Topic: Seminal Influences - Tribute
In the United States today, the ultimate tribute for an artist is a reference in a film. Lightnin’ Hopkins’ "Needed Time" was played during the opening credits of Sounder in 1972. At the end, a banjo version by Taj Mahal was played while the final credits scrolled across the screen. During the film, it was alluded to several times.
Mahal began learning blues guitar from friends when he was an adolescent, but developed what he called his "basic building blocks" when he heard the older bluesmen play at the Ash Grove in Los Angeles. In 1964 he formed the Rising Sons with Ry Cooder and Jessie Lee Kincaid. While their single did not sell well, it led to their becoming an opening act for some of the older men. [1] By 1970, he was touring with Hopkins. [2]
One artist who was inspired by Sounder was Eric Bibb, the son of folk-revival musician Leon Bibb. He paid his first tribute to Mahal in 1994 when he recorded "Needed Time" with a backup group he called Needed Time." [3] Once, when he as touring in France with Clive Barnes, [4] he had a chance to play "Needed Time" with Mahal. The video posted by Barnes showed how tradition was perpetuated: Mahal had worked with Hopkins, Bibb had worked with Mahal, and Barnes was working with Bibb.
The three were sitting backstage and had just finished playing something referred to as "Cool on John." One of them suggested "Needed Time." After debating whether to use the key of E or E flat, Mahal played the melody through once in E. Then the other two began playing an accompaniment with Bibb sometimes singing some lines. During the instrumental breaks, the men took turns playing lead, but during the verses, Mahal transposed the music into jazz and then blues variations.
Mahal said when they started, he had never heard Hopkins play "Needed Time." I haven’t seen anything that indicated why it was selected as the theme song for Sounder, or, for that matter how Mahal became involved in the project. Another composer, Alex North, wrote an initial score that was rejected. [5]
Performers
Vocal Soloist: Eric Bibb
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Accompaniment: Taj Majal, Eric Bibb, acoustic guitars; Clive Barnes, acoustic slide guitar.
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
None provided
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Verses: fragments of "come if you don’t stay long" and "now is the needed time"
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: Lightnin’ Hopkins
Tempo: moderate
Basic Structure: repetition of basic melody with variations
Notes on Performance
Occasion: Clive Barnes was touring with Eric Bibb in France.
Location: back stage following a performance
Microphones: none
Clothing: casual
Notes on Movement
The three were seated on folding chairs. Taj Mahal either tapped his left foot or nodded his head to mark time.
Audience Perceptions
Sounder introduced Hopkins and "Needed Time" to a new audience. Marc Nerenberg, a Toronto banjo player, wrote:
"learned this from Taj Mahal’s playing of this tune in the soundtrack of the movie ‘Sounder’ in 1972. His version showed up on the radio for a few days. Imagine that: clawhammer banjo on pop music radio! I actually learned it from the radio - the only song I’ve ever done so with." [6]
A couple people who learned the song from Daddy Stovepipe commented they were motivated by Sounder, [7] [8] while another discovered the song was more widely known than a film tribute. He remembered:
"First heard this on the ‘Sounder’ film soundtrack. Much later, playing it on a blues harp on a late night Cambridge MA subway platform, a Bahamian preacher approached me, telling me he knew that tune (with different words) from his own gospel tradition. Amen!" [9]
Notes on Performers
Mahal was born in 1942 in Harlem. His father, Henry Saint Clair Fredericks, was a West Indian jazz musician who moved his family to Springfield, Massachusetts. Young Fredericks adopted his stage name around the time he entered the University of Massachusetts to study agriculture. [10]
In 2008, Jimmy Leslie asked him what was "the most interesting guitar culture?" He responded
"Recordings by Lightnin’ Hopkins, Skip James, and John Lee Hooker are amazing because two-thirds of what they’re playing is in the African mold, and one-third articulates the American experience. The density of African music without blues notes is incredible, because it wasn’t disconnected by slavery." [11]
When Leslie asked him how he felt about becoming an elder statesman for the blues, he answered:
"None of that means anything. What matters is that I can pick up my instrument and use it to go wherever I want with the music. There was a time when some nights the music would play me, and I couldn’t do anything wrong. There were other nights when I couldn’t buy a vibe. Now it’s consistent. The instrument sings every time I pick it up because I stopped wrestling over who’s in charge. It’s the music. She is in charge." [12]
Availability
Film: Sounder. Directed by Martin Ritt. Twentieth Century Fox. 24 September 1972.
Album: Sounder. Columbia S31944. 1972.
YouTube: Sounder album. Lightnin’ Hopkins. "Needed Time." Uploaded by Sony Music Entertainment on 13 February 2017.
YouTube: Sounder album. Taj Mahal. "Needed Time (Hummin’ and Pickin’)." Uploaded by Sony Music Entertainment on 25 August 2016.
YouTube: Sounder album. Taj Mahal. "Needed Time (Guitar)." Uploaded by Sony Music Entertainment on 13 February 2017.
YouTube: Sounder album. Taj Mahal: "Needed Time (Banjo and Hand Clapping)." Uploaded by Sony Music Entertainment on 25 August 2016.
YouTube: Clive Barnes, Eric Bibb, and Taj Mahal. "Needed Time." Uploaded by Clive Barnes on 16 March 2010.
End Notes
1. Wikipedia. "Taj Mahal (Musician)."
2. Alan B. Govenar. Lightnin’ Hopkins: His Life and Blues. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2010. 194.
3. Eric Bibb and Needed Time. Spirit and The Blues. Opus 3 Records CD 19401. Recorded and released in Sweden in 1994. (Discogs website)
4. Clive Barnes was an Irish guitarist who worked with Bibb in 2005 and 2006. (Press release for Clive Barnes’ The Ghost Country. 2009.)
5. Alex North Music uploaded part of his score for Sounder to YouTube on 11 July 2014.
6. Marc Nerenberg. "Needed Time." Uploaded to YouTube on 20 September 2014
7. Pelu Maad commented on the first Daddy Stovepipe lesson discussed in the post for 4 February 2018. In 2011 he asked: "Didn’t anyone see ‘Sounder’ with Taj Mahal’s soundtrack? I’ve wanted to learn this song ever since. Thanks Daddy..."
8. In 2009, HOTROD74GremlinX wrote on Daddy Stovepipe’s first lesson "Fantastic sir.Thank you so much for posting this lesson.This is a song I’ve ALWAYS loved from the movie ‘Sounder’ and from one of my fav Blues musicians ‘Lightnin Hopkins’."
9. Comment by MrMusicguyma uploaded to this video in August 2017.
10. Wikipedia.
11. Taj Mahal. Quoted by by Jimmy Leslie. Guitar Player website. 31 October 2008.
12. Taj Mahal, quoted by Leslie.
Showing posts with label ~ Seminal Versions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ~ Seminal Versions. Show all posts
Saturday, February 10, 2018
Friday, February 2, 2018
The Seekers - Kumbaya (1993)
Topic: Seminal Versions
If time had stopped in 1970, there would be no question Joan Baez was responsible for introducing the slight melodic modification into the second line of "Kumbaya" heard in recent recordings on YouTube. In late December 2017, the eleven videos of her version on YouTube had been heard 739,056 times. In contrast, the eleven videos of the two recordings by The Seekers had been viewed 155,286 times.
But time did not stand still. The prodigal Seekers returned to Australia, and the three men began performing with different soloists. The two videos of a 1990 concert with Karen Knowles were seen 22,877 times. [1]
More important, in 1993 Judith Durhan returned to the group. By then, she had recovered from a serious automobile accident and her husband was seriously ill. [2] The six YouTube videos taken from the silver anniversary concert DVD were viewed 4,138,504 times. There were only about 6,663,000 people in Australia over the age of 55, and probably 15% of them were natives or immigrants from India, China, or elsewhere. [3]
Billboard reported by 1996 that 70,000 copies of the original concert CD had been purchased. Another 10,000 copies of the DVD were sold. In addition, a compilation of all their recordings issued when they performed again in England sold 35,000 copies. [4] Their 1990s popularity was not a regional phenomenon.
I think ultimately Baez and The Seekers attracted two different groups of singers. She invited individuals, who normally did not sing, to join her on the melody, so she could improvise a little against their chorale. [5] The relaxation of norms for proper public behavior lasted as long as people were in a situation where they felt safe singing along, but once they left festival time and returned to ordinary life they stopped.
The Seekers appealed to people who already had been exposed to music as children and were singing in groups like Athol Guy had done as a child. He told Tracey Korsten:
"I was chained to the piano when I was about six years old, by my dear grand-mother, and she and the family would sing along, doing amazing harmonizing. Then I became a choir boy, and when my two uncles came home from the war, they had a little jazz band, and they used to practice out on our back-verandah." [6]
The Seekers were a group and, after the first verse, the men joined the female solist. They were the ones who demonstrated how groups could sing harmony. Not everyone was a soprano like Baez or Judith Durham, but nearly everyone could find a voice in the group they could match. Guy, recently told another interviewer:
"Bruce sums it up beautifully this way, in a sense, he said we get our sound because of a real anomaly. He said the fact is he said Judith and Athol sing perfectly in tune, ah, he said, I sing a little flat and Keith sings a little sharp." [7]
It wasn’t simply the broad band of sound created by the timbres of their voices. As mentioned in the post for 21 December 2017, it mattered how individuals were trained to listen while they sang. Guy added, "when your ears hear harmony – any group can sing a harmony, anyone who knows music, you know, can sing a harmony." [8]
Graham Simpson noted the album abetted this musical enculturation in another way. He wrote:
"The surprising legacy of a video of the original group at last being made available for family use was that a whole legion of very young fans would emerge—toddlers as young as two and three years old would pester their parents by asking for the video to be played for hours each day!" [9]
Baez’s version, in the meantime, had been reduced to allusion by adolescents in this country who were playing video games like Grand Theft Auto. Diamon posted a session transcription to YouTube that played an excerpt from her recording of "Kumbaya" every time a player was hit by an automobile. He described it as a "Short Video and overused song, I still found it a little funny, what about you?" [10]
Performers
Vocal Soloist: Judith Durham
Vocal Group: Athol Guy, Keith Potger, Bruce Woodley
Instrumental Accompaniment: G. Thomas noted that in the concert in general
"the four accompanying musicians, mostly in the shadows add considerably to the presence of the music, In fact, Michael Christiano, the musical director plays a wide variety of instruments, often taking the familiar 12-string solos and riffs originally pioneered by Keith Potger, who takes it easy in this concert and just generally strums along on the front row, wearing his signature Maton FG150/12" guitar.
"Also Athol Guy is mostly just caressing his double-bass; the real bass-line is performed by the bass guitar in the background.
"Bruce Woodley seems to perform instrumentally throughout, though, on a number of instruments". [11]
Rhythm Accompaniment: Thomas added, during the entire concert, "the drum kit and subtle keyboard in the back row also add a superb depth and breadth which of course is on none of their sixties records." [12]
Credits
Durham introduced the song, saying: "This one’s a traditional one though from the early 60s. We believe it came from Africa."
Notes on Lyrics
Changes from 1963 version: they sang the same verses in a different order.
Notes on Music
Changes from 1964 version were detailed above. Guy described their vocal sound to an interviewer in 2016:
"Keith and I are really well, you know, really very, very good harmony singers. Ah, Bruce has a beaut lead baritone voice. Keith has that lovely top range, nearly tenor voice. He can sing up near the roof when he has to. Except his harmony sits basically under Judith’s in a way." [13]
Notes on Performance
Occasion: concert celebrating the 25th anniversary of the group’s last performance in 1968. [14]
Location: Melbourne Concert Hall, Australia, 1 January 1993.
Microphones: each had a floor mike
Clothing: the men wore lavender shirts and black slacks; Guy also wore a black vest. Durham wore a floor-length purple rose-purple dress with a darker purple overdress.
Notes on Movement
The men looked at one another and the audience. Durham, shifted her body between diagonals and let her arms swing to the music in the introduction. While she was singing, she raised her arms toward her shoulders on the statements, and lowered them wide on the refrains.
Audience Perceptions
Many of the comments made by YouTube listeners referred to the musical aspects of their performances. While many simply described their reactions to their singing, a few were more analytical.
One man said in September 2016: "What a glorious performance by the whole group!! Love those acoustic guitar introductions!! Judith’s vocals and the Guy’s harmonies sound like a 4- piece Heavenly choir!!" [15]
Another man added in November 2016: "The harmony, the change of key - unsurpassed and the precision and clarity of Judith’s voice make the Seekers eternally unique." [16]
A woman explained the importance of this particular concert performance in reviving the song. She wrote in 2011:
"as someone who has sung this at church youth retreats around a campfire, I was kind of tired of it, so I skipped it on their CD. Then one morning last week, I let it play and it was a revelation...the absolutely best arrangement of this song I have EVER heard. Pure spiritual beauty." [17]
Notes on Performers
The men were musicians who were aware of quality of their sound, and had discussed it at various times. Guy remembered:
"as Bruce points it, simplistically that it just locks it all in and ah you know through our ears it blends and it chimes and gives us that almost fifth voice that sits on top of it all, especially when you’re in a good concert hall with good acoustics. It’s a beautiful feeling and it brings the songs to life in a way that I don’t know that anybody else could." [18]
Availability
CD: The Silver Jubilee Album. EMI 7814084. 1993.
DVD: The Seekers ~ 25 Year Reunion Celebration. EMI Australia. 2003.
YouTube: several people uploaded versions taken from the DVD. The one with the spoken introduction was "The Seekers Kumbya (Live)." Uploaded by seekersarchive on 10 January 2010.
The video with the quoted comments was "The Seekers - Kumbaya." Uploaded by Judith Durham and The Seekers on 2 July 2009.
End Notes
1. "The Seekers at Christmas (with Karen Knowles)" uploaded to YouTube by rich963 on 12 December 2011 and "The Seekers (Karen knowles) Kumbaya (1991)" uploaded by Denny161853 on 15 July 2010.
2. Wikipedia. "Judith Durham."
3. According to Wikipedia, the estimated population of Australia for January 2018 was 24,770,600. The percent over age 55 in 2014 was 26.9. In 2016, 26% of the population was foreign-born. That reduced the number likely to have been in Australia when The Seekers were performing to the entire number of people who watched the video on YouTube. Since that was highly unlikely, the video statistics indicated people from other parts of the world were also watching it. ("Demography of Australia")
4. Glenn A. Baker. "Box Reignites Reunited Seekers." Billboard, 4 May 1996. 46, 47.
5. The audience can be heard best in a recently released recording of a concert broadcast by Hilversum Television in 1967. Joan Baez. Live in the Netherlands 1967. Elsendo Recordings. 31 August 2017.
6. Athol Guy. Quoted by Tracey Korsten. "Interview: Athol Guy." Glam Adelaide website. 6 May 2015.
7. Athol Guy. Quoted by Ian Horner. "Georgy Girl, The Musical: Celebrating The Seekers..." Hawksbury [Richmond, Australia] Gazette website. 28 April 2016.
8. Guy. Quoted by Horner.
9. Graham Simpson. Colours of My Life: The Judith Durham Story. Sydney: Random House Australia, 1994. 336.
10. "KUMBAYA MY LORD - Racoon & A Fox Part III." Uploaded to YouTube by Diamon Plays on 10 June 2017.
11. G. Thomas. Comments on Amazon UK website for the reunion concert DVD. Posted 25 September 2012. The concert videos concentrated on Durham. The two videos of the concert two years earlier with Knowles showed the musicians mentioned by Thomas.
12. Thomas.
13. Guy. Quoted by Horner.
14. Wikipedia. "25 Year Reunion Celebration."
15. Tim Lodle. September 2016. Comment posted on reunion concert video uploaded to YouTube on 2 July 2009.
16. Adrian Larkins. March 2016. Comment posted on reunion concert video uploaded to YouTube on 2 July 2009.
17. Jennifer McMullen. 2011. 7 Comment posted on reunion concert video uploaded to YouTube on 2 July 2009.
18. Guy. Quoted by Horner.
If time had stopped in 1970, there would be no question Joan Baez was responsible for introducing the slight melodic modification into the second line of "Kumbaya" heard in recent recordings on YouTube. In late December 2017, the eleven videos of her version on YouTube had been heard 739,056 times. In contrast, the eleven videos of the two recordings by The Seekers had been viewed 155,286 times.
But time did not stand still. The prodigal Seekers returned to Australia, and the three men began performing with different soloists. The two videos of a 1990 concert with Karen Knowles were seen 22,877 times. [1]
More important, in 1993 Judith Durhan returned to the group. By then, she had recovered from a serious automobile accident and her husband was seriously ill. [2] The six YouTube videos taken from the silver anniversary concert DVD were viewed 4,138,504 times. There were only about 6,663,000 people in Australia over the age of 55, and probably 15% of them were natives or immigrants from India, China, or elsewhere. [3]
Billboard reported by 1996 that 70,000 copies of the original concert CD had been purchased. Another 10,000 copies of the DVD were sold. In addition, a compilation of all their recordings issued when they performed again in England sold 35,000 copies. [4] Their 1990s popularity was not a regional phenomenon.
I think ultimately Baez and The Seekers attracted two different groups of singers. She invited individuals, who normally did not sing, to join her on the melody, so she could improvise a little against their chorale. [5] The relaxation of norms for proper public behavior lasted as long as people were in a situation where they felt safe singing along, but once they left festival time and returned to ordinary life they stopped.
The Seekers appealed to people who already had been exposed to music as children and were singing in groups like Athol Guy had done as a child. He told Tracey Korsten:
"I was chained to the piano when I was about six years old, by my dear grand-mother, and she and the family would sing along, doing amazing harmonizing. Then I became a choir boy, and when my two uncles came home from the war, they had a little jazz band, and they used to practice out on our back-verandah." [6]
The Seekers were a group and, after the first verse, the men joined the female solist. They were the ones who demonstrated how groups could sing harmony. Not everyone was a soprano like Baez or Judith Durham, but nearly everyone could find a voice in the group they could match. Guy, recently told another interviewer:
"Bruce sums it up beautifully this way, in a sense, he said we get our sound because of a real anomaly. He said the fact is he said Judith and Athol sing perfectly in tune, ah, he said, I sing a little flat and Keith sings a little sharp." [7]
It wasn’t simply the broad band of sound created by the timbres of their voices. As mentioned in the post for 21 December 2017, it mattered how individuals were trained to listen while they sang. Guy added, "when your ears hear harmony – any group can sing a harmony, anyone who knows music, you know, can sing a harmony." [8]
Graham Simpson noted the album abetted this musical enculturation in another way. He wrote:
"The surprising legacy of a video of the original group at last being made available for family use was that a whole legion of very young fans would emerge—toddlers as young as two and three years old would pester their parents by asking for the video to be played for hours each day!" [9]
Baez’s version, in the meantime, had been reduced to allusion by adolescents in this country who were playing video games like Grand Theft Auto. Diamon posted a session transcription to YouTube that played an excerpt from her recording of "Kumbaya" every time a player was hit by an automobile. He described it as a "Short Video and overused song, I still found it a little funny, what about you?" [10]
Performers
Vocal Soloist: Judith Durham
Vocal Group: Athol Guy, Keith Potger, Bruce Woodley
Instrumental Accompaniment: G. Thomas noted that in the concert in general
"the four accompanying musicians, mostly in the shadows add considerably to the presence of the music, In fact, Michael Christiano, the musical director plays a wide variety of instruments, often taking the familiar 12-string solos and riffs originally pioneered by Keith Potger, who takes it easy in this concert and just generally strums along on the front row, wearing his signature Maton FG150/12" guitar.
"Also Athol Guy is mostly just caressing his double-bass; the real bass-line is performed by the bass guitar in the background.
"Bruce Woodley seems to perform instrumentally throughout, though, on a number of instruments". [11]
Rhythm Accompaniment: Thomas added, during the entire concert, "the drum kit and subtle keyboard in the back row also add a superb depth and breadth which of course is on none of their sixties records." [12]
Credits
Durham introduced the song, saying: "This one’s a traditional one though from the early 60s. We believe it came from Africa."
Notes on Lyrics
Changes from 1963 version: they sang the same verses in a different order.
Notes on Music
Changes from 1964 version were detailed above. Guy described their vocal sound to an interviewer in 2016:
"Keith and I are really well, you know, really very, very good harmony singers. Ah, Bruce has a beaut lead baritone voice. Keith has that lovely top range, nearly tenor voice. He can sing up near the roof when he has to. Except his harmony sits basically under Judith’s in a way." [13]
Notes on Performance
Occasion: concert celebrating the 25th anniversary of the group’s last performance in 1968. [14]
Location: Melbourne Concert Hall, Australia, 1 January 1993.
Microphones: each had a floor mike
Clothing: the men wore lavender shirts and black slacks; Guy also wore a black vest. Durham wore a floor-length purple rose-purple dress with a darker purple overdress.
Notes on Movement
The men looked at one another and the audience. Durham, shifted her body between diagonals and let her arms swing to the music in the introduction. While she was singing, she raised her arms toward her shoulders on the statements, and lowered them wide on the refrains.
Audience Perceptions
Many of the comments made by YouTube listeners referred to the musical aspects of their performances. While many simply described their reactions to their singing, a few were more analytical.
One man said in September 2016: "What a glorious performance by the whole group!! Love those acoustic guitar introductions!! Judith’s vocals and the Guy’s harmonies sound like a 4- piece Heavenly choir!!" [15]
Another man added in November 2016: "The harmony, the change of key - unsurpassed and the precision and clarity of Judith’s voice make the Seekers eternally unique." [16]
A woman explained the importance of this particular concert performance in reviving the song. She wrote in 2011:
"as someone who has sung this at church youth retreats around a campfire, I was kind of tired of it, so I skipped it on their CD. Then one morning last week, I let it play and it was a revelation...the absolutely best arrangement of this song I have EVER heard. Pure spiritual beauty." [17]
Notes on Performers
The men were musicians who were aware of quality of their sound, and had discussed it at various times. Guy remembered:
"as Bruce points it, simplistically that it just locks it all in and ah you know through our ears it blends and it chimes and gives us that almost fifth voice that sits on top of it all, especially when you’re in a good concert hall with good acoustics. It’s a beautiful feeling and it brings the songs to life in a way that I don’t know that anybody else could." [18]
Availability
CD: The Silver Jubilee Album. EMI 7814084. 1993.
DVD: The Seekers ~ 25 Year Reunion Celebration. EMI Australia. 2003.
YouTube: several people uploaded versions taken from the DVD. The one with the spoken introduction was "The Seekers Kumbya (Live)." Uploaded by seekersarchive on 10 January 2010.
The video with the quoted comments was "The Seekers - Kumbaya." Uploaded by Judith Durham and The Seekers on 2 July 2009.
End Notes
1. "The Seekers at Christmas (with Karen Knowles)" uploaded to YouTube by rich963 on 12 December 2011 and "The Seekers (Karen knowles) Kumbaya (1991)" uploaded by Denny161853 on 15 July 2010.
2. Wikipedia. "Judith Durham."
3. According to Wikipedia, the estimated population of Australia for January 2018 was 24,770,600. The percent over age 55 in 2014 was 26.9. In 2016, 26% of the population was foreign-born. That reduced the number likely to have been in Australia when The Seekers were performing to the entire number of people who watched the video on YouTube. Since that was highly unlikely, the video statistics indicated people from other parts of the world were also watching it. ("Demography of Australia")
4. Glenn A. Baker. "Box Reignites Reunited Seekers." Billboard, 4 May 1996. 46, 47.
5. The audience can be heard best in a recently released recording of a concert broadcast by Hilversum Television in 1967. Joan Baez. Live in the Netherlands 1967. Elsendo Recordings. 31 August 2017.
6. Athol Guy. Quoted by Tracey Korsten. "Interview: Athol Guy." Glam Adelaide website. 6 May 2015.
7. Athol Guy. Quoted by Ian Horner. "Georgy Girl, The Musical: Celebrating The Seekers..." Hawksbury [Richmond, Australia] Gazette website. 28 April 2016.
8. Guy. Quoted by Horner.
9. Graham Simpson. Colours of My Life: The Judith Durham Story. Sydney: Random House Australia, 1994. 336.
10. "KUMBAYA MY LORD - Racoon & A Fox Part III." Uploaded to YouTube by Diamon Plays on 10 June 2017.
11. G. Thomas. Comments on Amazon UK website for the reunion concert DVD. Posted 25 September 2012. The concert videos concentrated on Durham. The two videos of the concert two years earlier with Knowles showed the musicians mentioned by Thomas.
12. Thomas.
13. Guy. Quoted by Horner.
14. Wikipedia. "25 Year Reunion Celebration."
15. Tim Lodle. September 2016. Comment posted on reunion concert video uploaded to YouTube on 2 July 2009.
16. Adrian Larkins. March 2016. Comment posted on reunion concert video uploaded to YouTube on 2 July 2009.
17. Jennifer McMullen. 2011. 7 Comment posted on reunion concert video uploaded to YouTube on 2 July 2009.
18. Guy. Quoted by Horner.
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
The Seekers - Kumbaya (1964)
Topic: Seminal Versions
Joan Baez and The Seekers were popular in the years between the assassinations of John Kennedy in 1963 and Martin Luther King in 1968, when it was still possible to believe the one was an anomaly. The first generation since the 1920s was affluent. All things seemed possible to children born in the years just after World War II.
The economy had recovered from war shortages, and automobile manufacturers were satisfying pent up demands. In England, car ownership increased from 40% to 60% of the population in the decade. [1] In Detroit, Lee Iacocca introduced the Mustang in 1964 as an inexpensive, stylish vehicle that could be individualized by unmarried women, like secretaries; young, small families, and larger ones that could afford second cars that gave the wives and older, adolescent drivers mobility. [2]
The popular music market was particularly broad in 1960. The same songs were heard by adolescents, their younger siblings, and their parents. The Seekers re-recorded "Kumbaya" in 1964 with orchestral backing. They replaced The Weavers’ instrumentation that relied on a banjo, with their own that used two guitars. And, for whatever reason, they dropped the one explicitly religious verse about praying.
The hegemony of the popular music market soon was disintegrating. When families began to accumulate a little money, they were able to buy transistor radios, and age-group taste preferences began to emerge. Each year, the oldest married and changed their spending habits. They were replaced by a new, younger group who had heard their music for as long they could remembere. [3] With the emergence of the Beatles, the young, screaming girls were recognized as a separate audience, the teeny boppers.
It wasn’t just the youngest who wanted their own music; the interests of the older ones matured. Symbolically, the Beatles replaced "I Want To Hold Your Hand" from 1963 with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967 as they too aged. Artists either changed or were replaced by new artists eager to extend or alter existing styles.
This natural evolution of cohorts unfolded against the political developments in the United States where politicians who had come of age in the Depression or one of the following wars thought the young should not be enjoying themselves, but serving in Vietnam.
At this point, the fundamental difference between Baez and The Seekers became obvious. She lived in the United States where the war meant death for many young men. They were living in England, which had freed young men from commitments to military service in 1960. [4]
There also was a deeper difference that went back to the stronger Calvinist strain in this country. Baez was heir to the tradition of Pete Seeger and earlier union organizers who used music as a tool to effect change. [5] Ultimately, it was utilitarian and serious.
Athol Guy, said the group deliberately did not emphasize political material, although they had included Bob Dylan’s "Blowin’ in the Wind" on the album that included the orchestral version of "Kumbaya." He told an interviewer:
"I think you either go out as a social-commentary group or you go out as an emotional commentary group, from that point of view, you know. Folk music can cut either way, can’t it. It either cuts to the heart or it cuts to the cerebral side and cuts when you want to go out and shout loudly, ah, and music never really wanted to shout. We found terrific musicality in all those Dylan songs and again the versatility of those songs lent themselves to certainly anger if you wanted to portray it that way but we wanted to portray the music in a sense that hits the spirit, hits the soul and moves people. I mean the main mission for us is to elevate the spirit." [6]
Durham made similar comments. She told her biographer:
"The importance of Bob Dylan’s lyrics never struck me at all. But then, I didn’t evaluate song lyrics much in those days. To me, the emotional content, melody and chord structure in the music was the most important thing and I didn’t take much notice of lyrics at all. Lyrics were a means of getting the notes out!" [7]
From an American perspective, Bruce Eder said, that aesthetic put them "on the wrong side of the musical divide" because "their upbeat pop sound seemed increasingly out of touch with the darkening mood in the United States." [8] From Down Under, Ian McFarlane concluded their concentration "on a bright, uptempo sound" made them "too pop to be considered strictly folk and too folk to be rock." [9]
Durham left The Seekers in 1968, while Baez’s contract with Vanguard Records ended in 1971. [10]
Performers
Vocal Soloist: Judith Durham
Vocal Group: Athol Guy, Keith Potger, Bruce Woodley
Instrumental Accompaniment: Woodley and Potger, guitars; Guy, string bass [11]; Bobby Richards and His Orchestra [12]
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
Arranged By [Orchestra] - Bobby Richards [13]
Arranged By [Seekers Arrangement] - The Seekers [14]
Notes on Lyrics
Changes from 1963 version: they dropped the praying verse, but otherwise kept the same verse order.
Notes on Music
Changes from 1963 version: they replaced the banjo with a guitar. The orchestra supplemented their sound, but did not change the solo-group or vocal-accompaniment dynamics.
Notes on Performance
They arrived in London just as the youth culture began to blossom. The men usually appeared in suits and ties, but Durham either wore short- or long-skirted dresses. The men kept their hair short, but she had long hair and bangs. Their public images signified the best of all that was available on Carnaby Street.
Audience Perceptions
A few made the comments on YouTube that one would expect from men who remembered themselves as adolescents. One wrote:
"i bought my first seekers album when i was 9 .im 41. i loved and lip synced kumbaya ..and morning town ...bruce judith atholl and the other one were great ....love the seekers.. get a feeling of wholeness." [15]
Another remembered in December 2016:
"Yes I remember well Judith’s back in the 60’s and as a young man I sure loved her singing and had a good teenage crush on her." [16]
Notes on Performers
Durham joined The Seekers in 1962 while she was working as a jazz singer in Melbourne. When the group was sailing to England in 1964 she said had "been a bit embarrassed about singing with The Seekers, at least in front of my jazz friends. I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t the image I necessarily wanted people to have of me." She never lost the image of herself as soloist. [17]
In the years immediately following the groups’ demise, the three men also stayed active as performers. Bruce Woodley first produced material for children, then moved to the States to compose music. [18] Anthol Guy worked as a variety-show host on Australian television, then, in 1971, was elected to the Victoria state legislature as a Liberal. [19]
Keith Potger formed another group, the New Seekers, which appealed to the new, younger audience. [20] Their most important recording was "I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing." [21] He later produced advertising jingles. [22]
Availability
Album: Hide and Seekers. W & G WG-B-2362. 1964.
Reissues: See the general Discogs entry for The Seekers.
YouTube: several people have uploaded tapes made from the album.
End Notes
1. "The UK Economy in the 1960s." Economics Help website. 6 April 2016.
2. Lee Iacocca. Speech to press at New York World’s Fair, 13 April 1964. Reprinted by Mustangs and Fords website. 22 April 2013.
3. ICSRUT wrote on 28 January 2012, "Age wise I was only in single figures in the 1960s but became a fan of The Seekers due to albums bought by my parents." Comment posted to Amazon UK website for a DVD, The Seekers ~ 25 Year Reunion Celebration.
4. Wikipedia. "Swinging London."
5. The political use of music was mentioned briefly in the posts for 3 October 2017 and 5 October 2017.
6. Athol Guy. Quoted by Ian Horner. "Georgy Girl, The Musical: Celebrating The Seekers..." Hawksbury [Richmond, Australia] Gazette website. 28 April 2016. I corrected some errors that appeared to have been introduced by digitization.
7. Judith Durham. Quoted by Graham Simpson. Colours of My Life: The Judith Durham Story. Sydney: Random House Australia, 1994. 85
8. Bruce Eder. "The Seekers." Pandora website.
9. Ian McFarlane. "The Seekers." Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop. Sydney, Australia: Allen & Unwin, 1999.
10. Wikipedia. "Joan Baez."
11. I could not confirm the identity of the people playing the instruments I heard. This was based on their usual configuration in 1964.
12. "The Seekers - Hide And Seekers." Discogs website.
13. Discogs.
14. Discogs.
15. peter sommerville. 2011. Comments posted on YouTube video "Tribute To The Seekers ~ Kumbaya." It was uploaded by mrtibbs6912 on 2 December 2007.
16. Robert Shrewsbury. December 2016. Comments on version of the 1993 Reunion Concert. It was uploaded to YouTube as "The Seekers - Kumbaya" by Judith Durham and The Seekers on 2 July 2009.
17. Durham. Quoted by Simpson, 51.
18. Wikipedia. "Bruce Woodley."
19. Wikipedia. "Athol Guy."
20. Simpson, 215.
21. Wikipedia. "I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)."
22. Wikipedia. "Keith Potger."
Joan Baez and The Seekers were popular in the years between the assassinations of John Kennedy in 1963 and Martin Luther King in 1968, when it was still possible to believe the one was an anomaly. The first generation since the 1920s was affluent. All things seemed possible to children born in the years just after World War II.
The economy had recovered from war shortages, and automobile manufacturers were satisfying pent up demands. In England, car ownership increased from 40% to 60% of the population in the decade. [1] In Detroit, Lee Iacocca introduced the Mustang in 1964 as an inexpensive, stylish vehicle that could be individualized by unmarried women, like secretaries; young, small families, and larger ones that could afford second cars that gave the wives and older, adolescent drivers mobility. [2]
The popular music market was particularly broad in 1960. The same songs were heard by adolescents, their younger siblings, and their parents. The Seekers re-recorded "Kumbaya" in 1964 with orchestral backing. They replaced The Weavers’ instrumentation that relied on a banjo, with their own that used two guitars. And, for whatever reason, they dropped the one explicitly religious verse about praying.
The hegemony of the popular music market soon was disintegrating. When families began to accumulate a little money, they were able to buy transistor radios, and age-group taste preferences began to emerge. Each year, the oldest married and changed their spending habits. They were replaced by a new, younger group who had heard their music for as long they could remembere. [3] With the emergence of the Beatles, the young, screaming girls were recognized as a separate audience, the teeny boppers.
It wasn’t just the youngest who wanted their own music; the interests of the older ones matured. Symbolically, the Beatles replaced "I Want To Hold Your Hand" from 1963 with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967 as they too aged. Artists either changed or were replaced by new artists eager to extend or alter existing styles.
This natural evolution of cohorts unfolded against the political developments in the United States where politicians who had come of age in the Depression or one of the following wars thought the young should not be enjoying themselves, but serving in Vietnam.
At this point, the fundamental difference between Baez and The Seekers became obvious. She lived in the United States where the war meant death for many young men. They were living in England, which had freed young men from commitments to military service in 1960. [4]
There also was a deeper difference that went back to the stronger Calvinist strain in this country. Baez was heir to the tradition of Pete Seeger and earlier union organizers who used music as a tool to effect change. [5] Ultimately, it was utilitarian and serious.
Athol Guy, said the group deliberately did not emphasize political material, although they had included Bob Dylan’s "Blowin’ in the Wind" on the album that included the orchestral version of "Kumbaya." He told an interviewer:
"I think you either go out as a social-commentary group or you go out as an emotional commentary group, from that point of view, you know. Folk music can cut either way, can’t it. It either cuts to the heart or it cuts to the cerebral side and cuts when you want to go out and shout loudly, ah, and music never really wanted to shout. We found terrific musicality in all those Dylan songs and again the versatility of those songs lent themselves to certainly anger if you wanted to portray it that way but we wanted to portray the music in a sense that hits the spirit, hits the soul and moves people. I mean the main mission for us is to elevate the spirit." [6]
Durham made similar comments. She told her biographer:
"The importance of Bob Dylan’s lyrics never struck me at all. But then, I didn’t evaluate song lyrics much in those days. To me, the emotional content, melody and chord structure in the music was the most important thing and I didn’t take much notice of lyrics at all. Lyrics were a means of getting the notes out!" [7]
From an American perspective, Bruce Eder said, that aesthetic put them "on the wrong side of the musical divide" because "their upbeat pop sound seemed increasingly out of touch with the darkening mood in the United States." [8] From Down Under, Ian McFarlane concluded their concentration "on a bright, uptempo sound" made them "too pop to be considered strictly folk and too folk to be rock." [9]
Durham left The Seekers in 1968, while Baez’s contract with Vanguard Records ended in 1971. [10]
Performers
Vocal Soloist: Judith Durham
Vocal Group: Athol Guy, Keith Potger, Bruce Woodley
Instrumental Accompaniment: Woodley and Potger, guitars; Guy, string bass [11]; Bobby Richards and His Orchestra [12]
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
Arranged By [Orchestra] - Bobby Richards [13]
Arranged By [Seekers Arrangement] - The Seekers [14]
Notes on Lyrics
Changes from 1963 version: they dropped the praying verse, but otherwise kept the same verse order.
Notes on Music
Changes from 1963 version: they replaced the banjo with a guitar. The orchestra supplemented their sound, but did not change the solo-group or vocal-accompaniment dynamics.
Notes on Performance
They arrived in London just as the youth culture began to blossom. The men usually appeared in suits and ties, but Durham either wore short- or long-skirted dresses. The men kept their hair short, but she had long hair and bangs. Their public images signified the best of all that was available on Carnaby Street.
Audience Perceptions
A few made the comments on YouTube that one would expect from men who remembered themselves as adolescents. One wrote:
"i bought my first seekers album when i was 9 .im 41. i loved and lip synced kumbaya ..and morning town ...bruce judith atholl and the other one were great ....love the seekers.. get a feeling of wholeness." [15]
Another remembered in December 2016:
"Yes I remember well Judith’s back in the 60’s and as a young man I sure loved her singing and had a good teenage crush on her." [16]
Notes on Performers
Durham joined The Seekers in 1962 while she was working as a jazz singer in Melbourne. When the group was sailing to England in 1964 she said had "been a bit embarrassed about singing with The Seekers, at least in front of my jazz friends. I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t the image I necessarily wanted people to have of me." She never lost the image of herself as soloist. [17]
In the years immediately following the groups’ demise, the three men also stayed active as performers. Bruce Woodley first produced material for children, then moved to the States to compose music. [18] Anthol Guy worked as a variety-show host on Australian television, then, in 1971, was elected to the Victoria state legislature as a Liberal. [19]
Keith Potger formed another group, the New Seekers, which appealed to the new, younger audience. [20] Their most important recording was "I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing." [21] He later produced advertising jingles. [22]
Availability
Album: Hide and Seekers. W & G WG-B-2362. 1964.
Reissues: See the general Discogs entry for The Seekers.
YouTube: several people have uploaded tapes made from the album.
End Notes
1. "The UK Economy in the 1960s." Economics Help website. 6 April 2016.
2. Lee Iacocca. Speech to press at New York World’s Fair, 13 April 1964. Reprinted by Mustangs and Fords website. 22 April 2013.
3. ICSRUT wrote on 28 January 2012, "Age wise I was only in single figures in the 1960s but became a fan of The Seekers due to albums bought by my parents." Comment posted to Amazon UK website for a DVD, The Seekers ~ 25 Year Reunion Celebration.
4. Wikipedia. "Swinging London."
5. The political use of music was mentioned briefly in the posts for 3 October 2017 and 5 October 2017.
6. Athol Guy. Quoted by Ian Horner. "Georgy Girl, The Musical: Celebrating The Seekers..." Hawksbury [Richmond, Australia] Gazette website. 28 April 2016. I corrected some errors that appeared to have been introduced by digitization.
7. Judith Durham. Quoted by Graham Simpson. Colours of My Life: The Judith Durham Story. Sydney: Random House Australia, 1994. 85
8. Bruce Eder. "The Seekers." Pandora website.
9. Ian McFarlane. "The Seekers." Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop. Sydney, Australia: Allen & Unwin, 1999.
10. Wikipedia. "Joan Baez."
11. I could not confirm the identity of the people playing the instruments I heard. This was based on their usual configuration in 1964.
12. "The Seekers - Hide And Seekers." Discogs website.
13. Discogs.
14. Discogs.
15. peter sommerville. 2011. Comments posted on YouTube video "Tribute To The Seekers ~ Kumbaya." It was uploaded by mrtibbs6912 on 2 December 2007.
16. Robert Shrewsbury. December 2016. Comments on version of the 1993 Reunion Concert. It was uploaded to YouTube as "The Seekers - Kumbaya" by Judith Durham and The Seekers on 2 July 2009.
17. Durham. Quoted by Simpson, 51.
18. Wikipedia. "Bruce Woodley."
19. Wikipedia. "Athol Guy."
20. Simpson, 215.
21. Wikipedia. "I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)."
22. Wikipedia. "Keith Potger."
Monday, January 29, 2018
The Seekers - Kumbaya (1963)
Topic: Seminal Versions
Joan Baez altered the melody to "Kumbaya" in her 1962 In Concert recording. [1] The published melody used exactly the same triad of notes for the statement in each of the first three lines. The refrain of the second line descended, while it went a note higher on the other two lines.
Baez began on E, rather than middle C, which fit her soprano voice. On the first "yah" of the first and third lines she sang the note then raised it slightly. On the second line she did not go as high, creating a smaller, more minor interval.
The Seekers recorded her melody in Australia in 1963, but used the standard lyrics. [2] The minor interval was more obvious during the refrain played by a banjo and guitar in the introduction, and when the group sang together, than when Judith Durham sang alone. She introduced more variations in her treatment of "Lord" in the third line, and did not sing the final "Lord" with two tones. Instead she held it.
Which version was responsible for the song entering the European choral repertoire is more difficult to determine. The two performers appealed to different segments of the commercial folk-music revival that had begun in 1958 when The Kingston Trio’s recorded "Tom Dooley." [3] They recast folk songs as a form of popular music, separate from the older, niche genre represented by Pete Seeger, The Weavers, and the Newport Folk Festival where they performed.
From the beginning, Baez recorded her own, unique repertoire, and accompanied herself with an acoustic guitar. The Seekers recorded "Kumbaya" twice: in 1963 with acoustic instruments, and in 1964 with additional orchestral strings. Their two albums drew primarily from the existing commercial repertoire: the first included Peter, Paul and Mary’s "The Hammer Song," the Weavers "Lonesome Traveller," and Baez’s "All My Trials." [4]
The Seekers did not develop their own repertoire until they went to England in 1964 and met songwriter Tom Springfield. [5] They became famous with his "I’ll Never Find Another You." He wrote their other popular hits, including "Georgy Girl," which was used in a 1966 film. [6] They may not then have sung "Kumbaya" in their concerts, but fans who collected their earlier records would have heard it.
The discographies of the two performers reflected the difference between the purist Baez and the popular Seekers. Baez signed with Vanguard, a specialty jazz label that had international distribution agreements. Discogs reported the In Concert album existed in 57 versions in December 2017. [7] Twenty-six of those were released between 1962 and 1969, and, of those, 13 were released in Europe. Another 20 albums carried no date; many of the 10 European versions may have come from that decade.
The Seekers did not work for a major label until "Another You." Their earlier records were for an Australian company, while the World Record Club [8] originally signed them in England. [9] The combined number of releases of The Seekers two versions was at least 56, with 34 in the 1960s, and 21 on undated albums. Sixteen of the dated issues were in Europe, and 10 of the undated ones. [10]
The number of individual releases of "Kumbaya" were roughly the same for Baez and The Seekers, but Baez probably had more recorded sales. As mentioned in the post for 23 January 2018, statistics in those years were drawn from major record companies, and did not include discount or record club labels. Their importance was suggested by one fan who remembered:
"First stumbled upon the Seekers when I forgot to send my record club card back in the 60’s and this song made me a fan forever." [11]
Baez was part of the more traditional group whose fans also were singers. She supplemented her album with a songbook in 1964. The version of "Kumbaya" showed her key, with a note on differences between the published chords and her performance. It did not transcribed her melodic change in the second line. [12]
The Seekers were part of the popular stream within the revival. Decca released "Kumbaya" in the United Kingdom in 1965 as the B side of the single "Chilly Winds," [13] which registered on the Billboard charts in this country. [14] A German label paired it with "This Train." [15] Their version might not have been seen as a potential hit record, but was recognized as popular enough to support sales.
The chart before the End Notes shows when and where the different albums containing "Kumbaya" by Baez and The Seekers were released in the 1960s. It does not signify sales, but decisions by marketing specialists that enough interest existed to justify the expense of printing new labels and album covers to assemble a different product.
The difference in record company philosophies may have distorted the pattern a little since Baez’s album never went out of print and may always have been available to distributors. With that caveat, the table shows a cultural division: Baez’s album was the only one issued in countries that historically were Roman Catholic, while the Seekers’ albums were released in countries with large Protestant populations.
The map at the far right, which is updated with new posts, suggests the actual distribution of versions of "Kumbaya" sung by European performers.
Performers
Vocal Soloist: Judith Durham
Vocal Group: Athol Guy, Keith Potger, Bruce Woodley
Instrumental Accompaniment: Woodley, guitar; Potger, banjo; Guy, string bass [16]
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
None on original album. [17]
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: Durham did not pronounce the /d/ in Lord
Verses: kumbaya, crying, singing, praying
Vocabulary
Pronoun: one
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: three-verse song framed by kumbaya verses at start and end
Verse Repetition Pattern: none
Ending: none
Unique Features: none
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Tempo: quick
Basic Structure: instrumental introduction, followed by repetitions that varied little once a pattern was set.
Singing Style: unadorned, with one syllable to one note.
Solo-Group Dynamics: Durham sang the first verse alone. The three men echoed the final line, while she began the next verse. They joined her on the second line and continued through the end, when the interverse echo was repeated.
Vocal-Accompaniment Dynamics: a guitar played the melody in chords in the introduction with the banjo playing arpeggios. While the group was singing the men played an accompaniment that was soft when Durham was singing, and louder when they joined her.
Notes on Performers
The four members of the group were all interested in music in high school, but did not begin performing professionally until after they graduated. Then, they found jobs on the periphery of the industry: Athol Guy worked for local television outlets before going to work for an advertizing agency; [18] Keith Potger was a producer for Australian Broadcasting radio; [19] Bruce Woodley worked in a restaurant where they were able to perform. [20]
Potger and Guy merged their groups into the Escorts, an all-male quartet that moved from doo-wop to folk-revival music. [21] When their lead tenor left, Guy remembered telling "the boys we really want to get a girl like Ronnie, that you know, sings a bit like Ronnie Gilbert with The Weavers, with Pete Seeger’s band." [22]
Durham had considered being a pianist and studied at the University of Melbourne Conservatorium. By the time she started work as a secretary at Guy’s advertizing agency, she was singing with a jazz group that had made a record with a local company, W & G. [23] She apparently knew he as looking for singer when she introduced herself; that night she joined them at the club where they were performing. Guy remembered:
"Bruce brought her to sing with us that night and when we got into When the Stars Begin to Fall the harmonies just dropped straight into place and not just the harmonies but the blend and when you get a blend you almost get a fifth voice, you get real chume about you’re trying to produce." [24]
Potger used his contacts to make the demo tape they sent to the record company were Durham already was known. [25] They began doing backup work for other artists. After their album was released they were hired as the house band for a cruise ship going to England, where they played folk music in the afternoons and rock in the evenings. [26] They sent copies ahead to a potential agent, who marketed them as "a genuine true-blue Aussie band" [27] who sang "Waltzing Matilda" [28] for the British folk-revival audience.
Availability
Single: "This Train" and "Kumbaya." W & G. June 1963. [29]
Album: Introducing The Seekers. W & G WG-B-1655. 1963.
Reissues: See the general Discogs entry for The Seekers.
YouTube: several people have uploaded tapes made from the album.
Table
Based on data reported by Discogs for individual albums. B = album by Joan Baez. S = album by The Seekers. Both = albums by both Baez and The Seekers were available.
End Notes
1. Baez and this version were discussed in the post for 9 October 2017.
2. The fact they knew the standard lyrics, and sang the verses in the same order, meant they learned the words from a songbook.
3. Kingston Trio. "Tom Dooley." The Kingston Trio. Capitol Records T-996. 1958.
4. "The Seekers - Introducing The Seekers." Discogs website.
5. Springfield was the brother of Dusty Springfield and had produced material for her group before she left as a soloist.
6. Georgy Girl starred Lynn Redgrave and Alan Bates. Silvio Narizzano directed the film. Springfield wrote the music for Jim Dale’s lyrics. (Wikipedia. "Georgy Girl.")
7. "Joan Baez - In Concert." Discogs website.
8. After The Seekers were successful their record company, EMI, took over World Record Club in 1965. ("World Record Club." Discogs website.)
9. Wikipedia. "The Seekers."
10. Discogs website posts for Introducing The Seekers (1963), Hide And Seekers (1964), The Seekers (1967), and Introducing The Seekers Big Hits (1967).
11. Ed Tobin1 comment posted to YouTube in December 2016 on "The Seekers - Kumbaya." It was uploaded by The Seekers - Kumbaya on 2 July 2009.
12. The Joan Baez Songbook. Edited by Maynard Solomon. New York: Ryerson Music Publishers, 1964. 130-131.
13. "The Seekers - Chilly Winds / Kumbaya." Discogs website.
14. Wikipedia. "The Seekers Discography."
15. Ariola 18 686 AT, no date given. "The Seekers - Kumbaya / This Train." Discogs website. This may have been a reissue of the original Australian single which was not mentioned by Discogs.
16. I could not confirm the identity of the people playing the instruments I heard. This was based on their usual configuration in 1963.
17. Discogs, Introducing The Seekers.
18. Wikipedia. "Athol Guy."
19. Wikipedia, Seekers.
20. Wikipedia. "Bruce Woodley."
21. Wikipedia, Seekers.
22. Athol Guy. Quoted by Ian Horner. "Georgy Girl, The Musical: Celebrating The Seekers..." Hawksbury [Richmond, Australia] Gazette website. 28 April 2016. I corrected some errors that appeared to have been introduced by digitization.
23. Wikipedia. "Judith Durham."
24. Guy. Quoted by Horner.
25. Wikipedia, Durham.
26. Gary James. "Interview With Athol Guy of The Seekers." Classic Bands website
27. Guy. Quoted by Horner.
28. Wikipedia, Seekers. "Their debut single was the traditional historic Australian bush ballad from 1894, ‘Waltzing Matilda’."
29. George Hilder. "Festival Distrib for A & M Label." Billboard, 29 June 1963. 48.
Joan Baez altered the melody to "Kumbaya" in her 1962 In Concert recording. [1] The published melody used exactly the same triad of notes for the statement in each of the first three lines. The refrain of the second line descended, while it went a note higher on the other two lines.
Baez began on E, rather than middle C, which fit her soprano voice. On the first "yah" of the first and third lines she sang the note then raised it slightly. On the second line she did not go as high, creating a smaller, more minor interval.
The Seekers recorded her melody in Australia in 1963, but used the standard lyrics. [2] The minor interval was more obvious during the refrain played by a banjo and guitar in the introduction, and when the group sang together, than when Judith Durham sang alone. She introduced more variations in her treatment of "Lord" in the third line, and did not sing the final "Lord" with two tones. Instead she held it.
Which version was responsible for the song entering the European choral repertoire is more difficult to determine. The two performers appealed to different segments of the commercial folk-music revival that had begun in 1958 when The Kingston Trio’s recorded "Tom Dooley." [3] They recast folk songs as a form of popular music, separate from the older, niche genre represented by Pete Seeger, The Weavers, and the Newport Folk Festival where they performed.
From the beginning, Baez recorded her own, unique repertoire, and accompanied herself with an acoustic guitar. The Seekers recorded "Kumbaya" twice: in 1963 with acoustic instruments, and in 1964 with additional orchestral strings. Their two albums drew primarily from the existing commercial repertoire: the first included Peter, Paul and Mary’s "The Hammer Song," the Weavers "Lonesome Traveller," and Baez’s "All My Trials." [4]
The Seekers did not develop their own repertoire until they went to England in 1964 and met songwriter Tom Springfield. [5] They became famous with his "I’ll Never Find Another You." He wrote their other popular hits, including "Georgy Girl," which was used in a 1966 film. [6] They may not then have sung "Kumbaya" in their concerts, but fans who collected their earlier records would have heard it.
The discographies of the two performers reflected the difference between the purist Baez and the popular Seekers. Baez signed with Vanguard, a specialty jazz label that had international distribution agreements. Discogs reported the In Concert album existed in 57 versions in December 2017. [7] Twenty-six of those were released between 1962 and 1969, and, of those, 13 were released in Europe. Another 20 albums carried no date; many of the 10 European versions may have come from that decade.
The Seekers did not work for a major label until "Another You." Their earlier records were for an Australian company, while the World Record Club [8] originally signed them in England. [9] The combined number of releases of The Seekers two versions was at least 56, with 34 in the 1960s, and 21 on undated albums. Sixteen of the dated issues were in Europe, and 10 of the undated ones. [10]
The number of individual releases of "Kumbaya" were roughly the same for Baez and The Seekers, but Baez probably had more recorded sales. As mentioned in the post for 23 January 2018, statistics in those years were drawn from major record companies, and did not include discount or record club labels. Their importance was suggested by one fan who remembered:
"First stumbled upon the Seekers when I forgot to send my record club card back in the 60’s and this song made me a fan forever." [11]
Baez was part of the more traditional group whose fans also were singers. She supplemented her album with a songbook in 1964. The version of "Kumbaya" showed her key, with a note on differences between the published chords and her performance. It did not transcribed her melodic change in the second line. [12]
The Seekers were part of the popular stream within the revival. Decca released "Kumbaya" in the United Kingdom in 1965 as the B side of the single "Chilly Winds," [13] which registered on the Billboard charts in this country. [14] A German label paired it with "This Train." [15] Their version might not have been seen as a potential hit record, but was recognized as popular enough to support sales.
The chart before the End Notes shows when and where the different albums containing "Kumbaya" by Baez and The Seekers were released in the 1960s. It does not signify sales, but decisions by marketing specialists that enough interest existed to justify the expense of printing new labels and album covers to assemble a different product.
The difference in record company philosophies may have distorted the pattern a little since Baez’s album never went out of print and may always have been available to distributors. With that caveat, the table shows a cultural division: Baez’s album was the only one issued in countries that historically were Roman Catholic, while the Seekers’ albums were released in countries with large Protestant populations.
The map at the far right, which is updated with new posts, suggests the actual distribution of versions of "Kumbaya" sung by European performers.
Performers
Vocal Soloist: Judith Durham
Vocal Group: Athol Guy, Keith Potger, Bruce Woodley
Instrumental Accompaniment: Woodley, guitar; Potger, banjo; Guy, string bass [16]
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
None on original album. [17]
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: Durham did not pronounce the /d/ in Lord
Verses: kumbaya, crying, singing, praying
Vocabulary
Pronoun: one
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: three-verse song framed by kumbaya verses at start and end
Verse Repetition Pattern: none
Ending: none
Unique Features: none
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Tempo: quick
Basic Structure: instrumental introduction, followed by repetitions that varied little once a pattern was set.
Singing Style: unadorned, with one syllable to one note.
Solo-Group Dynamics: Durham sang the first verse alone. The three men echoed the final line, while she began the next verse. They joined her on the second line and continued through the end, when the interverse echo was repeated.
Vocal-Accompaniment Dynamics: a guitar played the melody in chords in the introduction with the banjo playing arpeggios. While the group was singing the men played an accompaniment that was soft when Durham was singing, and louder when they joined her.
Notes on Performers
The four members of the group were all interested in music in high school, but did not begin performing professionally until after they graduated. Then, they found jobs on the periphery of the industry: Athol Guy worked for local television outlets before going to work for an advertizing agency; [18] Keith Potger was a producer for Australian Broadcasting radio; [19] Bruce Woodley worked in a restaurant where they were able to perform. [20]
Potger and Guy merged their groups into the Escorts, an all-male quartet that moved from doo-wop to folk-revival music. [21] When their lead tenor left, Guy remembered telling "the boys we really want to get a girl like Ronnie, that you know, sings a bit like Ronnie Gilbert with The Weavers, with Pete Seeger’s band." [22]
Durham had considered being a pianist and studied at the University of Melbourne Conservatorium. By the time she started work as a secretary at Guy’s advertizing agency, she was singing with a jazz group that had made a record with a local company, W & G. [23] She apparently knew he as looking for singer when she introduced herself; that night she joined them at the club where they were performing. Guy remembered:
"Bruce brought her to sing with us that night and when we got into When the Stars Begin to Fall the harmonies just dropped straight into place and not just the harmonies but the blend and when you get a blend you almost get a fifth voice, you get real chume about you’re trying to produce." [24]
Potger used his contacts to make the demo tape they sent to the record company were Durham already was known. [25] They began doing backup work for other artists. After their album was released they were hired as the house band for a cruise ship going to England, where they played folk music in the afternoons and rock in the evenings. [26] They sent copies ahead to a potential agent, who marketed them as "a genuine true-blue Aussie band" [27] who sang "Waltzing Matilda" [28] for the British folk-revival audience.
Availability
Single: "This Train" and "Kumbaya." W & G. June 1963. [29]
Album: Introducing The Seekers. W & G WG-B-1655. 1963.
Reissues: See the general Discogs entry for The Seekers.
YouTube: several people have uploaded tapes made from the album.
Table
| 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | Unknown | |
| UK |
B
|
S
|
S
|
S
|
S
|
||||
| France |
B
|
B
|
|||||||
| Germany |
B
|
S
|
S
|
Both
|
|||||
| Denmark |
S
|
S
|
|||||||
| Holland |
S
|
||||||||
| Italy |
B
|
B
|
|||||||
| Austria |
B
|
||||||||
| Greece |
B
|
||||||||
| Portugal |
B
|
||||||||
| Spain |
B
|
Based on data reported by Discogs for individual albums. B = album by Joan Baez. S = album by The Seekers. Both = albums by both Baez and The Seekers were available.
End Notes
1. Baez and this version were discussed in the post for 9 October 2017.
2. The fact they knew the standard lyrics, and sang the verses in the same order, meant they learned the words from a songbook.
3. Kingston Trio. "Tom Dooley." The Kingston Trio. Capitol Records T-996. 1958.
4. "The Seekers - Introducing The Seekers." Discogs website.
5. Springfield was the brother of Dusty Springfield and had produced material for her group before she left as a soloist.
6. Georgy Girl starred Lynn Redgrave and Alan Bates. Silvio Narizzano directed the film. Springfield wrote the music for Jim Dale’s lyrics. (Wikipedia. "Georgy Girl.")
7. "Joan Baez - In Concert." Discogs website.
8. After The Seekers were successful their record company, EMI, took over World Record Club in 1965. ("World Record Club." Discogs website.)
9. Wikipedia. "The Seekers."
10. Discogs website posts for Introducing The Seekers (1963), Hide And Seekers (1964), The Seekers (1967), and Introducing The Seekers Big Hits (1967).
11. Ed Tobin1 comment posted to YouTube in December 2016 on "The Seekers - Kumbaya." It was uploaded by The Seekers - Kumbaya on 2 July 2009.
12. The Joan Baez Songbook. Edited by Maynard Solomon. New York: Ryerson Music Publishers, 1964. 130-131.
13. "The Seekers - Chilly Winds / Kumbaya." Discogs website.
14. Wikipedia. "The Seekers Discography."
15. Ariola 18 686 AT, no date given. "The Seekers - Kumbaya / This Train." Discogs website. This may have been a reissue of the original Australian single which was not mentioned by Discogs.
16. I could not confirm the identity of the people playing the instruments I heard. This was based on their usual configuration in 1963.
17. Discogs, Introducing The Seekers.
18. Wikipedia. "Athol Guy."
19. Wikipedia, Seekers.
20. Wikipedia. "Bruce Woodley."
21. Wikipedia, Seekers.
22. Athol Guy. Quoted by Ian Horner. "Georgy Girl, The Musical: Celebrating The Seekers..." Hawksbury [Richmond, Australia] Gazette website. 28 April 2016. I corrected some errors that appeared to have been introduced by digitization.
23. Wikipedia. "Judith Durham."
24. Guy. Quoted by Horner.
25. Wikipedia, Durham.
26. Gary James. "Interview With Athol Guy of The Seekers." Classic Bands website
27. Guy. Quoted by Horner.
28. Wikipedia, Seekers. "Their debut single was the traditional historic Australian bush ballad from 1894, ‘Waltzing Matilda’."
29. George Hilder. "Festival Distrib for A & M Label." Billboard, 29 June 1963. 48.
Friday, September 1, 2017
Hightower Brothers - Come By Here
Topic: Seminal Versions
The Hightower Brothers recorded a version of "Come by Here" in 1958 that defined the melody for many who followed. It began with three notes on the base note of a chord, followed by three on the fifth. The repetition of the one tone with the rhythm of a three-syllable word "somebody" propelled the melody.
Nick Hightower formed the group with his three sons and a relative. [1] The soloist, Robert, was ten at the time. They did not create the tune. It already was in tradition in 1926 when H. Wylie sang it for Robert Gordon somewhere in coastal Georgia. [2]
Nick’s father, also Nick Hightower, founded the House of God in Saints in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1927 where he met resistence from the white community:
"Bishop Hightower established the church in an era of excessive brutality toward Blacks. He persevered despite being jailed and later thrown off his property for preaching the gospel to ‘the poor...to heal the brokenhearted and preach deliverance to the captives.’ Bishop Hightower’s persistence helped spread the word to Georgia, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania." [3]
He then established New Bethel in Douglas, Georgia, in 1938, and remained there until he died in 1971. [4] Douglas was then a tobacco market on the Georgia and Florida Railway line. [5]
Nick the son was living in Deland, Florida when his youngest boy, Robert, was born in 1948. Robert died in Goldsboro, North Carolina, in 2010. [6] His birth and death places laid just beyond the outer limits of the Gullah-speaking territory that included Wylie’s part of Georgia.
Their version, with its piano-driven rhythms and high-pitched voiceless syllables no doubt drew on the style of Little Richard. Rolling Stone said he was known for "pounding the piano, howling his lyrics and screaming in a wild falsetto." [7] Richard Penniman was from Macon, [8] on the Georgia fall line bordering the coastal plain. [9] The Hightowers combination of his style with the Wylie melody produced a regional version steeped in the traditions of their grandfather’s Pentecostal church.
Performers
Solo: Robert Hightower
Vocal Accompaniment: Nick Hightower; Willie James Hightower, second tenor; William Martin Hightower, Johnny Hightower, and Reco Hightower. [10]
Instrumental Accompaniment: organ [11]
Rhythm Accompaniment: piano, drum set, one person clapping hands
Credits
Volunteer Music, BMI. [12]
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: pronounced "come" tersely and emphasized "by"
Verse Phrases: come by here, need you, I’m singing
Vocabulary:
Pronoun: somebody, I
Term for Deity: Lord, Lordy
Lawyer: all the listed people who needed the Lord were family members except "my lawyer." I have no idea what significance that carried for a ten-year-old boy.
Theme:
Prelude: requested Lord to come
Transition: listed people who need Him
Denouement: continued to list people, then changed to define when the singer needed Him and ended with series of oh’s
Format: ritual prelude-denouement structure
Line Meter: iambic
Verse Form: repetitions of lines; number of repetitions varies
Line Meter: iambic
Prelude
Line Form: statement-refrain
Transition and Denouement
Rhetorical Devices: incremental repetition (listed members of family, then days of the week)
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-5
Tempo: up tempo
Basic Structure: soloist supported by group singing rhythm
Singing Style:
Solo: young male voice chants more than sings. His voice got raspier in the transition, and turned into high, voiceless sounds in parts of the denouement.
Group: chordal harmony; last word sustained and went lower in harmony.
Solo-Group Dynamics: group sang rhythm. In the prelude they began "come by here" after he started singing. In the transition, they repeated "Lordy I need You" without pause. They changed to repeating "I need you" in the denouement during the list of family members, then only at the beginning of the lines that listed days of the week. In the last part, one with a low voice sometimes sang a word to emphasize what the soloist had just sung.
Vocal-Rhythm Dynamics: piano played the downbeats and the handclap came after. Before they singing started, the piano alternated high and low notes with hand claps. The claps were widely spaced in the prelude, and constant in the denouement. The last phrase was a capella.
Influence: Some Hightower’s fans pointed to Julius Cheeks of the Sensational Nightingales, rather than Little Richard. One said:
"He is singing in the style of Julius Cheeks and pulling it off amazingly, no easy feat for any man let alone a young boy." [13]
Another also mentioned Archie Brownlee of the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi:
"little sugar was something else as a kid. can’t deny the brownlee-cheeks influence." [14]
Viewers’ Perceptions
Most who commented in YouTube remarked on Robert’s singing style. On woman said:
"Those brothers were such a Inspiration to whom ever they sung too, the Holy Ghost were on them everytime , sooo amazing just how awesome our God is , but we won’t know it all until we get to HEAVEN . God’s will was done thanks to their father who allow his sons to be led by the holy spirit." [15]
When someone in the comments complained about the boy’s screaming, another woman answered:
"This guy was not yelling at all he was feeling the Holy Spirit and plus, he was singing with the anointing. When you are singing with the anointing you can yell, I should know because I am a gospel singer myself." [16]
A second, agreed
"he got the holy spirt." [17]
One person mentioned the song:
"My grandfather’s favorite song he passed away singing this song 4/8/13." [18]
Availability
45 rpm: Gospel 1008. New York City, 13 October 1958.
Reissue: Screaming Gospel Holy Rollers Vol. 2. Menstrie, UK: VeeTone Records 2016. Compiled by Mark Lamarr.
Reissued as: "I Need You Lord." The Best of the Hightower Brothers. Nashboro NASH4004. 1995.
YouTube: uploaded by P Low, 13 February 2011.
End Notes
1. William Martin Hightower did not appear in the list of Robert’s living or dead siblings. He either died so young he was omitted or was a cousin. See #6 obituary below.
2. H. Wylie. "Somebody Needs You, Lord, Come by Here." Collected by Robert Winslow Gordon, near Darien, Georgia, 1926. Deposited in Archives of American Folk Song. A transcription by Jennifer Cutting appeared in Stephen Winick. "The World’s First ‘Kumbaya’ Moment: New Evidence about an Old Song." Folklife Center News 34(3-4): 3-10:2010.
3. Lighthouse Faith Ministry website.
4. Hightower Memorial Temple, Douglas, Georgia, website.
5. Wikipedia. "Douglas, Georgia."
6. "Services Announced for Robert "Sugar" Hightower of the Supreme Angels." Goldsboro [North Carolina] News-Argus. 30 August 2010.
7. "Little Richard Bio." Rolling Stone website.
8. Rolling Stone.
9. Wikipedia. "Macon, Georgia."
10. Doubting Thomas Lamarr. Liner notes, Screaming.
11. Doubting Thomas.
12. Doubting Thomas. The liner notes reproduced the record label.
13. Howling Moon Records. Comment posted to YouTube, 2013.
14. Brooks Danner. Comment posted to YouTube, 2015.
15. Deniece Samuels. Comment posted to YouTube, 2012.
16. Jasmine SeabronSeabron. Comment posted to YouTube, July 2015.
17. T. T Welch. Comment posted to YouTube, 2013.
18. jb Smith. Comment posted to YouTube, 2013.
The Hightower Brothers recorded a version of "Come by Here" in 1958 that defined the melody for many who followed. It began with three notes on the base note of a chord, followed by three on the fifth. The repetition of the one tone with the rhythm of a three-syllable word "somebody" propelled the melody.
Nick Hightower formed the group with his three sons and a relative. [1] The soloist, Robert, was ten at the time. They did not create the tune. It already was in tradition in 1926 when H. Wylie sang it for Robert Gordon somewhere in coastal Georgia. [2]
Nick’s father, also Nick Hightower, founded the House of God in Saints in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1927 where he met resistence from the white community:
"Bishop Hightower established the church in an era of excessive brutality toward Blacks. He persevered despite being jailed and later thrown off his property for preaching the gospel to ‘the poor...to heal the brokenhearted and preach deliverance to the captives.’ Bishop Hightower’s persistence helped spread the word to Georgia, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania." [3]
He then established New Bethel in Douglas, Georgia, in 1938, and remained there until he died in 1971. [4] Douglas was then a tobacco market on the Georgia and Florida Railway line. [5]
Nick the son was living in Deland, Florida when his youngest boy, Robert, was born in 1948. Robert died in Goldsboro, North Carolina, in 2010. [6] His birth and death places laid just beyond the outer limits of the Gullah-speaking territory that included Wylie’s part of Georgia.
Their version, with its piano-driven rhythms and high-pitched voiceless syllables no doubt drew on the style of Little Richard. Rolling Stone said he was known for "pounding the piano, howling his lyrics and screaming in a wild falsetto." [7] Richard Penniman was from Macon, [8] on the Georgia fall line bordering the coastal plain. [9] The Hightowers combination of his style with the Wylie melody produced a regional version steeped in the traditions of their grandfather’s Pentecostal church.
Performers
Solo: Robert Hightower
Vocal Accompaniment: Nick Hightower; Willie James Hightower, second tenor; William Martin Hightower, Johnny Hightower, and Reco Hightower. [10]
Instrumental Accompaniment: organ [11]
Rhythm Accompaniment: piano, drum set, one person clapping hands
Credits
Volunteer Music, BMI. [12]
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: pronounced "come" tersely and emphasized "by"
Verse Phrases: come by here, need you, I’m singing
Vocabulary:
Pronoun: somebody, I
Term for Deity: Lord, Lordy
Lawyer: all the listed people who needed the Lord were family members except "my lawyer." I have no idea what significance that carried for a ten-year-old boy.
Theme:
Prelude: requested Lord to come
Transition: listed people who need Him
Denouement: continued to list people, then changed to define when the singer needed Him and ended with series of oh’s
Format: ritual prelude-denouement structure
Line Meter: iambic
Verse Form: repetitions of lines; number of repetitions varies
Line Meter: iambic
Prelude
Line Form: statement-refrain
Transition and Denouement
Rhetorical Devices: incremental repetition (listed members of family, then days of the week)
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-5
Tempo: up tempo
Basic Structure: soloist supported by group singing rhythm
Singing Style:
Solo: young male voice chants more than sings. His voice got raspier in the transition, and turned into high, voiceless sounds in parts of the denouement.
Group: chordal harmony; last word sustained and went lower in harmony.
Solo-Group Dynamics: group sang rhythm. In the prelude they began "come by here" after he started singing. In the transition, they repeated "Lordy I need You" without pause. They changed to repeating "I need you" in the denouement during the list of family members, then only at the beginning of the lines that listed days of the week. In the last part, one with a low voice sometimes sang a word to emphasize what the soloist had just sung.
Vocal-Rhythm Dynamics: piano played the downbeats and the handclap came after. Before they singing started, the piano alternated high and low notes with hand claps. The claps were widely spaced in the prelude, and constant in the denouement. The last phrase was a capella.
Influence: Some Hightower’s fans pointed to Julius Cheeks of the Sensational Nightingales, rather than Little Richard. One said:
"He is singing in the style of Julius Cheeks and pulling it off amazingly, no easy feat for any man let alone a young boy." [13]
Another also mentioned Archie Brownlee of the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi:
"little sugar was something else as a kid. can’t deny the brownlee-cheeks influence." [14]
Viewers’ Perceptions
Most who commented in YouTube remarked on Robert’s singing style. On woman said:
"Those brothers were such a Inspiration to whom ever they sung too, the Holy Ghost were on them everytime , sooo amazing just how awesome our God is , but we won’t know it all until we get to HEAVEN . God’s will was done thanks to their father who allow his sons to be led by the holy spirit." [15]
When someone in the comments complained about the boy’s screaming, another woman answered:
"This guy was not yelling at all he was feeling the Holy Spirit and plus, he was singing with the anointing. When you are singing with the anointing you can yell, I should know because I am a gospel singer myself." [16]
A second, agreed
"he got the holy spirt." [17]
One person mentioned the song:
"My grandfather’s favorite song he passed away singing this song 4/8/13." [18]
Availability
45 rpm: Gospel 1008. New York City, 13 October 1958.
Reissue: Screaming Gospel Holy Rollers Vol. 2. Menstrie, UK: VeeTone Records 2016. Compiled by Mark Lamarr.
Reissued as: "I Need You Lord." The Best of the Hightower Brothers. Nashboro NASH4004. 1995.
YouTube: uploaded by P Low, 13 February 2011.
End Notes
1. William Martin Hightower did not appear in the list of Robert’s living or dead siblings. He either died so young he was omitted or was a cousin. See #6 obituary below.
2. H. Wylie. "Somebody Needs You, Lord, Come by Here." Collected by Robert Winslow Gordon, near Darien, Georgia, 1926. Deposited in Archives of American Folk Song. A transcription by Jennifer Cutting appeared in Stephen Winick. "The World’s First ‘Kumbaya’ Moment: New Evidence about an Old Song." Folklife Center News 34(3-4): 3-10:2010.
3. Lighthouse Faith Ministry website.
4. Hightower Memorial Temple, Douglas, Georgia, website.
5. Wikipedia. "Douglas, Georgia."
6. "Services Announced for Robert "Sugar" Hightower of the Supreme Angels." Goldsboro [North Carolina] News-Argus. 30 August 2010.
7. "Little Richard Bio." Rolling Stone website.
8. Rolling Stone.
9. Wikipedia. "Macon, Georgia."
10. Doubting Thomas Lamarr. Liner notes, Screaming.
11. Doubting Thomas.
12. Doubting Thomas. The liner notes reproduced the record label.
13. Howling Moon Records. Comment posted to YouTube, 2013.
14. Brooks Danner. Comment posted to YouTube, 2015.
15. Deniece Samuels. Comment posted to YouTube, 2012.
16. Jasmine SeabronSeabron. Comment posted to YouTube, July 2015.
17. T. T Welch. Comment posted to YouTube, 2013.
18. jb Smith. Comment posted to YouTube, 2013.
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
Soweto Gospel Choir - Khumbaya (Part 2)
Notes on Music
Time Signature:
Sheet Music: 4/4
Tempo:
Sheet Music: quarter note = 72 beats a minute, joyful
Key Signature:
Sheet Music: 1 flat
Basic Structure:
Sheet Music
Part 1
Measures 1-3: djembé only
Measures 4-35: choir and djembé
Part 2
Measures 36-39: choir, djembé, and hand claps
Measures 40-45: solo, choir, djembé, and hand claps
Measures 46-48: choir, djembé, and hand claps
Measures 49-51: choir, djembé, hand claps, with one part in Zulu
Measures 52-59: choir with Zulu part, hand claps, no djembé
Measure 60: choir only
Singing Style:
Solo:
2005 Drums and 2006 Synthesizer: few words, and many syllables on several tones
Sheet Music: "should be free & improvised throughout" [1]
Group:
2005 Drums and 2006 Synthesizer: voices were generally "whispery."
Sheet Music: began with sopranos and tenors singing in unison, and altos and basses singing in octaves. When altos joined the higher voices they sang a phrase with four parts, then change to three-part chords. Other verses are sung in four-parts. The very last word was five-part harmony.
Vocal-Orchestral Dynamics:
2006 Synthesizer: the synthesizer began. One musician passed a shaker back and forth over one of the African drums. During the singing, the instrumentation was unobtrusive.
Rhythm:
Sheet Music: Runestad said, "the djembe player should improvise freely, reacting to the vocal soloist and the choir’s musical material." [2] He provided three patterns, with the second labeled "Slightly Easier," and the third "Or easier yet." [3] They all used three tones with "slaps" at the end of phrases.
To be more precise, he told musicians:
"Many djembe players keep the sixteenth note rhythms evenly present--i.e. they play something on every sixteenth note of the beat. Then they use accents and various parts of the drum to bring out certain accented beats more than others.
"Most percussionists also add additional rhythmic material, called "fill," at times when the other musical parts are holding notes or playing rhythms that are more static. So, when the choir is holding a longer note, the djembe player can branch out even further from the above motives. Experiment!" [4]
Notes on Performance
2006 Synthesizer: the choir was dressed in theatrically colorful native dress. They filed onto risers while the synthesizer was playing. The women stood in front with their arms low and their hands clasped. The men stood behind them with their arms at their sides. The modern musicians were on the third tier. The two African drummers sat in front to stage left.
Notes on Movement
2006 Synthesizer: in the first part, the choir stood still and faced the audience. However, a couple of the women moved their hands, spreading the out and bringing them together.
During the hand claps, both men and women alternated between facing stage right and left. While they changed positions their arms came down; on the claps they were raised chest-hand. The hands were brought together in a praying position. It looked like they bent their knees while they were turning, but the camera never showed them full-length in this section.
The soloist stood in front, with a microphone in his right hand. He moved with knees bent as he shifted his weight from foot to foot. He would raise and drop his left arm.
At the end, the women clasped hands with intertwined fingers and raised their arms to their shoulders.
Viewers’ Perceptions
A great many comments were posted on YouTube, especially for the drum version, in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. Some had African names, and one made a reference to Germany. While many described the videos as heavenly or made comments on God, there were none of the Pentecostal references to anointing or blessing. Most were simply appreciations for the sound.
Notes on Performers
The choir was founded in 2002 by Beverly Bryer on behalf of some Australian promoters, Andrew Kay, Clifford Hocking, and David Vigo. [5] She worked with David Mulovhedzi, who then was director of the Holy Jerusalem Evangelical Church Choir. [6] Bok was part of the choir from its beginning as a tenor and guitar player. [7]
He was born in Kimberly [8] and raised in the Zulu part of Natal where he attended secondary school in Pietermaritzburg. [9] In 1999, he became music director of the Berea Christian Tabernacle. [10] That was three years after the Boer and African congregations of the Apostolic Faith Mission Church were reunited after the legal end of apartheid. [11] He stayed with the wealthy Pentecostal church for two years.
He earned accreditation from the School of the Prophets in North Miami Beach, Florida. [12] In 2016 he had his own choir, Africa in Praise, and was music director for Conquering Through Prayer Ministries in Durban. [13]
Bok’s father played guitar, and taught him to play when he was seven. He told Margaret von Klemperer that he could read a score, but "following music by ear comes naturally." [14] Runestad said, "the choir is based solely on an aural learning tradition. [15]
Availability
2005 Drums
CD: Blessed. Shanachie, CD. 2005.
YouTube: uploaded by matbb891, 13 April 2008.
2006 Synthesizer
DVD: Blessed Live in Concert. Australia, 2005; released 2006.
YouTube: uploaded by erastusbean, 12 March 2009.
Rehearsal
YouTube: uploaded by Wesley Rocha, 22 November 2015
Sheet Music
Lincoln, Nebraska: MusicSpoke website, 2015.
End Notes
1. Kurt Runestad. "Performing Notes on ‘Khumaya’." MusicSpoke website.
2. Runestad, Notes.
3. Runestad, Notes.
4. Runestad, Notes.
5. "Beverly Bryer." Soweto Gospel Choir website.
6. "Jimmy Mulovhedzi." Soweto Gospel Choir website.
7. Margaret von Klemperer. "From Eastwood to Hollywood." News24 [Capetown, South Africa], 24 March 2008.
8. Klemperer.
9. "Lucas Bok." Facebook.
10. Klemperer.
11. Wikipedia. "Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa." It was founded by Reform Boers with the assistance of Pentecostals from the United States.
12. Bok, Facebook. The School of Prophets was run by Steve Lyston, and preached the restoration of the primitive church. ("About RWOMI Network." Its website).
13. Runestad, Notes. The church was directed by Clive Malcolm Gopaul. He was raised in South Africa’s Chatsworth Indian Township, and educated at the Premillennial Bethesda Bible College in Mitchell Park, Australia. ("Conquering Through Prayer Ministries International." Facebook.)
14. Klemperer.
15. Runestad, Notes.
Time Signature:
Sheet Music: 4/4
Tempo:
Sheet Music: quarter note = 72 beats a minute, joyful
Key Signature:
Sheet Music: 1 flat
Basic Structure:
Sheet Music
Part 1
Measures 1-3: djembé only
Measures 4-35: choir and djembé
Part 2
Measures 36-39: choir, djembé, and hand claps
Measures 40-45: solo, choir, djembé, and hand claps
Measures 46-48: choir, djembé, and hand claps
Measures 49-51: choir, djembé, hand claps, with one part in Zulu
Measures 52-59: choir with Zulu part, hand claps, no djembé
Measure 60: choir only
Singing Style:
Solo:
2005 Drums and 2006 Synthesizer: few words, and many syllables on several tones
Sheet Music: "should be free & improvised throughout" [1]
Group:
2005 Drums and 2006 Synthesizer: voices were generally "whispery."
Sheet Music: began with sopranos and tenors singing in unison, and altos and basses singing in octaves. When altos joined the higher voices they sang a phrase with four parts, then change to three-part chords. Other verses are sung in four-parts. The very last word was five-part harmony.
Vocal-Orchestral Dynamics:
2006 Synthesizer: the synthesizer began. One musician passed a shaker back and forth over one of the African drums. During the singing, the instrumentation was unobtrusive.
Rhythm:
Sheet Music: Runestad said, "the djembe player should improvise freely, reacting to the vocal soloist and the choir’s musical material." [2] He provided three patterns, with the second labeled "Slightly Easier," and the third "Or easier yet." [3] They all used three tones with "slaps" at the end of phrases.
To be more precise, he told musicians:
"Many djembe players keep the sixteenth note rhythms evenly present--i.e. they play something on every sixteenth note of the beat. Then they use accents and various parts of the drum to bring out certain accented beats more than others.
"Most percussionists also add additional rhythmic material, called "fill," at times when the other musical parts are holding notes or playing rhythms that are more static. So, when the choir is holding a longer note, the djembe player can branch out even further from the above motives. Experiment!" [4]
Notes on Performance
2006 Synthesizer: the choir was dressed in theatrically colorful native dress. They filed onto risers while the synthesizer was playing. The women stood in front with their arms low and their hands clasped. The men stood behind them with their arms at their sides. The modern musicians were on the third tier. The two African drummers sat in front to stage left.
Notes on Movement
2006 Synthesizer: in the first part, the choir stood still and faced the audience. However, a couple of the women moved their hands, spreading the out and bringing them together.
During the hand claps, both men and women alternated between facing stage right and left. While they changed positions their arms came down; on the claps they were raised chest-hand. The hands were brought together in a praying position. It looked like they bent their knees while they were turning, but the camera never showed them full-length in this section.
The soloist stood in front, with a microphone in his right hand. He moved with knees bent as he shifted his weight from foot to foot. He would raise and drop his left arm.
At the end, the women clasped hands with intertwined fingers and raised their arms to their shoulders.
Viewers’ Perceptions
A great many comments were posted on YouTube, especially for the drum version, in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. Some had African names, and one made a reference to Germany. While many described the videos as heavenly or made comments on God, there were none of the Pentecostal references to anointing or blessing. Most were simply appreciations for the sound.
Notes on Performers
The choir was founded in 2002 by Beverly Bryer on behalf of some Australian promoters, Andrew Kay, Clifford Hocking, and David Vigo. [5] She worked with David Mulovhedzi, who then was director of the Holy Jerusalem Evangelical Church Choir. [6] Bok was part of the choir from its beginning as a tenor and guitar player. [7]
He was born in Kimberly [8] and raised in the Zulu part of Natal where he attended secondary school in Pietermaritzburg. [9] In 1999, he became music director of the Berea Christian Tabernacle. [10] That was three years after the Boer and African congregations of the Apostolic Faith Mission Church were reunited after the legal end of apartheid. [11] He stayed with the wealthy Pentecostal church for two years.
He earned accreditation from the School of the Prophets in North Miami Beach, Florida. [12] In 2016 he had his own choir, Africa in Praise, and was music director for Conquering Through Prayer Ministries in Durban. [13]
Bok’s father played guitar, and taught him to play when he was seven. He told Margaret von Klemperer that he could read a score, but "following music by ear comes naturally." [14] Runestad said, "the choir is based solely on an aural learning tradition. [15]
Availability
2005 Drums
CD: Blessed. Shanachie, CD. 2005.
YouTube: uploaded by matbb891, 13 April 2008.
2006 Synthesizer
DVD: Blessed Live in Concert. Australia, 2005; released 2006.
YouTube: uploaded by erastusbean, 12 March 2009.
Rehearsal
YouTube: uploaded by Wesley Rocha, 22 November 2015
Sheet Music
Lincoln, Nebraska: MusicSpoke website, 2015.
End Notes
1. Kurt Runestad. "Performing Notes on ‘Khumaya’." MusicSpoke website.
2. Runestad, Notes.
3. Runestad, Notes.
4. Runestad, Notes.
5. "Beverly Bryer." Soweto Gospel Choir website.
6. "Jimmy Mulovhedzi." Soweto Gospel Choir website.
7. Margaret von Klemperer. "From Eastwood to Hollywood." News24 [Capetown, South Africa], 24 March 2008.
8. Klemperer.
9. "Lucas Bok." Facebook.
10. Klemperer.
11. Wikipedia. "Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa." It was founded by Reform Boers with the assistance of Pentecostals from the United States.
12. Bok, Facebook. The School of Prophets was run by Steve Lyston, and preached the restoration of the primitive church. ("About RWOMI Network." Its website).
13. Runestad, Notes. The church was directed by Clive Malcolm Gopaul. He was raised in South Africa’s Chatsworth Indian Township, and educated at the Premillennial Bethesda Bible College in Mitchell Park, Australia. ("Conquering Through Prayer Ministries International." Facebook.)
14. Klemperer.
15. Runestad, Notes.
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