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THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR /POST-COLONIAL ERA MUSIC AND SONGS

FROM 1776 To 1860

The Early Afro-American Music

Music was still closely linked to England. “The Stars Spangled Banner” was written in 1814. Other popular songs of the era period were: “ Johnny's Gone For a Soldier”, “ Rock of Ages”, “ America”, “Oh Shenandoah!” and “Drink To Me”. Popular ballads and folk songs were the musical beat of the period. In the same time, Afro-American music and songs began to see the light. Many early slaves songs became popular. They spread nationwide in black communities, jails and underground organizations. Later in history, one of the “Negro Spiritual Songs” will serve as the basis and origin of the anthem of American Civil Rights and Liberties Movement.

Negro Spirituals and Slave Songs: THE FIRST SINGERS IN AMERICA

Photo: Frankie and Doug Quimby

Today, two eminent figures in Afro-American music represent the historical “Black Spirituals”, the early form of Afro-American Folk music. They are Frankie and Doug Quimby, for whom I have ultimate respect.

Frankie Sullivan Quimby: Frankie the oldest of thirteen children was born and raised on the Georgia Sea Islands. Her family took the name of Sullivan after the Emancipation. The Sullivans were members of the Foulah Tribe of the town of Kianah in the District of Temourah in the Kingdom of Massina located on the Niger River. A delightful and strong character, Frankie is frequently quoted for her saying "We are a strong people who know how to survive...and we want everybody to know where we came from."

Doug Quimby: He has been singing since the age of four. He was born in Baconton, Georgia in 1936, where his family were sharecroppers earning as little as $9.25 for an entire year of work. His biography tells us that “Douglas and his wife Frankie share a common musical heritage though they grew up miles apart. Doug's grandfather spoke in the Gullah dialect, indicating that many of his ancestors worked on the coastal plantations before being sold to inland landowners. In 1963 Doug joined the Sensational Friendly Stars, a well-known gospel group, and six years later he became a member of the Georgia Sea Island Singers. His rich, deep bass voice never ceases to amaze audiences as he leads them to join in singing sea chanteys and call-and-response songs. His story of Ebo Landing on St. Simons Island, where 18 tribesmen chose death over servitude, holds the audience spellbound. His powerful voice commemorates this tragedy in the song "Freedom, Freedom Over Me."

The Quimbys have toured throughout the world, including performances at the Olympic Games in Mexico and Lillehammer, sharing their songs and stories set against the history and mystique of the Georgia Sea Islands. Their audiences include universities, schools, museums, conventions, conferences, as well as numerous radio and television appearances. The Quimbys performance exalts in remembering and keeping alive two centuries of African-American folk heritage.

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HISTORY OF SLAVE SPIRITUALS

The history of the “Negro spirituals” is closely linked to the history of early African Americans with its three paramount milestones:

1865: The abolition of slavery
1925: The Black Renaissance
1985: The first Dr. Martin Luther King’s Day.

Before 1865

Almost all the early Africans who arrived to the United States were slaves. They arrived to the new world from numerous and various areas of the African West Coast. In America, as slaves, they were deprived from basic human rights. The only human and civil right they retained was the right of meeting for Christian services. The religious gatherings and meetings gave birth to religious chants, hymns and songs. In a sense, they were the cradle of the early American gospel, spiritual, inspirational, blues and jazz-folk music.

Those early religious chants focused on and evolved around religious and human themes of a nostalgic nature, such as “Praising the Lord”, “Jesus, the Savior”, and depicted how the slaves when they were free in Africa lived in their natal and native towns and cities. Being allowed to stay after the regular worship services, in churches or in plantation known as “Praise Houses”, for singing and dancing, early rural slaves kept their traditional musical art form and built upon it; they described new experiences, mishaps and events which tragically shaped the course of their lives in the new world. However, this artistic and musical freedom was limited, for, their “masters”, the slaveholders did not allow them to dance and to play any musical instrument. A tradition, so dear to them, since their ethnic songs in their homeland evolved around the sounds of African drums. In addition to public gatherings, the early African slaves met in hidden and secret places usually referred to as “Bush Meetings” or “Camp Meetings”.

Those secret meetings served as a musical evocation cell as well as a place where they could and would express hope for a better future and most certainly a better human treatment on the hands of their white masters. I would describe those centers and bush meetings as self-imposed concentration camps, for they were the only places where, they could and would freely express their pain, sorrows, joys and faith in a brighter future…at least a hope to regain human dignity and freedom. The bush meetings gathered a very large number of slaves, always in secret and always enrobed with the fear of being discovered. Preachers reinforced their hope in freedom and preached Christian values through brief sermons, examples from the old and new testaments accompanied by religious chants and hymns. And they lasted for hours and hours…In those secretive Christian service meetings, the slaves were gathered and lined up in 3 rows, usually around a central circle. The first row was occupied by the children, the second row was reserved to women and the third row was designated for men. The hygienic condition was not something to be desired. Food was not allowed. Only water in mugs, buckets and jars made out of wood and tin was permitted.

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SALVATION, RELIGIOUS FAITH AND HOPE

In the late 1700s, those religious chants and musical hymns were known as the “corn ditties”, later to be baptized under the term “Spirituals”. Ironically enough, they were not sung in public places, nor in churches, for their slaveholders considered them as a form of mutiny and revolt. This injustice reminds me of the early Christians who were persecuted and prosecuted by the Romans in the city of Rome and found refuge and shelter in the catacombs of the ancient city of Roma, where exclusively, they could and would meet to pray, sing and burry their dead. Around 1850, the religious hymns and chants became slaves’ popular songs. They were re-written and created by the Protestant City Revival Movement. Bush meetings and secret gatherings evolved into open and public meetings organized by the revival movement and took place under tents erected in stadiums. Those early slaves’ songs are to be considered as the first Afro-American popular songs of an African-American cache and style. Frequently, they were called “Dr. Watts”.

Although, they became Afro-American tunes, they remained religious and humanistic in their aspect and message. For, the themes evolved around biblical passages, proverbs, examples and the message of Jesus Christ, the Savior, the Good Shepherd and the Light. The pre-dominant theme of the songs was “freedom”, “Liberation” and the strong belief in salvation. For the preachers and the songwriters vividly focused on phrases such as “Jesus is the Savior”, “Jesus is your Hope” and particularly this phrase :” You Can Be Saved.” Those songs had a very particular and a very defined aspect. Although, they were religious and inspirational in their nature and message, they were not integrally religious, nor they resembled the biblical hymns and psalms, for, constantly, they depicted the life, misery, pain, injustice, hardship and condition of being a slave in a harsh and unmerciful white society which did not show them affection, care, equality and respect for human dignity. Another extremely interesting aspect of the early songs of the Afro-American slaves was the expression of feelings, emotions and shared concerns and places “in code”. For instance, Ohio or more exactly, the Northern side of Ohio River, (their favorite place, for some reasons!) was called “Jordan”. A “free country”, was called “ the promised land”, “my home” or “Sweet Canaan”. Any organization or group which tried back then to help the salves was referred to as the “Underground Railroad” or just the “Railroad”.

The Underground Railroad organization helped a considerable number of slaves to escape to other states. The underground organization developed a “know how” for escapees, a sort of an instruction manual and a survival guide. The basic instructions were:

1- The slaves who are on the run should try to escape only by night;

2- The escapees should exclusively use hand lights. Preferably, moonlight;

3- The escapees should use swamps, rivers, lakes, water to avoid the dogs which were chasing them, for dogs could not smell them in the water and follow their tracks;

4- Trucks and preferably, chariots should be used by escapees if they were able to hide in the back of the vehicle.

This is how and why early tunes, popular songs and “Negro Spirituals” were called “The Gospel Train”, “The Railroad”, “Wade in the Water” and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”. The latest tune was directly linked to the Underground Railroad.

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NEGRO SPIRITUALS AND WORK SONGS

The Three New and Different Kinds of Negro Songs.

The Singing in Code
Photo: Map of the early American slavery states.

At that time in history, the slaves had three different kinds of songs:

1- “The Old Religious Service Songs”, (previously described).

2- “The “Work Songs”. During the early times of slavery and afterwards, slave workers in the fields were permitted to sing “Work Songs” during their working schedule and or while they were in jail. The songs which were sung in jail were called the “Chain Gang Songs”.

3- “The Quiet Songs”. White busses and trucks drivers transporting black prisoners allowed the slaves to sing a certain kind of songs they called “quiet songs”, assuming that these songs were not against the white establishment, the prison, the prison guards and the white slaves owners. Personal feelings and emotions were freely and frequently expressed as a means to comfort each other and cheer up those who received harsh treatment on the hands of their masters and white superiors. Some slaves were very creative and thoughtful. If needed, and if they had to convey a very particular message to members of the slaves’ community and or to a particular inmate, slave singers would add to their “regular lyrics”, new coded words and refrains. Each coded word meant something. For instance, the word “water” meant escape, the word “ground” or “field” meant “get ready or go see the underground organization”. The word “river” meant “freedom or get ready to escape”. The world “moon” meant “you will escape tonight”. I found this fascinating. No doubt, this was the first American code-language ever; the precursor of the world war two Navajo military code!

Between 1865 and 1925

Times began to relatively change. Slavery was abolished in 1865. The slavery abolition allowed a few number of African Americans to attend schools and universities. The first African American institution of higher learning was Fisk University located in Nashville, Tennessee. A few number of blacks graduated, but they graduated. Some became teachers, educators, thinkers, musicologists and eminent composers. Educated blacks began to think about educating the slaves and the black community in general. Even, some ardent black educators traveled to Europe to gather instructional materials. Others began to develop curricula for their schools. And a third group already integrated and incorporated music teaching in their curriculum.

Photo: Charles Albert Tindley

Tindley is known as one of the original “Founding Fathers of American Gospel Music.” He was the son of slaves. At 17, He taught himself how to read and how to write. While working as a janitor, he attended a night school and earned a degree in divinity by correspondence. In 1902, Tindley, the deprived and oppressed young man who worked as a janitor at the Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, became the pastor of this very church. His leadership brought more than 13,000 members to the church. Charles Albert Tindley will be remembered for ever, for he is the author of “I’ll Overcome Some Day”, which is the foundation and corner stone of the American Civil Rights Anthem “We Shall Overcome”. This great man is my hero!

This gave an official identity to the “Negro Spirituals” which later on, was adopted as one of the academic pre-requisites in black colleges and universities, particularly by the Tuskegee Institute. The “Negro Spirituals” are now defined as an authentic Afro-American vocal and musical platform and began to gain popularity thanks to the “Fisk Jubilee Singers”. However, this popularity will shrink just after 1865, for many blacks and particularly those who prospered in business, trade, academia, arts, humanities and music did not feel proud and happy about the early days of slavery. Categorically, many of them wanted to forget about it. It was painful and demeaning to them. In other words, they did not want to sing or to hear songs which reminded them of their slavery.

In 1890, Sanctified and Holiness black churches began to spread nationwide. The first one was “The Church of God in Christ”. This very church has become a landmark in Afro-American music, for it was the first black church to introduce and incorporate in its religious service, foot-stomping and hand clapping.

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Note about Tindley’s original song:

Photo: Pete Seeger

Pete Seeger joined Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and many other Civil Rights leaders during the 1960s. It was reported that Seeger helped in the writing of Tindley’s song "We Shall Overcome”. Seeger wrote: "This song was originally one of two African American Spirituals: I'll Overcome Some Day or I'll be All Right. In 1946, several hundred employees of the American Tobacco Company in Charleston, South Carolina were on strike. They sang on the picket line to keep their spirits. Lucille Simmons started singing the song on the picket line and changed one important word from "I" to "we". Zilphia Horton learned it when a group of strikers visited the Highland Fold School, the Labor Education Center in Tennessee. She taught it to me and we published it as WE SHALL OVERCOME in our songletter, People's Songs Bulletin. in 1952, I taught it to Guy Carawan and Frank Hamilton. Guy introduced the song to the founding convention of SNCC (student non-violent Coordinating Committee) in North Carolina.

"I started singing 'We Will Overcome' all over the country. I'd go to California or Chicago and I'd lead it but I didn't have that good a voice. I just gave it a banjo accompaniment. Chica ump chica ump...That's probably the way I sang it to Martin Luther King just six months after he won the bus boycott in 1957...I sang it for the crowd. The next day, driving back to Kentucky for a speaking engagement, King said, 'We Will Overcome'. That song really sticks with you, doesn't it?"

We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome some day
Oh, deep in my heart
I do believe
We shall overcome some day

We'll walk hand in hand... We shall all be free...We are not afraid... We are not alone...

The whole wide world around ...

We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome some day
Oh deep in my heart
I do believe
We Shall overcome some day

Words by Pete Seeger and Lucille Simmons,
Music adapted from African American Spirituals

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Between 1925 and 1985

Photo: James Langston Hughes, one of the leaders of the Black Renaissance.

James Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri on February 1, 1902. His parents divorced when he was a small child, and his father moved away to Mexico. Hughes was raised by his grandmother until he was thirteen. At 14, he moved to Lincoln, Illinois, to live with his mother and her new husband, and settled with them in Cleveland, Ohio, where he began to write poetry. Although he graduated from Columbia University, he held odd jobs such as a busboy, an assistant cook and a launderer. Later, he traveled to Africa and to Europe and began to work as a seaman. In November 1924, he returned to Washington, D.C. He spent his time composing and writing. Two years later, Hughes finished his first book of poetry “The Weary Blues”, which was later published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1926. Three years later, he continued his academic studies and completed his college education at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. In 1930 his first novel “Not Without Laughter” won the Harmon gold medal for literature.

THE BLACK RENAISSANCE

Harmonizing the “Spirituals”

In the1920s, a group of eminent black scholars, thinkers, educators, writers, poets, composers and musicians began to develop an artistic, educational and cultural movement known as the “Black Renaissance”. An intellectual and artistic movement with a strong emphasis on the ethnic roots and pride of Afro Americans. The Black Renaissance movement was deeply concerned with arts, poetry and music. “It was an evidence of a renewed race-spirit that consciously and proudly sets itself apart”, explained Professor Alan Locke. One of the brightest figures of that movement was the great Langston Hughes.

For the first time, African Americans began to diffuse the “race-spirit” concept and to realize that their ethnic roots were deep in their original homeland. This remarkable awakening commenced to preach and implement black values, black arts, black culture, black music, black songs and black singing. Authentic and faithful to its ethnic origin, the movement interdicted to use of slang and dialect. A major emphasis was placed upon the “Negro Spirituals”, its historical meaning, message, and artistic-educational-pedagogic aspect. Low class dialect was a no no, a taboo!

Photo, Paul Robeson's, a remarkable singer with an outstanding voice and delightful personality. He sang “Spirituals” and assumed leading theatrical roles, including Shakespearean plays, as well, he played in a considerable number of motion pictures such as “Emperor Jones” in 1933 and “King Solomon's Mines” in 1937. In 1925, he recorded for “Victor”. In the same, he created the world’s famous song "Ol' Man River". In 1928, the song became an international hit.

In early 20^th century, black children, boys and girls used to sing the “Spirituals” in playgrounds and schoolyards. Their singing was not refined. Dialect and not very sophisticated pronunciations dominated their singing style and interpretation. Educators, musicians and teachers had to do something about it, for they believed that those “Spirituals” are indeed a musical masterpiece. Thus, they commenced to define its components, aspect and proper interpretation. As a result, new institutes and schools of music and arts came to life, such as the Quincy College, the first black school to harmonize “Spirituals”.

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THE BIRTH OF THE GOSPEL SONGS

THE GOSPEL MUSIC

The Dorseys

Photo: Thomas Andrew Dorsey

Inspired by the Bible, originally composed by Thomas A. Dorsey and constantly improved, the “Negro Spirituals” gave birth to a new kind of Christian songs. Dorsey called them the “Gospel Songs”. Musicologists and worshipers called them the “Dorseys”.

Photo: The Daring Sister Rosetta Tharpe

In that time in history, Afro Americans began to leave the Southern states and head toward the North. Their migration and new habitat promoted the Gospel songs in the Northern towns, cities and suburbia. Chicago became the new Mecca of the Gospel songs in the North. Between 1915 and 1925, many African American singers, like Paul Robeson, began to perform on stage, in churches and motion pictures, toured nationally with their choirs and choruses, and many other Afro-American gospel singers recorded “Negro Spirituals” on famous labels. Some “crossed the line” by singing in nightclubs. In the late 1930s, with a guitar and a crystal clear voice, Sister Rosetta Tharpe debuted in a nightclub, thus paving the way to other Afro-American to explore this “daring” venue. She was severely criticized by preachers of the Afro-American churches who strongly believed that the songs of the Lord should not be sung in nightclubs and amusement centers. The national tours organized by Afro American singers helped the white communities understand and appreciate the “Spirituals”. After 1985, the gospel Songs enter for good the American musical stream and became a major branch of it.

THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF “BLACK MUSIC”

Photo, left: Young Aretha Franklin

Two major distinct kinds of musicality and vocal rhythmic expression embody and define the Afro American music within its evolving perimeter:

1- The “Spiritual” or “Spirituals” which gave birth to early forms of Jazz and “Blues”. It is a religious folk song of an American origin, closely associated with the Afro American Protestants of the Southern States. It is nourished with genuine and deeply rooted sentimentality, human sufferings, melancholic remembrance and sorrowful illustration of passages of time. Yet, vibrant and characteristically predominant by:

A- Mixed emotional evocations;

B- A structured polyrhythmic musical tonality;

C- Syncopation;

D- Lyrics of a biblical nature;

E- Religious themes evolving around salvation, hope and determination.

2- The “Gospel Music” sometimes referred to as the “Gospel Songs”. It is a happier form of Afro American music, closely associated with the enslaved Christian West Africans in the Southern States and slightly rooted in Protestant hymns. They were frequently sung in the fields, on the plantations owned by the white slaveholders, and in many instances on trucks and busses which transported enslaved blacks. Some of those songs were called “Work Songs” which is a very a propos term. The white drivers who were transporting the slaves would allow the enslaved Afro American to sing those songs, as long as they were “quiet” and not against the white establishment or the plantations owners. This kind of music evolved rapidly in time to become a genuine American religious music. It is characterized by:

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A- Happy and emotional collective singing;

B- Preacher-congregation members singing “call-response”;

C- Jubilant rhythms;

D- Vivacity in vocal and physical expressions;

E- Harmonization of tonality, voices, ensembles and choruses;

F- Individual creativity and style singularity of solo congregation singers;

G- Religious themes inherited from the Bible and particularly, taken from biblical passages with a strong emphasis on the divine love, obedience to God, salvation, faith in Jesus, the Savior, heaven, the kingdom of God, etc.

H- Religious fervor and inspirational cadence.

Photo: Reverend James Cleveland (1932-1991). Singer - Pianist - Arranger - Choir Director Composer

Official Biography: “Known by such titles as "King James" and the "Crown Prince", he emerged as a giant of the post war Gospel music scene. With a vocal style similar to jazz great Louis Armstrong, He is credited for the architectural design of contemporary Gospel music with top Gospel choirs and for bridging the gap between traditional Gospel, Gospel Quartets and today’s Gospel music. Born on December 5, 1932 in Chicago, Illinois he attended Roosevelt University. Rev. Cleveland first sang Gospel under the direction of Thomas Dorsey, father of Gospel music at the Pilgrim Baptist Church. Born on December 5, 1932 in Chicago, Illinois he attended Roosevelt University. Rev. Cleveland first sang Gospel under the direction of Thomas Dorsey, father of Gospel music at the Pilgrim Baptist Church.”

Among the most important gospel performers, we recognize Alex Bradford, Mahalia Jackson, The Swan Silver Tones, The Mighty Clouds of Joy, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi, Reverend James Cleveland and The Dixie Hummingbirds. A considerable number of pop singers have been deeply and very strongly influenced by gospel music including but not limited to: Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin.

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Photo: Ray Charles

Many Europeans and Easterners who were not very familiar with Afro American music, thought that “Gospel Music”, or more precisely “Gospel Songs” belonged to the mainstream music of white Americans, such as the oldies, the old golden era of American music, the Rock N Roll and fast tempo American songs. They though that they were “white” in origin but sung more vivaciously, faster and better by “blacks” in America. Many of them danced to the rhythm and up beat tempos of the “Gospel Songs” and “Gospel Music”. They simply referred to as the “music” of the “blacks” in America, and they loved it!

They had no idea, whatsoever, that the so-called “black music” were religious music and religious songs sung in Afro American Protestant churches, for in Europe and the Eastern hemispheres, religious songs remained ecclesiastically chants and hymns solely sung in churches according to a “church rhythmic tradition” which did not allow individual expression, solo performances and up beat tempos. I remember back in the sixties in Europe, black gospel music records were regularly played in parties as dancing music.

Photo, right: Mahalia Johnson

Photo, left: Alex Bradford

In the Afro American culture of the very first half of the 20^th century, gospel music was considered antithetical to Jazz and blues. At the very beginning, they were exclusively sung in churches. Later, gospel songs were performed in nonreligious settings and caught the attention of the white communities as a genuine traditional form of American music, regardless of its deeply African roots and inspiration. In that sense, the original “Black Gospel Songs” gave birth to all the white gospel songs that are nowadays sung by white congregations and famous singers in the Southern States. Consequently, the so-called “Black Religious Music” became a non denominational, a non “race music”, for a considerable number of major “white” Rock N Roll singers and stars found inspiration and musicality roots in the original black gospel music. Elvis Presley was one of those “white” stars who was deeply influenced by the “black music”. Ironically enough, some radio stations DJs and music critics described Elvis Presley as a” back voice in a white body”. Presley publicly admitted that he began his career “under the influence” of black gospel music.

Bar du Crillon

Hotel du Crillon 16 Boissy d'Anglas, Paris, 75008
Week hours: 11am - 2am
Weekend hours: 11am - 2am
Telephone: 00 33 1 4471 1539

Elegant Parisian landmark in the Hotel du Crillon, you'll need to put away those jeans and trainers to make it anywhere near the counter. Designed by the sculptor Cesar in 1907 and recently redecorated by Sonia Rykiel, the likes of Madonna and Harrison Ford recline on antique armchairs and sip on signature Duc de Crillon's: an Armagnac and Tattinger Champagne cocktail, it tastes of class and costs about 120 Francs a glass.

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HISTORICAL RETROSPECTIVE OF THE AFRO AMERICAN GOSPEL MUSIC

IN THE LATE 19^th CENTURY

The Fisk University Gospel Chorus

The gospel chorus of Fisk University which traveled throughout the United States attracted major attention and public interest to the “Spirituals” of Afro Americans. The response was immediate but, many spectators and music lovers thought it was too ”black” for them, for they labeled the new kind of music and singing as black ancestry and black slavery music. The set back was felt but did not affect the ever growing movement and vitality of the “Spirituals”. Abroad, “black music” took the audiences by storm, especially in Western Europe, and more particularly in England and France. It became an international musical phenomenon. However, in the United States, “Spirituals” began and remained to be considered the first and only folk music of the land, regardless of its ethnic origin and despite the skin color of those who brought it to life. It is perfectly correct to assume that the so-called “black music” was not totally American white by white American standards, since it originated in Africa. Many of the early Afro Americans composers, musicologists, singers and performers did acknowledge this reality. Especially, the early professional Afro American musicians, arrangers and choruses masters. Also, they realized that, in order to preserve their music and incorporate it into the American daily life of all communities, societies and congregations, they had to work on redefining, refining, structuring their music according to well defined musical standards already in existence in the white musical communities. Thus, broadening the musical horizon and preserving the authentic ethnic identity of their music must harmoniously blend together. They realized, that the music of the “white people” is not quite different from the music of the “black people” when it comes to romanticism and deep human feelings.

Sure the expressions were different, the voices were different, the musical tonality was different, the cadence was different, the synchro-rhythmics were different, the refrains and repetitions were different, and most certainly the lyrics and hymns were different, BUT, deep down in the very depth and essence of their music, “white people” found refuge and comfort in black gospel music, because the “black music” was real, human, honest, warm, up-lifting, positive, vivacious and full of life despite its melancholy in some instances. Thus, the Afro American musicologists had to meet the white folks half way, without loosing or jeopardizing the original roots and authenticity of its ethnic cache. In other words, they had to begin to discipline their music. The very first thing they did, was to go back in time, in place and in history all the way to Africa, and find out if those “Spirituals”, “Slavery Songs”, “Black Ancestry Songs”, “Work Songs”, “Quiet Songs”, “Gospel Music Songs”, “Jazzy-Bluezy Songs”, “Religious Songs”, “Dorseys Songs” had anything in common with the African music and songs once they cherished, played and sang in their native lands. They approached the subject from two angles: 1- Historical heritage. 2-Musicality. And they did find many similarities. The second step was to adopt a well defined and structured musical discipline. They found out that these numerous similarities, and particularly those striking resemblances in syncopation, “responsive rendition” of texts and chanting which was very typical and ethnically tribal, pentatonic scale and polyrhythmic compositions can be structured into a well defined and legitimate musical platform which will gain recognition as “Authentic and Legitimate Music”. They prevailed in their efforts. The ancient Afro American music was no longer looked upon as exclusively black music for black people, for its pioneers and learned musicologists wrote music notes and music books, as well as music curricula, established standards and quality standards measurements of their music. This academic and intellectual gigantic effort did not refrain, however, a considerable number of Afro Americans from personal improvisation which in a deep essence constitutes the very essence of “Spirituals”. The individual creativity and talents of those singers resulted into a rich folklore and an immense literature of hundreds of musical interpretations and versions of one single text, one single piece of music and one single way of singing.

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Photo: Elvis Presley in 1950

Restructuring Afro American music widened the horizon of “black music” and strongly influenced many future “white” stars and singers like Elvis. Presley. In an extensive documentary film about him, said verbatim: "We do two shows a night for five weeks. A lotta times we'll go upstairs and sing until daylight - gospel songs. We grew up with it...It more or less puts your mind at ease. It does mine." As a little boy, Elvis attended the First Assembly of God in East Tupelo. Reverend W. Frank Smith was the pastor of that congregation when at the age of nine Elvis received the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the assembly and began to sing. Presley father's cousin, Sayles Presley, was one of the principal singers of the church and founders of the church gospel quartet. Presley was taken by the gospel music. Reverend Smith noticed Presley sincere interest in the black gospel music and began to teach him a few chords on the guitar. In 1948, Presley’s family moved to Memphis, and Elvis began to attend the Sunday School at the First Assembly of God which was located on McLcmore St. Elvis began to practice with the Blackwood Brothers at Ellis Auditorium. A friendship between Elvis and the Blackwood Brothers developed.

When his mother died in 1958, Elvis Presley asked his old buddies the Blackwood Brothers to sing for her funeral his favorite songs such as "Precious Memories”, "Rock of Ages", "I Am Redeemed", "In the Garden" "Precious Lord Take My Hand". All these songs are black gospel music. Elvis Presley’s gospel background influenced his performance style and songs selection. This is evident in his "Run On" which distinctly reflects an awakening of 1940s popular black performances. According to a sociological study by the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, DC, USA, one in ten American adults sings weekly in a chorus or a choir. The choral singing in America begins in public and private school chorus, for millions of people of all races and denominations carry their love of singing into their adulthood. These collective singing and love for music began with the early black music gospel choirs and “singing groups” in the Afro American communities in the late 19^th century.

PORTRAIT OF SOME OF THE MOST EMINENT AFRO AMERICAN LEGENDS

Photo: Eva Jessey (1895-1992), Choral conductor of Porgy and Bess, Four Saints in Three Acts
and Hallelujah, 1977. She was intrumental in reshaping black musical and adhering to it’s a strong idendity via choruses and choirs she created and passionately conducted and promoted

Official Biography: Born in Coffeyville, Kansas, on January 20, 1895, Eva Alberta Jessye started her academic career in the public schools of Coffeyville and Iola, Kansas. At age 13 she attended Western University in Quindaro, Kansas. She graduated from Western University in 1914 and went on to Langston University in Oklahoma where she received a lifetime certificate in teaching. Jessye taught in elementary schools in Taft, Haskell, and Muskogee, Oklahoma before she became a reporter and columnist for the Baltimore (Maryland) Afro-American in 1925. In 1926 she joined a choral group in New York called the Dixie Jubilee Singers. This group would eventually become the world-renowned Eva Jessye Choir. The choir performed spirituals, work songs, ballads, ragtime, jazz, and light opera in a variety of mediums, such as radio, film, and stage. They were regulars on the "Major Bowes Family Radio Hour" and the "General Motors Hour." In 1927 the Dixie Jubilee Singers worked in Harry A. Pollard's film, Uncle Tom's Cabin. The same year, Dr. Jessye compiled and published a critically acclaimed collection of songs titled My Spirituals . In 1929 King Vidor directed "Hallelujah", the first musical motion picture with an all-Black cast. The film featured the Dixie Jubilee Singers with Jessye as choral director.

Dr. Jessye was appointed choral director for the New York production of the Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein opera, "Four Saints in Three Acts" in 1934. In 1935 Jessye was selected by George Gershwin to be choral director for the original production of his 1935 folk-opera, "Porgy and Bess." For the next three decades, Jessye was associated with almost every Porgy & Bess production worldwide, earning the unofficial title of 'curator and guardian of the score.' Eva Jessye was also involved in humanitarian efforts. Her experiences as a black woman during the Jim Crow era influenced her involvement in the later Civil Rights movement. She collaborated with African-American notables Marian Anderson, Mary McLeod Bethune, Julia Davis, Eubie Blake, Langston Hughes, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Paul Robeson. In August 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. selected the Eva Jessye Choir as the official chorus of the historic March on Washington. The choir performed "We Shall Overcome" and "Freedom Is The Thing We're Talking About." Tom Mboya, founder of Kenya's Independence Movement Council and president of the People's Convention Party, later used the recordings of these songs during Kenya's struggle for independence. During the 1960s Eva Jessye also appeared in the motion pictures Black Like Me and Slaves. Dr. Jessye returned to academia in her later years. She established the Eva Jessye Afro-American Music Collection at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1974. She established the Eva Jessye Collection at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas in 1977 and served as that University's Artist-In-Residence from 1978 to 1981. During her lifetime Jessye received honorary degrees from Wilberforce University, Allen University, and Southern University, including an honorary doctorate. She also received numerous citations from government, educational, and musical organizations. In 1981, Governor John Carlin of Kansas declared Dr. Eva Jessye to be Kansas Ambassador for the Arts. In a 1984 interview by Jacob U. Gordon, Jessye was asked what she considered some of the drawbacks of being black and elderly in Kansas? Her reply was, "I often think if I had been white, where would I have been? Perhaps not anywhere. Because I think I had it made, you know. Who's that who said he took the path less traveled by? Robert Frost? I took the color less desirable and it made all the difference." Dr. Eva Jessye died on February 21, 1992 at the age of 97 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Duke University ‘s Data.

Photo: Composer William Grant Still receiving the Key to the State of Mississippi from governor William Waller in 1975. In addition to the greatest tribute that can be given to a composer, the performance of his music, Still has received many honors and tributes. Several were during his lifetime, some after. He received various honorary degrees from several universities. From Wilberforce, where Still studied but left before graduating, he received the Master of Music in 1936; the Doctor of Music degree was conferred on him by Howard University and Oberlin College in 1941 and 1947, respectively; the Doctor of Letters was conferred in 1954 by Bates College. The University of Arkansas honored its adopted son with an honorary Doctor of Law degree in 1971. The next pages show a few of the other honors, festivals, birthday celebrations, musical tributes, and awards that have been given to the composer for his contribution to music and humanity.

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Photo: Wilberforce String Quartet.

A creative life must be examined within several contexts: the historical context most completely contains all other, because it can place a creative mind in a particular place at a particular time, examining the expectations of the art that the mind addresses. William Grant Still was very much a person of his own time and his own place. The influences upon him as a young child, for example, provided for the inevitable shaping of a boy whose father, a university professor, had dies before his child was born; and also of a boy whose mother, a successful teacher and landowner, had married again. The stepfather was a good man who took the child as his own and gave him the background of culture that both parents valued: literature, good conversation, and music. Literature and the arts were especially valued by cultured Americans at the turn of the century; the music was that of European Romanticism personified: Wagner was the great musical hero and no American was considered capable of composing music. So did Still's first ambitions as a composer meet with his mother's adamant musical anti-Americanism. The mother was, in particular, intolerant of the new ragtime/jazz musical development in the United States because she saw it as irreligious. Still had gone to Wilberforce University (Ohio), a pre-med student as his mother wished, but he became more and more involved in musical matters until he could no longer deny that profession. It was as a family renegade that Still entered the musical world. Worse than that (for his mother), he affiliated himself with composer/produced/publisher W.C. Handy, who is remembered as the "Father of the Blues" and an important influence on popular music in the 20th century. In each of three phases of his career, Still was very much in a time and a place that defined his thinking. First was the training period, a full apprenticeship served in several places. He received instruction wherever he found it and in a wide scope of styles, from Handy to Chad wick and Varese. This background made Still one of few American composers who have achieved recognition without advanced study or a teaching career in an academic setting.

Photo: W.C. Handy’s Orchestra and Jubilees Singers at Carnegie Hall in New York.

The second phase was in New York, where he led two lives: that of an arranger and performer in popular music, and that of a composer of concert music. This phase culminated in his decision to investigate his African heritage and to being African musical ideals into his concert music; he composed the ballet Sahdji in 1930 and the Afro-American Symphony in 1931. As if by providence, his mother remained a strong influence here, for he sought out the spiritual and deeply aesthetic elements of the African heritage; Sahdji and the Afro-American Symphony are tremendously powerful in part because they focused on distinctly African elements, transcending the mere influence of jazz, which European and American contemporaries were investigating. Still is arguable the first of a line of American composers to demonstrate his transcendent ability to fuse distinctly African and American musical idioms in concert music. Still's Afro-American Symphony was, until 1950, the most popular of any symphony composed by an American, having been performed by thirty-eight different orchestras in the United States and Europe in its first twenty years. The last phase of Still's career took place in Los Angeles, where he moved after receiving a Fulbright award in 1935. Again he lived two musical lives: making his living this time by writing film scores and, later, music for television; but he always devoted himself to concert music. Still's body of works is considerable, based in the German Romantic tradition in which his early training so strongly placed him. Orchestral works, chamber music, songs, and piano music comprise the bulk of it. To this repertoire he brought his own personality, his own background, and his own sense of tradition. This root in tradition sharply defined the nationalist and lushly tonal character of Still's writing, and made his works less popular, as the direction of American music shifted toward the avant-garde during the mid-century period. However, black composers of the avant-garde such as T.J. Anderson, Alvin Singleton, and Olly Wilson accept the nationalist premise of Still's work and his insistence upon technical mastery as a beginning point for their own use of African and African-American elements in concert music. That Still's writing was an amalgam of African and European, of his own heritage and the heritages of both Africa and the United States, made him, above all, an American composer. The supreme quality of the music, along with the success of his career (with more honorary doctorates than any other composer), made Still a composer of the highest importance-- for Black Americans, and perhaps more importantly, for all Americans.- Data/Text/Resources: Dr. Edith Borroff, Professor Emeritus of Music, SUNY Binghamton (Retired)

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THE GOSPEL MUSIC: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

EARLY 20^th CENTURY

Cecil Sharp (1859–1924) who spent years exploring and searching the origin of popular and folkloric American folk-song literature concluded that American folk music had British ancestry. Another eminent historian, G. P. Jackson traced the roots, origin and influence American folk music, its revivalist and evangelist songs to the early 19th-century black “camp meetings” in the Southern States of America. However, to my personal astonishment, Jackson claimed and explained by using documented analogy and hundreds of comparative examples, that a considerable number of original black “spirituals” were not totally and exclusively African. According to Jackson, they were adapted from or inspired by white “spirituals” created by white communities. He added that, African musical traditions were amalgamated with the church hymns and religious songs of the white South, the cradle of gospel music. For the Southern States had many sources and resources to create and produce popular and or folk music that was sometime distinctly black in nature, and some other time, white in character. I do not totally agree with Jackson, for various and additional historical research conducted in France around 1965 on the origin of “black music” as an inspirational and religious music in nature concluded that, many blacks in Congo Belge, Sierra Leone and other parts of Central Africa were singing a type of religious songs centuries before Afro Americans were shipped to the United States as slaves. Many central African tribes had already their own tribal and religious ceremonies, hymns, chants and songs, in the same tradition it was carried by Afro American slaves in the New World and in the same manner “white spirituals” developed and sand their “white spirituals”. According to gospel music historians (black and white), the modern day gospel music history is less than 50 year old. The modern gospel music had two stages:

STAGE ONE:

During the periods of 1900-1930's, the gospel music as we know it today was the cause-effect of social changes, way of life and social necessities in the Southern States in America. It was a direct expression of the daily life of Black Americans in the South. This expression remained deeply rooted in their direct milieux and immediate surroundings. However, when the Afro Americans began to migrate to the Northern part of the United States, as well as to other parts of America, this very individualistic and collective expression began to metamorphose into different directions and to branch out to new social conditions, but remained authentic and original in its nature and character. Wherever they went, Afro Americans looked upon the gospel music as their own.

STAGE TWO:

The second stage of the Gospel music began in the 30's, under the influence of Reverend Dorsey known as the father of modern Gospel music. Reverend Dorsey was an innovative and creative composer and singer. He brought a sense of modernism to the traditional and aging gospel music. A daring and refreshing creativity which was not always well received and warmly welcomed in all the black churches. For many black traditionalists described his creative musicality and new interpretation of the sacred songs of the black church as very avant-garde and liberal in their style. Many churches and congregations would not sing the modern songs of Dorsey’s contemporary compositions known also as the “Dorseys”. In the 40's, the gospel music began to change and to organize itself into quarters and ensembles which toured the United States and commenced to gain popularity, despite some geographical racial biases. After 1946, the black gospel music became an “American music”, a national inspirational expression for both blacks and whites. Herb Brewater a native of Memphis, Tennessee recorded a great number of gospel songs. His records were sold nationwide.

GOSPEL MUSIC IN THE 1950s

In the 50's, the black gospel music changed drastically and evolved into a music du jour. The old times solo and collective singings without musical instruments are now performed with churches organs and pianos. The most illustrious ensemble of the era were the Clara Ward Singers of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, The Staple Singers of Chicago and the famous Albertina Walker of Atlanta, Georgia who created a group called the Caravan. This very group featured the great James Cleveland.

Photo: Clara Ward

Born in Philadelphia on August 21, 1924, Clara Ward is widely acclaimed as one of the greatest soloists in gospel history. Touring the country with her backing group, the Ward Singers, she propelled gospel out of the church and into the nightclub, where glitzy costumes and pop-style performance gave the music glamour and commercial appeal never seen before in gospel music. With the strong promotional savvy of her mother Gertrude who handled the business side of things, and her sister Willa on he piano, the troupe rose from obscurity to become one of the top attractions on the church circuit in the late 1940s.

Photo: Clara Ward

They soon brought on two new performers, Henrietta Waddy and Marion Williams, a Miami teen whose powerhouse voice became the trademark sound of the group. With Williams installed as soloist, the Wards hit their creative peak, releasing such masterful hits as "Surely God Is Able" and "Packin' Up." The Wards were prosperous through the 1950s, touring regularly with the Reverend C.L. Franklin of Detroit; the father of Aretha Franklin-herself an admitted disciple of Clara Ward.

In 1958 the bottom fell out of the church music circuit and a revamped incarnation of the group took up the nightclub circuit, playing Las Vegas and even Disneyland, much to the dismay of gospel traditionalists who were already skeptical of their flamboyant performance style. The group continued touring throughout the 1960s, until Ward's declining health forced her into retirement. She died January 16, 1973. Data: American Roots Music.

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THE STAPLE SINGERS

Photo: The Staple Singers.

The Staples' story goes all the way back to Winona, MS, in 1915. It was then and there that patriarch Roebuck Staples entered the world. A contemporary and familiar of Charley Patton, Roebuck quickly became adept as a solo blues guitarist, entertaining at local dances and picnics. Gradually drawn to the church, by 1937 he was singing and playing guitar with a spiritual group based out of Drew, MS, the Golden Trumpets. Moving to Chicago four years later, he continued playing gospel music with the Windy City's Trumpet Jubilees.

A decade later Pops Staples (as he had become known) presented two of his daughters, Cleotha and Mavis, and his one son, Pervis, in front of a church audience, and the Staple Singers were born.

The Staples recorded in an older, slightly archaic, deeply Southern spiritual style first for United and then for Vee-Jay. Pops and Mavis Staples shared lead vocal chores, with most records underpinned by Pops' heavily reverbed Mississippi cotton-patch guitar. In 1960 the Staples signed with Riverside, a label that specialized in jazz and folk. With Riverside and later Epic, the Staples attempted to move into the then-burgeoning white folk boom. Two Epic releases, "Why (Am I Treated So Bad)" and a cover of Stephen Stills's "For What It's Worth," briefly graced the pop charts in 1967.In 1968 the Staples signed with Memphis-based Stax. The first two albums, Soul Folk in Action and We'll Get Over, were produced by Steve Cropper and backed by Booker T. & the MG's.

The Staples were now singing entirely contemporary "message" songs such as "Long Walk to D.C." and "When Will We Be Paid." In 1970 Pervis Staples left and was replaced by sister Yvonne Staples. Even more significantly, Al Bell took over production chores. Bell took them down the road to Muscle Shoals, and things got decidedly funky.
Starting with "Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom Boom)" and "I'll Take You There," the Staples counted 12 chart hits at Stax. When Stax encountered financial problems, Curtis Mayfield signed the Staples to his Curtom label and produced a number one hit in "Let's Do It Again." The Staples went on to continued chart success, albeit less spectacularly, with Warner, through 1979. One more album followed on 20th Century Fox in 1981. Data/Source: Rob Bowman

ALBERTINA WALKER

Photo: Albertina Walker and her group. Born the youngest of nine children on August 29, 1929 in Chicago, IL, Albertina Walker grew up on the south side and started singing as a child at Westpoint Baptist Church. A lot of great gospel artists used to come to her church: the Roberta Martin Singers, Sadie Durham, and Professor Fyre. She joined gospel groups, beginning with the Pete Williams Singers, the Willie Webb Singers, and the Robert Anderson Singers before forming the Caravans in 1951. The original group also included Ora Lee Hopkins, Elyse Yancey, and Nellie Grace Daniels. Classic recordings for the States label between 1952 and 1954 were "Mary Don't You Weep," "Soldiers in the Army," "The Solid Rock," "The Lord I'll Keep Me Day By Day," "The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power," and "Blessed Assurance." The latter song was redone by Ms. Walker for the soundtrack of Steve Martin's movie Leap of Faith, in which she makes a brief cameo.

The Caravans are heralded as an unparalleled launching pad for future gospel superstars: Shirley Caesar, Inez Andrews, Bessie Griffin, Dorothy Norwood, Cassietta George, and James Cleveland were just a few of the ensemble's alumni who later went on to solo fame. In that tradition, the pioneering gospel singer started The Albertina Walker Foundation for the Creative Arts which provides scholarships to gospel musicians and singers. In 1955, they were signed to Savoy Records. Dance fans should take note that the Caravans, in 1966, included teenager and future disco diva Loleatta Holloway.

By 1956, the Caravans were among the most popular acts on the gospel music circuit due in part to their ethereal, amazing vocal interplay and strong alternating leads. Riding high in 1962, the Caravans signed to pioneering Chicago record label Vee-Jay to record the LP Seek Ye the Lord. Other hit albums with VeeJay include Walk Around Heaven All Day and To Whom Shall I Turn.

The Caravans is banded in the mid-'70s, though there were occassional reunion tours.
The '70s saw Ms. Walker re-signed with Savoy releasing such LPs as Please Be Patient With Me (her first Grammy-nominated album), I Can Go to God In Prayer, Spread the Word, I Wont Last a Day Without You. By the '80s, Ms. Walker had moved to Word/Epic recording Let Jesus Come Into Your Heart, I Will Wait on You, and Joy Will Come In the Morning. By this time, she had been nominated 11 times for the Grammy Award. In 1995, she won a Grammy Award for the Best Traditional Gospel Album, Songs of the Church. Also that year, she recorded an album with Phoebe Snow, Thelma Houston, CeCe Peniston, and Lois Walden as the Sisters of Glory, and released an album called Good News In Hard Times on LLF/Warner Bros. Records. The veteran's warm, venerable vocals graced Thomas A. Dorsey's "Precious Lord" and Dorothy Love Coates' "He's Right on Time." In 1997, she won a Dove Award for Traditional Gospel Album of the Year for the Grammy-nominated album, Let's Go Back - Live in Chicago. Released in summer 1997, I'm Still Here (BMG/Zomba/Verity) was a solid contribution to a catalog that includes over 40 albums. Some of the standout tracks are the title track, "Sanctify Me (I'm Available)," "Lord I Want to Thank You," and a jazzy orchestrated cover of "The Impossible Dream." As the 21st century began, Albertina Walker was guesting on albums by Kurt Carr, the Gospel Music Workshop of America, and the National Baptist Convention. ~Data: Ed Hogan, All Music Guide

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Photo: RUN DMC Group

Today, fortunately or unfortunately the sacred gospel music became in certain areas for certain recording artists a “hip hop” platform. However, many aggressive and free-spirited modern singers and Rap artists found spiritual and meaning comfort and consolation in this contemporary wave of gospel music. The famous Run DMC group illustrates the case. In the 90's, Kirk Franklin made his mark on the gospel music heritage and industry.

Photo: Kirk Franklin

Since his debut, 1993's Kirk Franklin and the Family, Kirk Franklin has been one of the brightest stars in contemporary gospel music. The album spent 100 weeks on the gospel charts (some of those on top), crossed over to the R&B charts, and became the first gospel debut album to go platinum. His second album, Kirk Franklin & the Family Christmas, became the genre's first Christmas album to make it to number one, and his 1996 album Whatcha Lookin' 4 went gold as soon as it was distributed. With such phenomenal success, it is small wonder that some have hailed him "the Garth Brooks of Gospel." Still, despite all the adulation and brouhaha, Franklin remains a humble, devout Christian, eschewing the title "entertainer" in favor of labeling himself as just a "church boy." Franklin's road to the top, though quick, was far from smooth. Abandoned by his mother and never having known his father, Franklin was reared by his Aunt Gertrude, a deeply religious woman who raised him as a strict Baptist.

When he was four, she paid for his piano lessons by collecting aluminum cans. The lessons were money well-spent, for Franklin was a natural musician who could sight read and play by ear with equal facility. At age 11, he was leading the Mt. Rose Baptist Church adult choir near Dallas. Despite, or because of his church background, Franklin began rebelling in his teens and getting into trouble until one of his friends was accidentally shot and killed at age 15. Realizing that he had chosen a bad road, Franklin returned to the fold and began composing songs, recording and conducting. Since 1991, he has been backed up by his 17-member choir, the Family, a group comprising friends and associates from his younger days (interestingly, one member of the Family, Jon Drummond, made it to the semi-finals heat of the 100-meter sprint at the 1996 Olympics). Support from his pastor, his wife Tammy, whom he married in early 1996, and the two children they brought to the marriage help keep Franklin close to his religious core, and he returned in 1998 with Nu Nation Project. ~ Data/Source: Sandra Brennan

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1860-1900 CIVIL WAR / RECONSTRUCTION ERAS

“THE GRAND AWAKENING MOVEMENT”

“THE AMERICAN WHITE GOSPEL SONGS AND MUSIC”

The themes of popular music just a few years before and during the Civil War were of a military and a political nature. The main subjects were war events, battles, victories, bravery of the soldiers, defeating the enemies, as well as anecdotes and jokes about military commanders. Quite often, the troops will make fun of their own generals. Some of the most popular ones were: Marching Through Georgia , Carry me Back to Old Virginia, Old Black Joe, I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen, Amazing Grace, Battle Hymn of the Republic, Dixie, When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again Equally popular were the religious songs such as: He Leadeth Me, My Faith Looks Up to Thee and Go Tell it on the Mountain. At that very time in history, folklore songs began to spread nationwide among seamen, sailors, cowboys, Indians, blacks, merchants and mountaineers. The most popular one was: Oh My Darling, Clementine! cowboys’ all time favorite.

Photos from L to R: Charles Grandison Finney (1792-1875) . Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

In 1780, an important religious phenomenon appeared in America: "The Revivalism", which was a predominantly North American Protestant movement geared by preachers who advanced conservative religious theories such as accepting forgiveness of personal sins through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior and rigid observance of daily religious prayers and exercises, and financially supporting the church. The most influential personalities of Revivalism in early nineteenth century was Charles Grandison Finney, president of Oberlin College. This new religious fervor gave birth to “The Great Awakening” which strongly advocated gospel religious songs. Thus, the history of Protestant hymnody in America until around 1739 was basically the history of metrical psalmody.

Musically”, “The Great Awakening” phenomenon led to the first singing of religious hymns, especially those of Isaac Watts. Around 1820, the “Second Great Awakening” surfaced and led to more gospel hymns singing. In the mid of the 19th century, American Evangelism took roots in Boston, New York and Chicago. And as usual, religious fervor demanded more gospel songs and religious hymns..

HISTORICAL ORIGIN OF THE WHITE GOSPEL SONG

Photo: D. L. Moody (1837-1899)The white American gospel song has these origins:

1- The Sunday School songs:

2- Camp Meeting songs; (called by white Americans the “ Parlor Songs”. Two of the most famous composers of this style was Steven Foster and John Philip Sousa who created the “Concert Band Music”

3- Concert Band music:

D. L. Moody was an American evangelist who founded the Northfield Schools in Massachusetts, Moody Church and Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, and the Colportage Association. Ira Sankey was solo singer/music director for their evangelistic campaigns in both the United States and Great Britain. Around 1880's, the “Sunday School Songs” became known as the “Gospel Songs”, others called them “ Gospel Hymns” or “Sacred Songs”. The most prominent personalities and leaders of the white gospel songs were: Ira Sankey and Dwight Moody.

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Photo: Ira Sanker. As a young man, Sankey served in the American Civil War. He often helped the unit chaplain and led his fellow soldiers in hymn singing. After the war, he joined the Internal Revenue Service, and also worked with the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA). He became well known as a Gospel singer, and eventually came to the attention of evangelist Dwight Lyman Moody. The two men met at a YMCA convention in Indianapolis, Indiana, in June, 1870. Some months later, Sankey attended his first evangelistic meeting with Moody, and resigned from government service shortly thereafter. In October 1871, Sankey and Moody were in the middle of a revival meeting when the Great Chicago Fire began. The two men barely escaped the conflagration with their lives. Sankey ended up watching the city burn from a rowboat far out on Lake Michigan. Sankey composed about 1,200 songs in his lifetime. From 1895 to 1908, he was president of the Biglow and Main publishing company. He was blind from glaucoma the last five years of his life, and no doubt found a kindred spirit in his friend and music making partner, blind hymnist Fanny Crosby. Data: Official Biography

Photo: Frances Jane "Fanny" Crosby (1820-1915) was an American hymn writer and poetess, who wrote over 9,000 hymns during her life. One time a preacher sympathetically remarked, "I think it is a great pity that the Master did not give you sight when He showered so many other gifts upon you." She replied quickly, "Do you know that if at birth I had been able to make one petition, it would have been that I should be born blind?" "Why?" asked the surprised clergyman. "Because when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior!"

One of the most important writers of the Gospel hymnody was Fanny Jane Crosby. She was phenomenal and prolific. She wrote approximately 9000 hymns which were set to music by a considerable number of eminent composers and musicians such as William Doane (1832-1915), Robert Lowry (1826-1899) and George C. Stebbins (1846-1945).

Photo: William Doane (1832-1915). A gifted musician, Doane helped direct music while attending the Woodstock Academy; within two years he had published his first composition. Although he called music his “avocation,” he produced over 2,000 hymn tunes in his lifetime. However, his main trade was secular: He was president of the J. A. Fay woodworking machinery company, and an extremely successful businessman. He also served as Sunday School superintendent and choir director at the Mount Au burn Baptist Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, and bequeathed large sums to various causes. The Doane Memorial Music Building in Chicago, Illinois, was named after him. His works include:

Sabbath School Gems, 1862
Songs of Devotion, 1868
The Silver Spray (Cincinnati, Ohio: John Church & Co., 1868)
Songs of Devotion (New York: 1870)
Pure Gold for the Sunday School (New York: 1871)
Welcome Tidings: A New Collection of Sacred Songs for the Sunday School (with Robert Lowry & Ira Sankey) (New York: Biglow & Main, 1877)Gospel Hymn and Tune Book, with Robert Lowry (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 1879)
Glorious Praise, with William Kirkpatrick (Louisville, Kentucky: The Baptist Book Concern, 1904)
Song Evangel (Louisville, Kentucky: 1906)

Born: February 3, 1832, Preston, Connecticut. Died: December 23, 1915, Rhode Island. Buried: Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum, Cincinnati, Ohio. Data: Official Biography

Later on in history, a great musician by the name of Homer Rodeheaver will take the lead.

Photo: Homer Rodeheaver. Music evangelist and gospel singer Homer Rodeheaver was the most prolific recorder of sacred songs in the acoustical recording era, singing before the recording horn of most major companies. Several evangelists had recorded earlier, beginning in the mid-1890s when Ira D. Sankey, accompanying himself on a Mason and Hamlin melodeon, sang hymns in the Leeds and Catlin studio at 53 East 11th Street in New York. Sankey went on to make Edison and Columbia cylinders in the late 1890s. Sankey was song leader for the famous evangelist Dwight L. Moody. On January 17, 1898, for Berliner 662, Moody himself recited "Beatitudes from the Sermon On The Mount" (he recited the first ten verses of the Beatitudes). Evangelist Gipsy Smith had recorded several twelve-inch records for Columbia in 1910 and 1911, and British evangelist William McEwan started his Columbia recording career in mid-1913. General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, made one twelve-inch record for Columbia. He was born Homer Alvan Rodeheaver on October 4, 1880, in Union Furnace, Ohio. The family moved to Tennessee when he was a child.

The brief biography that appeared in the yearly Victor catalogs from 1919 through 1925 states, "Homer Rodeheaver is a Southerner. He began his career in a mountain log camp [his father owned a lumber business in Jellicoe, Tennessee], and in later years learned the trombone and played in the 4th Tennessee [Regimental] Band, going with them to the Spanish-American War. After singing and playing his way through the Ohio Wesleyan University, he leaned toward the law, but was induced to enter the evangelical field.

"In 1904 Rodeheaver entered the musical evangelism field and in 1909 joined Billy Sunday to serve as vocal soloist and song leader for Sunday's many nation-wide gospel crusades. He was the George Beverly Shea (Billy Graham's soloist) of his day, but, unlike Shea, he also led the congregational song services with his trombone and the Billy Sunday 2500 Voice Mixed Chorus. The chorus made one Victor record: "Sail On" backed by "America" (18322). Rodeheaver's first records were made for Victor in 1913, and he recorded for the company for almost 20 years, with 67 issued numbers. Along with gospel songs, or "revival hymns" as they were often called, he sang prohibition songs and did recitations. His first Victor disc, 17455, coupled the hymn "Old Fashioned Faith" with the anti-alcohol song "De Brewer's Big Hosses" (a disc made three years later, Victor 17988, features another prohibition song, "Molly And The Baby Don't You Know"). His second disc, Victor 17456, featured "If Your Heart Keeps Right" and "The Unclouded Day," both sacred songs. The third issue, 17478, consisted of four recitations, two to a side: "To My Son" with "Mother's Love" backed by "Daddy" with "That Little Chap Of Mine." Perhaps his most requested recitation, not recorded by Victor, was "Me An' Pap An' Mother."-Data: Official Biography

End of the article.

Sea Shanties and Songs of the Sea