Dangu Rangu
(by The CUMC Community Band)
Central United Methodist Church near Central Ave. / Palm Ln.
An ensemble made up of volunteer Church members performs for a Sunday School class.
Central United Methodist Church near Central Ave. / Palm Ln.
An ensemble made up of volunteer Church members performs for a Sunday School class.
There’s a version of history that says that the people who built the ancient cities, towns, and temples that still stand throughout Arizona today “mysteriously disappeared.” But that story is a myth. When the Spanish first visited the Phoenix area in the 1500s, the local people were not living in the ancient sites around the Valley, but they maintained an active relationship with them through which the people honored their history and heritage and celebrated their future. Indigenous communities today still maintain these active relationships, but this often means fighting in the legal system to preserve their sacred spaces against developers or mining companies. Still today, the idea that “no one is there means that no one is using it” continues to justify unchecked progress in its own prophetic self-fulfillment, deleting our collective memory just fast enough to ensure that it continues to proceed unhindered. When the U.S. Army invaded Mexico, occupying and imposing martial law in Santa Fe in 1846, the Salt River Valley was home to a less-urban indigenous community than had existed when the sacred sites were at their peak of activity. Around 1400, changing environmental conditions and other factors made comprehensive maintenance of the sprawling canal system untenable, or no longer worth the cost. Communities de-centralized, and this, along with the growing presence of Europeans to the South and East over the next 400 years, led to changes in lifeways so that Sce:dagĭ Mu:val Va’aki and other locations became sacred places for the celebration of history and heritage rather than centers of daily life. This was still the case when the Salt River Valley became part of the U.S. territory of New Mexico with the conclusion of the Mexican American War in 1848. The United States ended up carrying out genocide against the local indigenous communities during the rest of the 19th Century. Laws were passed restricting their water rights, banning their traditions, and boarding schools were established which were filled with kidnapped children. They were stolen from their parents to “save their souls,” and along with them the U.S. hoped to take away the future of these communities by separating this youngest generation from their traditional knowledge. Many of these children died from illness at the boarding schools and were buried in unmarked graves. This tragic past has never truly been reconciled; it’s a painful living memory for indigenous communities today and it’s a dark cloud that perpetually hangs over the ostensibly sun-shiney Valley of the Sun. This cycle of growth, decay, erasure, and replacement is reflected in the development of Downtown Phoenix. Various eras of each neighborhood within Downtown have come and gone in waves, and different bits and pieces of each era remain—as if they are points where the waves of development were observed in a moment in time, perceived as a particle, and trapped that way forever in the big, beautiful research study of time while the rest of the neighborhood continued to evolve around them. In some cases, these waves of development are reflected by local institutions that moved over time, following the path of population growth. Central United Methodist Church was founded in Phoenix in 1872, meeting on the banks of the Salt River. They later moved into a brick church at Central Ave. and Monroe St., then in 1926 to a Greco-Roman style building at Central and Pierce St. The Westward Ho popped up on the other side of Central just a couple of years later, and that may have contributed to CUMC finally moving to the beautiful campus at Central Ave. and Palm Ln. in 1950. Over the years, Midtown grew up around the church, the neighborhoods shrank, and the congregation shrank as folks continued to move away from the Valley’s urban core. The COVID Pandemic was a crippling blow—though around a hundred members continued to regularly worship and arts organizations such as The Phoenix Symphony held concerts and auditions in the church’s cathedral-like sanctuary, Central United Methodist Church closed in 2024. The building is preserved by a consortium of non-profits, but the church—which had moved around with the community it served over more than a hundred years—is now just a memory, like the neighborhoods around it, consumed by redevelopment. Neither of the older CUMC structures still stands, and the ground they both sat on has been built over multiple times in the intervening years. This recording is of a performance for a Sunday School class by a volunteer group of church members. They are playing the traditional Shona piece Dangu Rangu on a pair of mbira dzavadzimu, from Zimbabwe, where one of the members has studied from a local artist who was recognized for fusing traditional mbira music with Biblical storytelling. The intriguing appearance of mbira dzavadzimu with both this group and the Transcaucasian Choir of the Sonoran Desert (see “Standing in the Rock”) was a surprise to our research team, and we consider this to be a relevant topic for future study. Along with the music one member narrates a folk story on the topic of faith in the midst of struggle. In the background, they include sound effects from Downtown Phoenix to set the scene for the story with an ambience familiar to the children. Some of audio comes from the Downtown Valley Metro trains.
(Some of the information in these liner notes is fictional, presented here in the attempt of satire)
(Some of the information in these liner notes is fictional, presented here in the attempt of satire)
LYRICS
“Hey everybody, thanks again for listening tonight. Uh, this next one that we’re gonna do for you is a traditional folk story told over a traditional accompaniment of a traditional, uh, Shona mbira song called Dangu Rangu. It’s a really beautiful one. I hope you all enjoy it. Thanks. Kick it.”
Once upon a time, in a small corner of the world, in a tiny little village, there was this Little Girl. This girl was filled with curiosity, and so every day would sit in the doorway of her home watching the lives of the people pass them by.
She saw Old Man get up in the mornings and walk across the village square to say his prayers, and then walk back home. Each day, Old Man was hunched over a little bit more. Little Girl could hear his knees creaking with each step more and more every day, and it was obvious to anybody looking on that it was getting harder and harder for this Old Man to make his daily walk across the square.
Little Girl also watched Young Woman. She would go out into her fields and sow her crops, hunching her own back to toil in the dirt, to coax from the seeds the plants that would provide food for herself and her family. But on some harvest days, Young Woman didn’t come back with enough food for herself and her husband, Young Man, and their son, Little Boy.
And Young Man – each day he would take doting care of Little Boy. As they waited for Young Woman to return from the fields, they would hope that the day’s labors were fruitful. But more often than not, Young Woman’s pains were in vain, and she returned in a foul mood. Young Man constantly put up with Young Woman’s discourtesies, no matter how harsh they became, and when there was only enough food for Little Boy, Young Woman and Young Man both went hungry for the night.
Little Girl couldn’t understand why all these people would continue going through this daily exercise in drudgery. She went to Old Woman and asked her:
What makes these people get up every morning, just to suffer through the same things day after day, just to watch it all get worse?
Old Woman saw the spark of curiosity in Little Girl’s eyes, so she said,
Why don’t you ask them yourself?
So, the next morning, Little Girl left her front door and approached Old Man as she saw him returning across the square after his prayers. She said to him,
Old Man, each day I see you get up, walk across the square to say your prayers, and walk back again. Each day your back is hunched more, and more. Each day I hear your knees creaking louder. Why do you keep doing it? What makes you get up in the morning?
Well,
Said Old Man,
I know one of these days that my knees will be plush as a pillow. My back will stand straight, and I’ll be able to sprint across the square. I’ll be able to fly across the sky. I keep walking because I know when that day comes it will be all the more wonderful because of all the days that I struggled across the square.
And Little Girl looked at Old Man askance, and Old Man just said,
Just you wait and see.
Now, not satisfied by Old Man’s explanation, Little Girl went to the field to find Young Woman. She brought water with her because, as she had expected, she found Young Woman covered in sweat, toiling in the dirt. After Young Woman had taken a drink, Little Girl asked her,
Young Woman, I see you every day coming out to the field to labor. Trying as hard as you can to grow enough food for your husband and for your child. But I know that many days, you don’t come back with enough food for all of you. Sometimes you come back with nothing, and then you become angry, and then ...
Little Girl trailed off. She looked up, and Young Woman had a single tear slowly melting down her cheek.
I know. I know some nights my family goes hungry and most nights I go hungry myself, and I know that I don’t love Young Man like he deserves, and I do regret it so.
Little Girl interjected,
Then what makes you wake up every morning?
Young Woman said,
Because I also know that one of these days, everything will be different. One day, the soil and the Earth will give me thanks for the care that I’ve taken of them. My husband and my son won’t go hungry, and I’ll have nothing to be angry about, nothing to be ashamed of, and I’ll be able to love ... I’ll be able to love Young Man like he so deserves.
One day?
Little Girl asked, skeptically.
Young Woman’s face formed into a look of valiant determination, and these words fell from her mouth:
Just you wait and see.
Little Girl still didn’t have the answer she was looking for, so she found Young Man and Little Boy at their hut. Young Man was preparing a meal for when Young Woman returned from the fields – it was very small – and Little Girl said,
Each day I see you taking diligent care of Little Boy, doing everything you can to keep him healthy. I see you taking care of your home, preparing food, when you have it. But then I see that so often Young Woman comes home with nothing. Sometimes, you all go hungry. And then sometimes, because she is ashamed, Young Woman mistreats you. So why, why, do you keep putting up with it all? What makes you wake up in the morning?
Young man answered,
Well, one day I know that Young Woman is going to find her way in that field. One day, none of us will ever go hungry again. Little Boy will grow up healthy and strong, and Young Woman and I will grow old together. She won’t have to be ashamed of herself anymore and she’ll love me the right way. She’ll love me like I love her. Just you wait and see.
Thoroughly disappointed in the results of her survey, Little Girl found Old Woman that evening and accosted her.
Old Woman,
Said Little Girl,
I did as you instructed. I asked everyone in the town what makes them wake up in the morning.
And?
Asked Old Woman.
What did you find out?
They’re all crazy!
Replied Little Girl.
Old Man said one day soon, he’s going to fly, and Young Woman said one day soon, the ground is going to thank her for taking care of it, and Young Woman ... Young Man said that they’ll never go hungry again, that Young Woman will start loving him like she should, and they all just kept saying ‘Things will be better, just wait and see.’ What the heck is that all about?
Old Woman laughed.
It sounds to me like you’ve found your answer.
She said.
Huh?
Little Girl was nonplussed
Life is full of suffering. The only reason people wake up in the morning is because they’re crazy enough to believe things will get better. They’re crazy enough to hope.
Hope.
Said the Little Girl. She wasn’t asking a question so much as testing the taste of the word in her mouth, but Old Woman replied anyway.
Yes, crazy enough to hope. And one of these days, you’ll be crazy too. Just you wait and see.
Once upon a time, in a small corner of the world, in a tiny little village, there was this Little Girl. This girl was filled with curiosity, and so every day would sit in the doorway of her home watching the lives of the people pass them by.
She saw Old Man get up in the mornings and walk across the village square to say his prayers, and then walk back home. Each day, Old Man was hunched over a little bit more. Little Girl could hear his knees creaking with each step more and more every day, and it was obvious to anybody looking on that it was getting harder and harder for this Old Man to make his daily walk across the square.
Little Girl also watched Young Woman. She would go out into her fields and sow her crops, hunching her own back to toil in the dirt, to coax from the seeds the plants that would provide food for herself and her family. But on some harvest days, Young Woman didn’t come back with enough food for herself and her husband, Young Man, and their son, Little Boy.
And Young Man – each day he would take doting care of Little Boy. As they waited for Young Woman to return from the fields, they would hope that the day’s labors were fruitful. But more often than not, Young Woman’s pains were in vain, and she returned in a foul mood. Young Man constantly put up with Young Woman’s discourtesies, no matter how harsh they became, and when there was only enough food for Little Boy, Young Woman and Young Man both went hungry for the night.
Little Girl couldn’t understand why all these people would continue going through this daily exercise in drudgery. She went to Old Woman and asked her:
What makes these people get up every morning, just to suffer through the same things day after day, just to watch it all get worse?
Old Woman saw the spark of curiosity in Little Girl’s eyes, so she said,
Why don’t you ask them yourself?
So, the next morning, Little Girl left her front door and approached Old Man as she saw him returning across the square after his prayers. She said to him,
Old Man, each day I see you get up, walk across the square to say your prayers, and walk back again. Each day your back is hunched more, and more. Each day I hear your knees creaking louder. Why do you keep doing it? What makes you get up in the morning?
Well,
Said Old Man,
I know one of these days that my knees will be plush as a pillow. My back will stand straight, and I’ll be able to sprint across the square. I’ll be able to fly across the sky. I keep walking because I know when that day comes it will be all the more wonderful because of all the days that I struggled across the square.
And Little Girl looked at Old Man askance, and Old Man just said,
Just you wait and see.
Now, not satisfied by Old Man’s explanation, Little Girl went to the field to find Young Woman. She brought water with her because, as she had expected, she found Young Woman covered in sweat, toiling in the dirt. After Young Woman had taken a drink, Little Girl asked her,
Young Woman, I see you every day coming out to the field to labor. Trying as hard as you can to grow enough food for your husband and for your child. But I know that many days, you don’t come back with enough food for all of you. Sometimes you come back with nothing, and then you become angry, and then ...
Little Girl trailed off. She looked up, and Young Woman had a single tear slowly melting down her cheek.
I know. I know some nights my family goes hungry and most nights I go hungry myself, and I know that I don’t love Young Man like he deserves, and I do regret it so.
Little Girl interjected,
Then what makes you wake up every morning?
Young Woman said,
Because I also know that one of these days, everything will be different. One day, the soil and the Earth will give me thanks for the care that I’ve taken of them. My husband and my son won’t go hungry, and I’ll have nothing to be angry about, nothing to be ashamed of, and I’ll be able to love ... I’ll be able to love Young Man like he so deserves.
One day?
Little Girl asked, skeptically.
Young Woman’s face formed into a look of valiant determination, and these words fell from her mouth:
Just you wait and see.
Little Girl still didn’t have the answer she was looking for, so she found Young Man and Little Boy at their hut. Young Man was preparing a meal for when Young Woman returned from the fields – it was very small – and Little Girl said,
Each day I see you taking diligent care of Little Boy, doing everything you can to keep him healthy. I see you taking care of your home, preparing food, when you have it. But then I see that so often Young Woman comes home with nothing. Sometimes, you all go hungry. And then sometimes, because she is ashamed, Young Woman mistreats you. So why, why, do you keep putting up with it all? What makes you wake up in the morning?
Young man answered,
Well, one day I know that Young Woman is going to find her way in that field. One day, none of us will ever go hungry again. Little Boy will grow up healthy and strong, and Young Woman and I will grow old together. She won’t have to be ashamed of herself anymore and she’ll love me the right way. She’ll love me like I love her. Just you wait and see.
Thoroughly disappointed in the results of her survey, Little Girl found Old Woman that evening and accosted her.
Old Woman,
Said Little Girl,
I did as you instructed. I asked everyone in the town what makes them wake up in the morning.
And?
Asked Old Woman.
What did you find out?
They’re all crazy!
Replied Little Girl.
Old Man said one day soon, he’s going to fly, and Young Woman said one day soon, the ground is going to thank her for taking care of it, and Young Woman ... Young Man said that they’ll never go hungry again, that Young Woman will start loving him like she should, and they all just kept saying ‘Things will be better, just wait and see.’ What the heck is that all about?
Old Woman laughed.
It sounds to me like you’ve found your answer.
She said.
Huh?
Little Girl was nonplussed
Life is full of suffering. The only reason people wake up in the morning is because they’re crazy enough to believe things will get better. They’re crazy enough to hope.
Hope.
Said the Little Girl. She wasn’t asking a question so much as testing the taste of the word in her mouth, but Old Woman replied anyway.
Yes, crazy enough to hope. And one of these days, you’ll be crazy too. Just you wait and see.
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