After listening to many alternate versions of “Mary Don’t
You Weep” I felt that the version by Inez Andrews resonates with me the most. I
wondered why though. I wondered if it was the fact that it was song as gospel.
I’ve listened to gospel music almost my entire life. As a result I stopped
listening to Gospel music. However there was something strikingly peculiar
about this song. The same could be said about a lot of gospels sung by the
African American race. It’s as if I can feel the emotion with the high and
lows’ in Inez’s voice. It becomes nostalgic, but not in the sense of
remembering the abundance of gospel music in my past. It goes beyond my past
and I could feel it in my bones. Every time I here old African American gospel
music I can feel the howling of my ancestors and they’re thoughts murmuring in
my bones. I can close my eyes and feel a
wave of emotion crash into to me.
So I saw in Anthony’s post for Mary Don’t You Weep He
provided the class with some history of the song. I thought I should dive deeper. So Mary Don’t
you Weep eludes to two very important stories told in the Bible. One of which
was the story of Saint Mary of Bethany and the raising of her brother Lazarus.
In earlier centuries artwork was mainly religious. The story of Mary of Bethany
is one of the most important pieces of artwork in those times. There are many renditions
of this painting by many masters’ that share a similar context whilst alluding to
various contexts within the bible as well as evoking specific emotions. One
version of the painting of Mary of Bethany and Jesus, which happens to be my
favorite, is done by Velasquez. We see a
picture of a maid, and we see a painting in the background that’s a visual
representation of the story from the bible. Or it could be a mirror? Velasquez utilizations
of mirrors keep his paintings fresh with controversy and room for thought.
