This episodic work recalls hundreds of years of African heritage, with robust dancing and changing music. The three river settings – the Nile, the Mississippi, and the Harlem – act as a metaphor for the journey.

“I’ve known rivers: 
I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in the human veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.”
–Langston Hughes, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”