Call and Response
Rabbi Shoshana Boyd Gelfand celebrates the power of call and response, one of the most primal human interactions.
Rabbi Shoshana Boyd Gelfand examines the phenomenon of call and response, one of the most primal human interactions.
She explains that, "whether we鈥檙e calling our mother on the phone or crying out to God, when we call we hope for a response. That鈥檚 because we are social creatures, yearning for connection, so responding to a call seems to be hard-wired into us."
Shoshana leads us into deep space, tuning in to the Arecibo Message, humanity's first attempt to call out to unseen alien races. The irony is that, if aliens respond we may not even be able to understand them. Shoshana admits that, despite all her prayers, she's never heard the voice of God herself, and wonders if she would understand if a divine response was to arrive.
Drawing upon musical examples ranging from Count Basie and Bach to Simon and Garfunkel, Shoshana reveals that the call and response form has long fascinated singers and composers. She explains she has always been amazed at Bach's ability to write music for the piano that lets the left and right hand enter a dialogue, communicating back and forth through melody.
The communal Jewish prayer of the Kaddish, the electric energy between Baptist pastor and congregation and the beauty of the Islamic call to prayer are all explored as Shoshana considers the interpersonal bonding that call and response facilitates.
She concludes that faith itself can be defined as the ever-present hope that, when we call out from the depths, we will receive a response. It may not always be the response that we were expecting. It may even be silence. But, fundamentally, we call out and hope for an answer as a reminder that we are not alone.
Presenter: Shoshana Boyd Gelfand
Producer: Max O'Brien
A TBI production for 麻豆社 Radio 4
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Music Played
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The Count Basie Orchestra
Splanky
- The Atomic Mr Basie.
- Marathon Media International.
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Matthew Camidge & Charles Hylton Stewart
Psalm 130: "Out of the Deep Have I Called Unto Thee"
Performer: Choir of St John鈥檚 College, Cambridge.- The World of Psalms.
- Decca Music Group.
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Johann Sebastian Bach
Invention No. 8 in F
Performer: Sir Andr谩s Schiff.- Bach: Two and Three Part Inventions.
- Decca Music Group.
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Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, I. Allegro con brio
Performer: Nikolaus Harnoncourt & Concentus Musicus Wien.- Beethoven:Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5.
- Sony Music.
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Rev. R.C. Crenshaw and Congregation
I Wonder Will We Meet Again?
- The Alan Lomax Collection: Southern Journey, Vol. 1 - Voices from the American South.
- Rounder.
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Zamir Chorale of Boston
Kaddish
- Salamone Rossi Hebreo: Baroque Music for the Synagogue and the Royal Court.
- Zamir Chorale of Boston.
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Simon & Garfunkel
Scarborough Fair / Canticle
- Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.
- Columbia.
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Harry Chapin
Someone Keeps Calling My Name
- Portrait Gallery.
- Elektra.
Readings
Title: Sirens of Titan
Author: Kurt Vonnegut
Publisher: Delacorte
听
Title: Searching for Interstellar Communications
Author: Guiseppe Cocconi and Philip Morrison
Publisher: Nature
听
Title: Tales from Ovid
Author: Ted Hughes
Publisher: Faber & Faber
听
Title: 'Tis Dawn! I Hear the Loud Muezzin's Call
Author: Omar Khayyam
Publisher: Aegitas
听
Title: Talmud Design and the Internet
Author: Mel Alexenberg
Publisher: The CAENO Foundation
Broadcasts
- Sun 2 Sep 2018 06:05麻豆社 Radio 4
- Sun 2 Sep 2018 23:30麻豆社 Radio 4
- Sun 16 Apr 2023 06:05麻豆社 Radio 4
- Sun 16 Apr 2023 23:30麻豆社 Radio 4