The appearance of religious themes at 59th annual Grammy Awards Ceremony began with Chance the Rapper accepting the first award — for best new artist. “Glory be to God. I claim this victory in the name of the Lord,” said the artist, who won three Grammys total, including best rap album and rap performance.
Later, A Tribe Called Quest mixed religion with politics in their performance of “We the People,” joined onstage by Anderson, Paak, Consequence and Busta Rhymes. Rhymes thanked President Trump for his “unsuccessful attempt at the Muslim ban” as performers, including a woman in a hijab, knocked down a symbolic wall constructed onstage.
Indeed, it was mainly black artists who turned the spotlight on religion Sunday (Feb. 12) at the awards ceremony in Los Angeles, said the Rev. Broderick Greer of Grace-St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and School in Memphis, Tenn. “They don’t see the secular and the sacred as being two different things. This is an animated universe with spirits and life and diversity and lots of modes of giftedness that are happening all at once, and it’s not either-or; it’s both-and,” Greer said.
After these artists, the most memorable performance richest in religious imagery was Beyoncé’s. In her Grammy performance on Sunday night, Beyoncé has managed to morph herself into a myriad of divine women spanning multiple religions and cultures. The Virgin Mary; Yoruba deity Oshun, the African Goddess of Love and Beauty; Mami Wata, Mother of Water; Black Madonna; Durga, the Hindu Goddess and Mother of the Universe – those are the five main mythological and religious figures that influenced this performance. Beyoncé was wearing a stunning gold gown and crown, dripping in gold accessories.
McAlister, a professor of religion at Wesleyan University and scholar of Afro-Caribbean religions, like a number of viewers on Twitter, thought the pregnant singer’s appearance most strongly resembled the Yoruba deity Oshun, who is pictured in gold and yellow. Oshun is a Nigerian Yoruba deity of the river and fresh water, or goddess, in the Yoruba religion and is typically associated with water, purity, fertility, love, and sensuality.
But not all of the comparisons online were kind. Some charged the singer with both appropriation and blasphemy. No matter how people evaluate and comment Beyoncé’s appearance, it is obvious that she did something that will be hard to forget for long time.
Photo Credits: Public Broadcasting
