Soweto Gospel Choir - Khumbaya (Part 1)

Topic: Seminal Versions
The most popular contemporary version of "Kumbaya" was performed by the Soweto Gospel Choir of South Africa. Like the variant created by Kurt Carr, the arrangement by Lucas Deon Bok incorporated elements of "Come by Here," like the use of "somebody" rather than "someone," and expanded it into a verse-chorus format with lines like "somebody’s in despair."

Those lyrics were not as important to listeners as the way it was sung. In the beginning the sopranos and tenors sang statements in unison, and the lower voices answered kumbaya in chords. Then the sopranos, altos, and tenors began singing three-part chords against a rhythm of kumbaya’s done by the basses that started later and were repeated in pauses. There also were tenor and bass solos.

Most of the time the choir sang four-part chords with one syllable to one note. However, the notes did not have even durations. In "kumbaya," each syllable was held longer than the previous one (eighth, quarter, extended half). The first verse based on "Come by Here" used all eighth notes; the new verses mixed sixteenth with eighth notes.

In addition to the textures created by the different voices and variations in tonal length, there were drums. Most important, half way through the singers themselves began clapping on the second and fourth beats.

Choral groups loved the opportunity to sing interesting parts. I found thirty versions uploaded to YouTube in December 2016. Those groups who had African directors or were in European areas where the ability to learn by listening never died modified it for themselves. Some relied on the choir’s CD that used drums, and some watched to the DVD that employed a synthesizer and drum set.

Kurt Runestad created an arrangement for his Doane College choir, which it performed on tours in Brasil and the United States. Other choral directors asked him for his arrangement, [1] and, with the permission of the Soweto Choir, he made it available for the sight-bound in 2015.

Apart from the modifications one would expect to be made to adapt the arrangement to the voices in a group, choral directors made other aesthetic decisions about the use of drums. Soweto had used floor drums in one version, and a drum set and shaker in the other. Runestad specified the djembé, a west African goblet drum, because that was the instrument most available in the United States. [2] Some conductors used African drums, some used bongós, some used other local instruments, and some sang a capella with no rhythmic accompaniment.

The hand claps essentially divided the arrangement into two parts: one in which the choir stood still, and one in which it moved. It also revealed cultural divisions among chorale groups who sang it: some clapped and turned side to side, some clapped and stood in place, and some did not clap.

The last part of the arrangement was essentially an amen, utilizing four repetitions of "Oh Lord, Kumbaya" with the basses singing a Zulu phrase in the space between the second and third syllables. Many just ignored that low part, but some groups replaced the entire section with another tune sung in their native languages.

Performers
2005 Drums
Soloist: Vincent Jiyane
Vocal Accompaniment: men and women
Instrumental Accompaniment: none
Rhythm Accompaniment: African drum, hand claps

2006 Synthesizer
Soloist: man
Vocal Accompaniment: 10 women and 8 men

Instrumental Accompaniment: synthesizer, electric guitar, electric bass

Rhythm Accompaniment: drum set, shaker, two African floor drums played by two seated men with their hands, hand claps by group

Rehearsal
Vocal Accompaniment: group of mostly white singers directed by a white woman, presumably Beverly Bryer

Instrumental Accompaniment: none

Rhythm Accompaniment: two drums standing on the floor played by two men with their hands, hand claps by choir

Sheet Music
Vocal Solo: tenor
Vocal Accompaniment: SSATTB
Instrumental Accompaniment: piano "for rehearsal only"
Rhythm Accompaniment: djembé, hand claps

Credits
2005 Drums
Traditional arr. L. Bok. EMI Music Publishing

Sheet Music
Traditional Spiritual
Arranged for Soweto Gospel Choir by Lucas Bok
Transcribed and edited by Kurt Runestad
© 2015 Lucas Bok

Notes on Lyrics
Language: English with last section in Zulu
Pronunciation: kum-bye-yah, with accent on second syllable
Verses: crying/praying, in despair,

Vocabulary:
Pronoun: somebody, I
Term for Deity: Lord

Format:
Sheet Music
Verse Length: four lines

Verse Rhyme Pattern: end rhymes - say/today/away, despair/cares

Verse Repetition Pattern: ABACC C(shortened) DCDD
Line Meter: iambic trimeter

(To be continued in next post)

End Notes
1. Kurt Runestad. "Performing Notes on ‘Khumaya’." MusicSpoke website.

2. Djembés were used by Les Ballets Africains, a music-and-dance troupe sponsored by Sekou Touré, president of Guinea from independence in 1958 until his death in 1984. Wikipedia noted that as a consequence, some elementary commercial production and distribution began. (Wikipedia. "Djembe.")