Billema Kwillia, or Belema Kwelea, or Belema Kollia (born c. 1925) is a teacher and composer from

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

. She composed the hymn "A va de laa" which was translated to English from

Loma Loma may refer to: Geography United States * Loma, Colorado * Loma, Montana * Loma, Nebraska * Loma, North Dakota Other countries * Loma, Ladakh, a town in Ladakh, India * Loma (woreda), a district in Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People ...

as "Come, Let Us Eat", and features in several modern hymnals.

Biography

Kwillia was born circa 1925 in

.C. MICHAEL HAWN/S T KIMBROUGH, JR. (with appreciation for information provided by Daniel W. Sopo). "Billema Kwillia." ''The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology.'' Canterbury Press. Web. 24 Feb. 2021. http://www.hymnology.co.uk/b/billema-kwillia. Little is known about her early life, other than she was taught to read her language

through a literacy programme funded by a missionary church. She converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

and became an

evangelist Evangelist may refer to: Religion * Four Evangelists, the authors of the canonical Christian Gospels * Evangelism, publicly preaching the Gospel with the intention of spreading the teachings of Jesus Christ * Evangelist (Anglican Church), a c ...

, as well as working as a teacher. Her most widely known work is the hymn "Come, Let Us Eat", which was originally written in Loma in the 1960s and was recorded by Margaret D. Miller. Miller was an American missionary to Liberia who worked at the

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

Literacy Centre in Wozi. She transcribed the Loma original "A va de laa" from a recording of a church service held in 1969. The song's structure is based on Liberian traditional "call and response" music. According to S T Kimbrough Jr. and Daniel W. Sopo, Kwillia had composed several hymns in Loma which were used by the Lutheran church there, of which Sopo had a list of seven. "A va de laa" was first published in 1970 in ''Laudamus'' which was a hymnal produced for the international gathering of the

Lutheran World Federation The Lutheran World Federation (LWF; german: Lutherischer Weltbund) is a global communion of national and regional Lutheran denominations headquartered in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The federation was founded in the Swedish ...

in Evian. However it was not translated to English until 2004. It has been arranged by several people, including by John Miller who set it for voices, piano and hand bells.

Reception

The inclusion of Kwillia's works in western hymnals brought to attention the issue that Western notation is not able to capture the nuance of music from non-Western cultures. This can contribute to the Western version having little resemblance to the original. For "Come, Let Us Eat", this hymn is meant to be sung unaccompanied in unison, following Liberian practice; however most often in the west a keyboard instrument leads the tune. Madeline Forell Marshall has noted that it is not just the melody that western music can misunderstand but also the significance of the structure of the lyrics, as well as their content.

References

External links

"Come, Let Us Eat,"
arr. T. Fields {{DEFAULTSORT:Kwillia, Billema 1920s births Liberian women musicians Composers of Christian music Christian hymnwriters Women hymnwriters Living people