Bridgewater: The Hymn

At the beginning of today's service at First Parish Bridgewater -- the church that started the town and of which we are active members -- Pam noticed something interesting about the prelude we would soon be hearing. The title of the hymn was "Bridgewater," and its composer was born in the town.

Because of Pam's quick thinking, I was able to get ready to record our organist Duncan Vinson opening the service with the first stanza of the song. It was an appropriate way to begin what turned out to be a thought-provoking service about the competing religious ideas of two founders of the United States: Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. Given that Lewis Edson lived from 1748 to 1820, he must have written this hymn during the years in which the debates of these original frenemies were most active.

Those who wish to sing along have several choices, according to the Bridgewater entry on Hymnary.org (an obscure synonym for hymnal, this site is like the IMDb of church music). Edson did not write words for his tune, but three alternatives were written by others:

• Great God, Attend While Zion Sings by Isaac Watts
• To God the Father, God the Son also by Isaac Watts, who apparently liked this tune
• My favorite: Assembled in our school once more by Dr. L. Mason

My first thought was that Edson might have composed the hymn with the famous Bridgewater Normal School in mind. But history happens in order, and even though that school (now our employer, BSU) is old, it was not founded until 20 years after Edson had died, far away in Woodstock, New York.

My second thought was to wonder whether this piece had been played in our church during the composer's lifetime. If so, it would not have been on the historic organ used today, which was constructed for our third (1848) sanctuary in 1852.

A drawing of the E. & G. G. Hook Opus 132 (1852) organ hangs in the Conservatory (music room) of our Bridgewater home, Cloverfield. The name of the artist "Phyllis" appears in the lower right; the artist Phyllis Packard was a long-time member of the church, in which her daughter Nancy served as music director.

The Bridgewater of Red Earth

Given her riparian name, it is perhaps surprising that Dee Dee Bridgewater identifies most strongly with soils. The title of her 2007 documentary is given as either Red Earth or Motherland, the former being much more fully descriptive of the journey she describes.

RED EARTH

On one level, Red Earth (for which there is no listing on her IMDb page) is a film about the making of her 2010 album of the same name. On deeper level, though, it is indeed the story of her West Africa homecoming -- a journey that brings her as close as she can get to her motherland. The cruel vagaries of the Middle Passage and the arbitrary dissection of the African continent mean that Mali is not exactly her home "country," but rather a country in the land of her foremothers and forefathers.

Mali is a former French colony in West Africa that is landlocked and is currently on the verge of dividing into two landlocked countries, as occurred last year in Sudan. Bridgewater spent most of her time in Bamako, in the area still held by the government. In early 2012 the entire northeast -- including Tombouctou -- has become an increasingly unstable insurgent state.

Click map to enlarge
Read more at Political Geography Now

The term "red earth" refers to the heavily oxidized, clay-rich soils that Bridgewater (who acquired the surname from her first husband) found in both Mali and her home in Memphis. More deeply even than the musical similarities she found, this coincidence convinced her that she had found her root community, and is celebrated throughout the movie. Red soils -- perhaps ultisols in both cases -- are those that have been depleted by eons of leaching; they convey vast depths of time and profound struggle, as does her preferred music, the blues. Bridgewater's musical journey is a metaphor for her personal journey and of the melding of her own experience with that of the place where she has found home. She works alongside her long-time jazz colleagues and new-found Malian musicians to create a new kind of blues, played on traditional instruments of Mali and telling the stories of both lands.


One of the most important stories is that of force marriage in Mali. It is still common -- giving Mali the third-highest rate of juvenile marriage in the world -- but is now illegal and starting to wane, based on the efforts of some of the musicians who came to Bridgewater's project. Because of their preliminary successes, she was convinced of the need to sing their story, though she had been reluctant at first. It is good that she is joining the effort, since the problem of forced marriage continues to plague the region.

It was interesting to find so much to appreciate in a Bridgewater story that initially has only the coincidence of a name to recommend it. As it turns out, the story resonates with much of what we find in our own community, through our growing connections in Africa and especially through the education and outreach of Khakatay, our West African drumming ensemble.