Suleimān’s Psalm, Chapter One, “Are You Willing to Reveal,” is Ammeah’s encounter with Street. Everything flows into Street, and Ammeah, the novel’s mystical character, asks Street whether he would reveal the lives of the folks who live along this stretch of Greene Street.
Chapter One, Suleimān’s Psalm, I Hold Aruseré, is Ammeah’s response to Street, telling Street who she is and what she professes.
Chapter One, Suleimān’s Psalm, Ammeah’s Riddle, is where Ammeah provides a riddle. The key to unlocking the riddle lies in the novel.
In Chapter One, Suleimān’s Psalm, Oshúka Favored This Fifth,” Ammeah explains that Suleimān’s cello is enchanted.
The sonata had no words, yet tonight’s performance felt poignant, almost confessional as Suleimān ponders over the impact his father has on his life and his music.
Chapter Four, Suleimān’s Psalm, “Middle Passage” is a rap sung by one of the kids who lives on Greene Street.
Chapter Five presents Suleimān’s lament.
Chapter Five, Suleimān’s Psalm, “My Heart Has Bloomed” is a poem, written by Clara when she was in love with the father of her first child, and has been set to music.
Chapter Ten, Suleimān’s Psalm, “Baby, I Was Wrong,” is part of Miss Clara’s Blues. Miss Clara’s lament over losing her child.
Chapter Ten, Suleimān’s Psalm, “Never Forgot Yo’ Name,” is part of Howard Preston’s Blues over losing Clara
Rāshid is infatuated with Suleimān and longs for connection; he was familiar with Suleimān’s melancholy.
Chapter Eleven: Rāshid took a deep breath and recalled how Diahanna first caught Suleimān’s attention—when she smiled and said, “You play music beautifully.” That brief admiration blinded him to how Diahanna sweated over Dwayne, Keisha’s brother. By the time he heard Suleimān’s neighborhood serenade, Rāshid realized Suleimān had been hopelessly blind. As the Swan Song pierced Rāshid’s chest, the depths of his and Suleimān’s desperate desires grew even more haunting with Scriabin’s Romance for Voice and Piano, as Suleimān latched “pleading” onto Christoph’s bow. Rāshid heard these words:
Miss Clara heard Christoph sing Die Träumerei and fashioned these words.
Chapter Fifteen, Suleimān’s Psalm, “’Cause I’m the Witness,” is Ammeah’s response to Miss Jessie when she asks, “Why are you doing this?”
Chapter Sixteen, Suleimān’s Psalm, How Could’ja, is part of Miss Ida Mae’s blues and is in response to her husband, Lester, being arrested.
Chapter Sixteen, Suleimān’s Psalm, “I Don’t Believe Ya’,” is Ida Mae’s response to Lester’s claim that he is innocent.
Chapter Sixteen, Suleimān’s Psalm, “Rooster Don’t Cry,” is another response from Ida Mae concerning Lester’s claim that he is innocent.
Chapter Nineteen, Suleimān’s Psalm, “When You Left Me, Clara,” is Howard Preston’s lament over Miss Clara’s disappearance.
When Keisha and Miss Floreen returned home, Miss Floreen had to break the news to Keisha that the baby was dead, and she heard Suleimān playing Max Bruch’s Kol Nidrei. As Miss Floreen listened to the sound seeping through the wall, it reached her heart, and words rose to meet the melody, capturing Kol Nidrei’s solemn syllabic proclamations and virtuoso vocal runs.
Méditation de Thaïs by Jules Massenet, Cello and Piano. Performed by Yo-Yo Ma with Kathryn Stott, Essential Yo-Yo Ma
Chapter Twenty: When Miss Floreen tells Keisha that the baby is dead, she hears Suleimān playing Méditation de Thaïs by Jules Massenet. The haunting resonance inspires Miss Floreen to sing what she knows best. She sings Remember This, and during Christoph’s emotional reprieve, Miss Floreen soothes Keisha, balancing her grief with a promise of peace. A moment of grace emerges, and Keisha feels it softening her from the inside out. She begins to feel what her mother has known but has never lived inside herself. Guided by her mother, Keisha embraces Christoph’s tune, and they sing:
At David Duquane’s funeral, the Rands grabbed Grief by the throat and swallowed it; that was until Mr. Demmings joined Suleimān, who choked Christoph by the throat. They plucked their strings to play Antonín Dvořák’s Romantic Piece, and their rendition sounded like a lament that cried, “Where are you, David?” Before they finished the first measure, the mourners had turned it into a round, and every part of the church echoed with love and sorrow; every voice asked why David had to leave them and where he had gone.
Chapter Twenty-One: After hearing the mourners gathering next door following David Duquan’s funeral, Jerome Jefferson figured David Duquan was one lucky little fellow. Then Jerome thought of that badass who called himself “June Bug,” and a swell of sadness rose.
Dude never got to see his son smile, Jerome thought as Suleimān walked in, holding Christoph by the neck.
Jerome wept.
He was inconsolable and reached for his son’s hand, holding on until his eyes stopped screaming for forgiveness and his mouth began to tremble as he formed the words. Jerome told the boy he had never understood how incredible his talent was. He wondered if Suleimān would do something for him before he reaped the karma he had earned. He pleaded, “Please, play something, something jus’ for me.”
Suleimān pulled a chair close to his father’s bedside, cradled Christoph like a compassionate mantis, and set his bow to Franz Schubert’s Ave Maria. Jerome heard Christoph sing:
Chapter Twenty-Two: Inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach, Cantata No. 156 and the second movement of the Fifth Harpsichord Concerto.
When Suleimān and Miss Jessie arrived at the Curtis Institute of Music, Suleimān took his seat, arched Christoph’s bow to play Bach’s Arioso, and fixed his gaze on the source of his inspiration. Christoph then began to sing Suleimān’s Psalm.
