Throughout it’s history, the music of Kwanzaa celebrates the seven principles and cultgural impact of the holiday.
Photo by Jack Vartoogian/Getty Images
The holiday season is incomplete without music to cultivate the perfect vibe with family and friends. Who could forget Christmas classics like the brilliance of Donny Hatahway’s “This Christmas,” the youthful exuberance of The Jackson 5’s “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” the gospel influence of The Temptations’ “Silent Night” and Mariah Carey’s omnipresent holiday anthem “All I Want For Christmas?”
While Christmas music has become synonymous and ubiquitous with “the most wonderful time of the year, the music that celebrates Kwanzaa is often overlooked, or there is no awareness of its existence. To bring you up to speed on the history and evolution of the music, we at BET.com came up with Kwanzaa In Beats: The Cultural Significance of Music During the Celebration.
The origin story of Kwanzaa began on Dec. 26, 1966, in Los Angeles. Derived from the phrase “matunda ya kwanza,” which means “first fruits” in Swahili, Kwanzaa was created by Dr. Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University at Long Beach, when he was a founder member of the Black nationalist group the US Organization.
The purpose of the seven-day holiday is to highlight and celebrate the power of African-American family, community, and culture with a new principle each day. The seven principles are Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity), and Imani (Faith).
Sharing his vision for the holiday, Karenga said in an interview with the Democrat & Chronicle that “Kwanzaa transcends African culture to celebrate the universal: “the celebration of Kwanzaa is about embracing ethical principles and values … so the goodness of the world can be shared and enjoyed by us and everyone.”
One of the members of the US Organization who was present when the holiday was initially launched was the late James Heath, who would go on to become James Mtume (“Messenger” in Swahili), one of the most highly regarded musicians and producers of his generation. From its inception, Kwanzaa was intertwined with the Black music tradition and it still is.
Because Kwanzaa is less than 60 years old, it doesn’t have a robust songbook when compared to other contemporary holidays. However, some notable songs have been written to commemorate the first and only African-American holiday.
“Celebrate Kwanzaa,” reggae artist Aaron Nigel Smith and bass player Divinity Roxx released their tribute to the holiday in 2022. The two Grammy-nominated performers highlight the seven principles over a groove that conveys the diversity of the African Diaspora and shows the impact of Kwanzaa outside of the U.S.
One of the most well-known Kwanzaa songs was performed by soul icon Teddy Pendergrass. Released in 1998, “Happy Kwanzaa” is a funky ode to the holiday featuring one of the most renowned artists ever in Black music. The smooth vocal stylings of Pendergrass. The Kwanzaa setlist to celebrate Kwanzaa would be wanting if it didn’t include contributions from the children and Bunny Hill’s “Happy Happy Kwanzaa” gets the job done. Released in 1999, the song is from his projectHappy Happy Kwanzaa: Kwanzaa for the World, is lively and educational at the same time as it introduces children to the philosophy that undergirds the holiday.
While several other songs celebrate Kwanzaa, Jazz as a genre that has a long history of honoring Kwanzaa with original compositions and enhanced versions of other notable works. On Dec.30, The In The Tradition jazz ensemble, a group of musicians who play African-centric music, are headlining a Kwanzaa Celebration at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit. Since 1993, In The Tradition has performed for the Kwanzaa celebration to pay tribute to the true meaning of the holiday.
Olujimi Tafataona, the band leader and saxophonist of the group, expressed his immense pride in celebrating Kwanzaa with his musical gifts.
“We’re always excited when we take the stage. But during the Kwanzaa season, it’s very special for us and we love being inside the community and being a part of it and sharing our musical gift with the rest of the community,” Tafataona said.
Whether you drum in the tradition of the ancestors or you sing some of the aforementioned Kwanzaa songs, the major key is to remember the spirit of the first celebration that took place in 1966 and the ancestral memory that sparked the idea to create a holiday. At its core, Kwanzaa was created to be the conduit for Black liberation and Black music will always be the soundtrack of Black freedom.
As the holiday becomes more and more universal in Black communities, we can expect more anthems from conscious, mainstream artists and various musical performances that shed light on the beautiful holiday.
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