In the midst of slavery and exile, oppressed people have composed songs that serve as messages to turn to God and codes to run toward freedom. While lamenting the fact that it is hard to sing joyful songs in exile, the enslaved have enriched the repository of music by their songs of hope, justice, and freedom. Songs of liberation are redemptive gifts of God that lift up justice, equality, and harmony as the cornerstones of communal wholeness. The craft and tools of the songs come from years of struggle against repression. Often they stem from an oral culture. Caught between two opposing worldviews, those of the oppressor and the oppressed, violation of human rights and longing for freedom, these songs offer texture, language, and images that speak on behalf of all who undergo exile, tyranny, and betrayal of trust.