While in Kemet, my partner in crime Brittani and I were caught on several occasions jamming to the music on our iPods. Fortunately, that was the only electronic device that survived my many strokes of "bad luck" (which I now interpret to simply be ma'at...where there was a negative occurrence, a positive instance was just around the corner). Well, I was sure to only listen to songs that complemented the majesty of my surroundings...one of my favorites that will now forever remind me of my first trip to Kemet is by Isley Jasper Isley..."Caravan of Love." The music video they released does the lyrics no justice, and therefore, I'll have to take it upon myself to create a video for the song. (I'll post it up here once Brittani and I have finished the documentary :o) In the meantime, the song will serve as the perfect background music for this post...***
Are you ready for the time of your life? It's time to stand up and fight...
We embarked on this journey with a sense of purpose. We had read the most select literature on where we were going. We were bring our life experiences, as Africans in the western hemisphere, with us across the pond. Thus, we were ready for the time of our lives...ready to fight in the intellectual battle that has concerned Kemet for millenia. We were ready to stand up against the interpreters who had it wrong, ready to fight for future generations who will learn about our ancestors. We were ready to fight for both our past and our future by learning in the best way we could.
...Hand in hand we'll take a caravan to the Motherland...
It wasn't just individuals traveling to Kemet. Our group became a family. "Hand in hand" we sought to understand the original message passed down Y our ancestors. I got to know each and every one of my companions during this life-changing experience, and they are my family now. Literally (on the camel ride) and figuratively, we were a caravan; we were a group of travelers moving together in purpose, in direction in order to trade ideas and grow in intellectual wealth. In addition, we came to grow on a personal level, learning how to work with one another, live with one another, and work in synergy to enrich lives. If that's not a caravan of love, I don't know what is.
...one by one we're gonna stand with the pride, one that can't be denied...
This trip has really solidified one idea for me. IT'S UNDENIABLE. After going to Kemet and witnessing its majesty and wonders for yourself, you cannot deny that these people were African in both their origin and culture. The sense of pride that comes from that realization is what many are afraid of. To give Africans the pride they deserve in their heritage is the last thing many people on this earth want to do. That pride can be their pride too...
...From the highest mountain, and valley low, we'll join together, with hearts of gold...
This line of the song is very profound to me as it relates to my experience in Kemet. We climbed Kemet's "mountains" to explore the tombs of the nobles. We climbed up into the Giza pyramids; Father, son, and grandson Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure...we saw the many a benben on our way back from Abu Simbel, the primordial mound that arose from the waters of creation. We trekked through Kemet's "valleys" at the Valley of the Kings and Queens, we saw the sun's rays cascade into the valley at St Maat where the workers who created Kemet's majestic structures resided. Our hearts, rather our ib (the heart-mind) was gleaming like gold, the color of Re's body, the material of eternity that the people of Kemet so chose for their eternal representations, the material that was abundant in the land of Nubia, or Nebu - literally the land of gold.
...Now the children of the world can see, there's a better way for us to be. The place where mankind was born, and so neglected and torn, torn apart.
And in the final lines of that verse, the purpose is recaptured. Now we, the children of the world, are able to see what must be done. I am back in the states with the most sirene sense of direction, purpose, and objective. I am as solid as Hatshepsut's tekenu (or obelisk) at Ipet Isut (known as Karnak). I have a foundation now. And I know that we must take more and more students to Kemet. And finally, we must save Kemet. We must save it from misinterpretation. We must save it from damaging "restoration." We must save Kemet from Egypt, really. From the influences of modernity that threaten to turn it into a whimsical themepark and Disneyfy its story rather than truly restoring it to the sacred intellectual birthplace that it once was (the place where mankind was born). Kemet has, for thousands of years, been neglected and torn apart, and it is our job, as scholars, as Africans, to put the pieces back together, to venerate our ancestors, and to honor their memory with reverence and performance. It is, as I have said many times, our purpose to outdo them.
As I looked into the eyes of the statues at the Luxor Museum in Waset (modern day Luxor), it came to me...if there was any reason why the people of Kemet built these structures, painted these scenes, sculpted these statues, It is Maat. We look at their faces carved in the stone, and 4000 some-ought years later, they look back at us...beckoning us....telling us to do the opposite of what the "childlike" Greeks and Romans did...urging us to take the time to understand, study, learn. They have the answers to all of our questions...as they did back then. And even if every stone in Kemet crumbled today, we, with this trip, have received the message. We will pick up where they left off.
In Maat,
Ang
2 comments:
I always like your posts Ang.
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