🎵 Episode 1 – Our First Language Was Music: Tracing the melody from biblical beginnings

Hello, Family 👋

I’ve been chasing a thought: long before we spoke, we sang. Music was our first language — a universal tongue woven into worship, joy, resistance, and memory. This series is my invitation for us to lean in, to feel the rhythm of our ancestors, and tune into truths that often go unheard.

Today, we begin at the beginning… with biblical times. Let’s meet Jubal, the world's first musician.

🎼 In the Garden of Sound: Jubal, Father of All Musicians

Ever heard of Jubal? He shows up once in Genesis 4:21 — but it's a game changer:

“His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play harp and flute.” (biblehub.com, en.wikipedia.org)

Talk about legacy. A direct descendent of Cain, Jubal wasn’t just musically gifted — he became the origin story of musical culture. Stringed instruments, wind instruments — he’s credited with them all. A reminder: music wasn’t an add-on; it was humanity’s first tool for connection, creation, and code-switching emotion into sound.

🎉 Miriam, Song, and Freedom

Fast forward to Exodus — Miriam steps up after the Red Sea opens and sings the first official “victory jam.” Music, movement, memory locked together; this was resistance, worship, and unity in one beat. It spoke louder than walls ever could. We weren’t just built to endure — we were built to harmonize with hope.

🎶 David and the Psalms: Heart Songs

David’s story is jam-packed with music — from wolf-shepherd to king, he tuned hearts with harp and psalm. The Psalms became communal prayers — songs that stitched together loss, joy, doubt, praise — entire lifetimes encoded in melody. Our modern worship echoes these melodies today — a timeless chord woven through Black churches and global faith.

🎻 Episode 2 Sneak Peek: Africa Before Black America

Now here’s where it gets juicy. From biblical hymns, we travel south to ancient Africa— centuries before the Middle Passage, when musical traditions ran deep and wide:

• West African griots—storytellers, genealogists, truth-tellers—played instruments like the kora, balafon, and hypnotic talking drums (ashkenaz.com).

• The kora—a harp-lute hybrid of 21 strings—spawned living legacies like Toumani Diabaté (1965–2024), who carried centuries of rhythm into modern consciousness (en.wikipedia.org).

• Talking drums spoke the language of community—they were announcements, alerts, celebrations—all encoded in pitch and tone (pilotguides.com).

Africa was already singing before slavery. Music was their language of unity, resistance, education, and authority.

✨ Why This Matters — And Why You Should Care

Understanding origins means claiming legacy. When we see music as rebellion, as worship, as heritage — we’re not just listeners, we’re caretakers of a sacred lineage. From Jubal’s lyre to the griot’s drum, these traditions weren’t optional—they were essential.

And so our present — gospel, blues, jazz, hip-hop — isn’t just entertainment. It’s continued scripture. I’ll show you that in Episode 2, where we link rhythms across oceans and centuries.

🎧 Stay With Me

• Episode 2: Africa Before Black America — where we trace ancestral rhythms, instruments, and voices that shaped our sound today.

• Share, comment, vibe with me in the Black Space — our safe, healing corner for truth-telling, teaching, and holding space.

🙏 Parting Note

Music wasn’t invented for TikTok trends or relaxing Spotify playlists. It was encoded in our bones — the original language of spirit and soul. Watching where it started is like reading the first verse of an epic song—except this one’s still being written… by us.

See you in Episode 2. Until then — listen for the rhythm that whisper your name.

Let me know if you’d like song recommendations, biblical footnotes, or ways to integrate this into a classroom or community event.