10 APRIL 1926, Page 17

The Book of American Negro Spirituals (Chapman and Hall. 12s.

6d.) gives the words and music of those remarkable

• expressions. of the genius of the American negro that combine the throb of African rhythms and the cry of a people once oppressed, With a child-like, yet compelling phrasing of Christian sentiment. Will it be understood in England ?

We hope so. But to appreciate the majesty of, for instance, "Go down Moses Way down in Egypt's land Tell ole Pharaoh To let my people go" we must hear Africans chanting it in their own church, somewhere down_ the Dixie trail.