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| Children of Pomp Hall, Negro tenant farmer, Creek County, Oklahoma. Russell Lee, FSA photo, 1940. Library of Congress |
SPIRITUALS, WORK SONGS & GOSPEL
From the Black South--and one of the main streams in the American roots tradition. Work Songs and Field Hollers are just that. They originated in the time of slavery. Spirituals also come from the time of slavery, but from the church side. They reflect a life of oppression--and a mode of transcendence. Gospel Songs came later, after the Civil War. They of course continue to figure in the Black church. The two traditions are quite distinct, but both have their roots in the Black American experience.
Download: Spirituals, Work Songs and Gospel (important for the rest of the semester as well):
https://rapidshare.com/files/82493782/S%26P%20Work%20S%26P%20Songs%20_%20Spirituals%20_%20Gospel%202.zip
Reading: Leroi Jones (Amiri Bakara): Blues People reader pps. 117-146.
You should also look at W.E.B Dubois, Souls of Black Folk, particularly what he writes about Sorrow Songs--and the Black American experience in general. Published in 1903. This is an important book. Here's the online text: Souls of Black Folk.
Songs. For our S&P class, the songs themselves are the best introduction. Some are on your original S&P CD, some on the new download above. Listen up! Note that the lyrics are in your tan S&P songset.
Here are the songs I want to be able to sing together:
Mary Don't You Weep (Swan Silvertone's version, on your S&P CD)
Lay My Burden Down (Mississippi John Hurt's version, on your S&P CD)
Do Lord (also on S&P CD)
and from your new download, above:
Balm in Gilead
Swing Low Sweet Chariot
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen
Project. For Week 3, I want you to dive into the breadth of this material, as reflected music-wise on the download. (The following week we'll concentrate on one song in particular--Mary Don't You Weep--where it comes from, in its many versions, and what it represents.) This week we go for range. Note: there are many wonderful songs on the download that you can choose to work from for your project, in addition to the ones above:
Look Down That Lonesome Road (this is an amazing song, listen carefully to the call and response form, and the poignancy of the verses. Lomax recording, 1930s. )
John the Revelator (Blind Willie Davis version)
If You See My Saviour (the song is by the Reverend Thomas Dorsey, whose version is available on youtube, see below). Here sung by Alex Bradford. This is pure Gospel music.
Coming in on a Wing and a Prayer, by John Spence, from Andros Island in the Bahamas... A World War II song recast by a powerful Caribbean guitar-playing musician...
YES, this is a lot of material. I want you to begin to absorb it, and to keep on returning to it over the course of the term. These African American songs will be one of our key sources!
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Here are some related YouTube videos:
Spirituals:
▶ Negro spirituals - YouTube
Work songs:
▶ Work Songs in a Texas Prison - YouTube
▶ Gandy Dancers - YouTube
Gospel:
There are MANY gospel songs on youtube--it's a whole world. Look up the difference between "spirituals" and "gospel songs" and consider.
Here's a beautiful example by the Rev. Thomas Dorsey (one of the Gospel song originators) singing with Sally Martin. This is one of his classic songs, here sung very late in life: "Standing by the Bedside of a Neighbor" (also known as " If You See My Savior")
▶ THOMAS DORSEY AND SALLY MARTIN - YouTube
and here's Rev. Thomas Dorsey in an earlier recording:
▶ Thomas Dorsey- If You See My Savior - YouTube
and another compelling song by a young girl in the Adventist Church:
▶ Four Days Late - YouTube (Alisa) The Story of Jesus and Lazarus. Four Days Late has a backstory which I'll present in class. Also, it will figure again in Week 4 when we look at Mary Don't You Weep.
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plus one wild card (we may discuss this in class too!):
שניאור שיף צילום וידאו מקצועי 0525960011 ריקוד חסידי ▶ - YouTube (Hassidic dance, by contrast)
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