy my circle with their triangle
Call it trade
So when our children gather and ask how we came to be
Let’s take em on down to Charleston and point to the sea
The Water BroughtUs
Let’s remind the children
Of the first generation that arrived
All wanted to go back home
But somewhere between planting and chopping
Babies was born
Born away from home with restless and wandering souls
Some would have amnesia
Some would just know
Even today many of us still yearn to walk in the Fenda*
Kinda like the anthem says
May we forever stand true to our God, True to our native land
I am one of those who never returned from the marketplace
But yes, Life goes on
My story part of a bigger story
Represents the missing parts of the Djali’s tale
We ride out
On our return departure
we take chariots, Motherships, Arkestras, trains, dreams and moonbeams
I was born in a sea of Blackness in Gary, Indiana
Always learning, Yearning, No dust settling
I learned dem blue notes on a GoolaBox listening to a BoomBox
We set the table, we ate together
We journeyed south in a deuce and a quarter
Back then it was pop, not soda
It was jivin, not jonin
I grew up hearing “here we go Looptiloop, here we go Looptila”
I would later learn that in the Congo
Lubilu means to go quickly
And Lubila means to shout
So together to go back and forth quickly with a shout
To go to a fro
Back and forth quickly with a shout
We definitely know what that’s all about
2x
Lubilu, Lubila
Making the Invisible, Visible
Lubilu, Lubila
Making the Invisible, Visible
I am a descendant of wandering and restless souls
Who were in search of a place,
in search of a home
I inherited their blessings
I inherited their load
We are the very ones we’ve been waiting for
Reclaiming the pyramids through
Study and Libations
Today in the village courtyard
There is music playing
There is a couple having a marriage feast
The music continues
Another couple is arguing
The same music plays
The chief dies
His sister son is crowned
The music plays
Elders pass on
Children are born
The same music plays
Life is coming and going
And coming and Going
Life is continuous
So much changed in the ’30s
In Stono in 1739
They took the drums
But the strings carried on when we couldn’t bop bop
The 1830s came the Blues, that blackness and how we talk that talk
That came strong too
Mama Zora saw the 1930s unfold and she continued to let the story be told
Look at all of these time-capsules and memory boards our ancestors left behind
It’s in the music the art, the quilts and the soil
It tells a truth
A truth heard everywhere
So I’m gonna Jump at the sun
And at night we gonna still jump fa-sho
Cause there’s a lamp in our souls
That lamp allows me to hit a crooked lick with a straight stick
C’mon y’all lets continue to jump at the sun.
Outro
Lubilu, Lubila
Making the Invisible, Visible
Lubilu, Lubila
Making the Invisible, Visible
