[Harp-L] signifyin'

[Will Jennings <will@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This is an oral tradition common to many cultures and is a practice
often used in both informal and very formal social contexts.

Street corner 'ranking' contests might be rapid exchanges between two  
or more 'signifying' performers:
 "Your mama is...", or "Your so poor you...", or "If you fell into a  
well, they could pump dumb & ugly for a week straight..."
The give and take might ebb and flow until the onlookers might begin  
to favor one performer and join in
in ranking the eventual loser.

In some Indigenous/First Nation People's social structures, a similar  
exchange might be more tightly structured by form,
rhythms, cadences...and these exchanges might be used to settle  
criminal or civil disputes, with the parties in question
either speaking for themselves, or having specific members of the  
tribe or clan serve in their proxy (um, think trial lawyers...).
As the exchanges become more pitched, the attending group witnessing  
the performance would begin to take
a preferred side and this might eventually lead to a settled dispute.  
A fluent and adept use of language, subtle word plays,
double entendre, layered meanings and clever twists of phrase would  
be especially prized and favored.

Hip hop and rap borrow strongly from these traditions. R&B, jazz,  
swing, hillbilly swing, etc. all do this as well.
Calypso singers, dub singers, chanters, etc. all use certain forms to  
exercise contemporary, extemporaneous event narration,
moralizing, narrative with social, personal, or political messaging.   
Some churches used pulpit and choir/audience call and
response to impart 'hidden' messages that were subversive to the  
dominant culture/power structure.

It's not just about raunch or taboo subject matter. Poetry Slams  
might be a very good example of a current,
performative example of 'signifyin'

-Will Jennings