Topic: Seminal Versions
Mechanical reproduction of music began in the 1880s with piano rolls. [1] In 1908, the Supreme Court ruled they were unique creations and not subject to royalty payments. Composers responded by advocating passage of the 1909 copyright law that forced reimbursements for rolls, cylinders, and the newer photograph records. [2] Their professional organization later was able to establish their rights to reimbursement for music played by radio stations. [3]
The 1909 law was written specifically to meet the needs of professional composers working for the popular stage. It stipulated songs that were not registered with the government office and did not carry proper ownership notices fell into the public domain, available for use by anyone.
Individuals who performed traditional works would add a bit of melody, a special orchestration, or supplemental words so they could copyright their particular versions, and more important, protect themselves from some rival’s lien on their proceeds. Thus, Ralph Carmichael could copyright his version of "Kum-ba-yah" in 1969 because it had some unique words along with a piano and vocal arrangement. [4]
Sometime after the Beatles emerged, the value of copyrights increased in value and so did the number of lawsuits. In summer camps, youth sang the songs of the commercial folk revival without paying royalties, just as they had been doing with other music for generations. However, more vigilant royalties seekers began complaining. The Girl Scouts published their own songbook in 1973 that had all the correct permissions. [5] Rather than rely upon an older source for "Kumbaya," they published James Leisy’s version because it protected them from liabilities with a copyright justified by an additional verse. [6]
The law was rewritten in 1976, and copyrights came to be seen as intellectual property inherited through the generations by those who had not registered their rights properly under the previous law. Public domain turned into a dangerous swamp, and anyone singing "Kumbaya" on a record or in a live performance needed a protected version.
Most of the copyrighted additions, liked the verses added by Carmichael and Leisy, never were sung. They did not exist for that reason. People were still free to sing selected parts so long as their paid for songbooks.
I do not know if people stopped publishing or recording "Kumbaya" after that law went into effect in 1978, or if I simply have not found references to versions from the 1980s and 1990s. There was a hiatus in my research between 1980 and 2015.
While the newer copyright law had a repressive effect on public domain versions of both "Kumbaya" and "Come by Here," it also stimulated creative changes. Most innovations were forgotten soon after they were recorded or performed, but sometimes one became so popular others imitated it and it acquired a set form. They became islands in the sea of tradition surrounded by small eddies of followers. [7]
The version used by José Carreras and José Medrado was one of those special archetypes. As mentioned in the post for 4 August 2017, they used one associated with Helmut Lotti. He and Wim Boherts treated "kumbaya" as the chorus for a new song. The distinctive words included "for the sun that rises in the sky."
The lines followed no rhyme pattern. Instead they recalled phrases from a prayer to the creator of the natural world. Since English was not the primary language of either of the credited writers, I do not know if the recording was a translation of something that followed literary conventions in another language. Although Lotti said he preferred singing in English, he still might have thought in Dutch. [8]
The official credits suggested the usual tangle of business relationships that ensued from the copyright laws. Profits from most records were small, and performers were only paid for their sessions. The ones who earned the most were the composers, who were given a royalty every time a song was played by some media outlet. It was common for singers and company owners to list themselves as co-authors to earn more. In this case, Lotti was primarily a singer, while Boherts was a pianist and arranger. The company that controlled the rights was owned by Lotti’s manager, Piet Roehling.
Lotti’s version seemed to be most popular in Brazil. It also had been used by a Fox Networks subsidiary for a cartoon aimed at young children in Portuguese, Spanish, Polish, Turkish, and English. [9] This version might replace earlier ones simply because it will be the first many hear.
Performers
Instrumental Accompaniment: Golden Symphonic Orchestra, conducted by André Walschaerts
Credits
Arrangement: Helmut Lotti and Wim Bohets
Copyright: Piet Roelen Publishing
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: cum-ba-yah with emphasis on last syllable
Pronoun: none
Term for Deity: Lord
Format: verse-chorus (VV C VV C VV)
Verse Rhyme Patterns: last lines have internal rhyme
Line Meter: iambic tetrameter, with strong first and last syllables
Rhetorical Devices: contrasts of sun/rain, great/small
Notes on Music
Basic structure: two repetitions of the chorus, the second beginning on a higher note, followed by a verse that returned to the original base note.
Ending: repeated last line twice, then repeated the word kumbaya with each syllable on a higher tone, with the very last sustained.
Style: one syllable to one note with the last notes of phrases sustained. Ornamentations rarely were used, and most were in the ending. He stayed in his middle range except at the end.
Solo-Group Dynamics: choral group either sang the same words and notes as Lotti, or some repeated his kumbaya’s that ended lines.
Vocal-Orchestral Dynamics: the full orchestra was used sparingly. When it was heard, it was playing the same melody at Lotti. A flute or horns provided flourishes after Lotti’s sung phrases.
Rhythm: the recording began with strong rhythmic pulses by the strings. Then, only a soft drum or voices imitating a soft drum were deployed to mark phrases, not beats.
Influences: the vocalized drum was like the one used on the 1958 recording of "The Little Drummer Boy" by the Harry Simeone Chorale. Some melodic motifs were from the Seekers.
Viewers’ Perceptions
Raphael Gutemberg uploaded a video to YouTube that featured speeded-up pictures of clouds moving over mountains behind the lyrics in Portuguese and English. Unlike most, the Brazilian translated Lord as senhor. He also was the only one to treat "kumbaya" as a translatable word. He wrote the song meant: "‘Come to us Lord or Pass by here Lord’. A Singing Praise." He described himself as someone interested in "Editing Messages, Spirituality Prayers, and Romantic Songs." [10]
Notes on Performers
Lotti was born in Ghent in 1969 where Dutch was his native language. [11] He began as an Elvis impersonator. The Belgian had the usual problem of artists who toiled for years in the lower levels of the music industry: when he changed recording companies and became successful singing classics, his previous employer flooded the market with unauthorized collections. [12]
In a 2015 interview promoting a different album, he said:
"‘I noticed that religion also reared its head in other songs,’ he says. "I wouldn’t call it an album about religion, though, more one about ways of living: What do we cling to when life turns sour? What are life’s traps? And what makes one a better human being?’" [13]
Lotti added: "The duality between good and evil is fascinating." [14]
Availability
CD: Out of Africa (Polydor) and Out of Africa (Coeur de Lion). 1999.
YouTube: uploaded by Raphael Gutemberg, 27 November 2015
End Notes
1. Wikipedia. "Piano Roll."
2. Wikipedia, Piano.
3. Their organization was the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, which did not recognize blues, country, or gospel music writers. In 1939, radio stations formed Broadcast Music Inc, to give themselves an alternative to the ASCAP monopoly. BMI recruited non-mainstream popular music composers. The representation did not stop Black or Southern white artists from being cheated by their record companies or music publishers, but it was a step toward fairer reimbursement. (Wikipedia. "Broadcast Music, Inc.")
4. Ralph Carmichael. "Kum-ba-yah." Copyright 1969 by Lexicon Music. In Cliff Barrows Now! Waco, Texas: Lexicon Music, Inc., 1970. 21-27.
5. "Kum Ba Ya." Sing Together. Edited by Constance L. Bell, et alia. New York: Girl Scouts of the U. S. A., third edition, 1973. 143.
6. The credit line read: The Folk Song Abededary, by James F. Leisy. © 1966 by Hawthorn Books, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Hawthorn Books, Inc., 70 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10911.
7. Common language changed with the 1976 copyright law. Before, when composers were primary, artists simply recorded their songs. In the 1950s white popular music performers made copies of records by blues and country artists that made slight modifications in style to sell the creative efforts as their own. They were called "covers" and more unprintable nouns. Recently, people have been using the term "cover" to refer to any song that was not originated by the performer, as if singing anything from the popular repertoire was somehow disreputable.
8. Christophe Verbiest. "Helmut Lotti Offers Hopeful Message for Dark Times." Flanders Today, 13 December 2015.
9. BabyTV. "Kumbaya." Different language versions with same animation. YouTube.
10. Translations by Google.
11. Wikipedia. "Helmut Lotti."
12. Marc Maes. "Helmut Lotti Wins Law Suit." Billboard website. 13 April 2007.
13. Verbiest.
14. Verbiest.
No comments:
Post a Comment