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Every once in awhile, Grandfather would tell a story about the land of Used-to-Be.

This was how his story began: Used to be a time when there was no music on the planet. Only one tiny creature, a grass-hopper named Imani, was blessed with the gift of music.

Imani sang his beautiful songs alone, all the while praying, Please, Ancestors, give music to the world. Answering his prayer, the... More

Every once in awhile, Grandfather would tell a story about the land of Used-to-Be.

This was how his story began: Used to be a time when there was no music on the planet. Only one tiny creature, a grass-hopper named Imani, was blessed with the gift of music.

Imani sang his beautiful songs alone, all the while praying, Please, Ancestors, give music to the world. Answering his prayer, they shook music out of the sky, pouring song on Africa's mountain ranges, on the grasslands, all the way to the shore.

But when Imani is swept onto a slave ship and taken across the ocean, he doesn't know where to turn, and music is his only guide.

Sheron William's rich story of a grass-hopper's special gift -- complemented by Jude Daly's stunning depictions of Africa and the New World, Heaven and Earth -- is a testament to the universal language of music.