Topic: Religious Uses
José Medrado, a spiritist medium, uploaded videos of Combaiás [1] he conducted at his City of Light centre in Salvador, Brasil, in 2012 and 2013.
Allan Kardec developed spiritism into a codified set of beliefs from observing attempts by spiritualists to contact the dead in the nineteenth century. [2] Chico Xavier gave the religion greater exposure in Brasil in the late 1960s and early 1970s when he appeared on television. [3] In 2010, nearly 84,500 in Salvador, or 3.24% of the city’s population, claimed to be spiritists. [4] Salvador is the capital of Bahia, which was the port of entry for the slave trade. [5]
Spiritists believed the world was composed of spirits that temporarily inhabited bodies where they faced challenges and ordeals. When a body died, the spirit transferred to another body. Each incarnation of the spirit was an improvement over the previous one, and the changes continued until the spirit reached perfection. [6]
The compulsion of spirits for self-improvement led to better social relationships. Some spirits, however, were malevolent. A number of healing treatments were done by mediums contacting those spirits. [7]
Spiritists believed anyone could contact spirits, but it took training and practice to become skilled. The communication could come from hearing voices, having visions, or from inspired writings [8] like those of Xavier. [9] Medrado was a médiun pintore who created pictures when he was in a trance. [10]
Notes on Lyrics
Language: Medrado used "kumbaya" as both a word and a song. He used the term to describe the meetings he held on the first Tuesday of every month. [11] In January 2012, he said he was "explica e realiza o Kumbaya." Google translated that as: "explaining and performing the kumbaya." He used an English-language recording of "Kumbaya" in the last part of his program.
The videos were in Portuguese, which I do not understand. If anyone does speak the language, I would love to know what Medrado was saying. What follows are surmises based on treating his videos as "silent" movies with music.
Form: his meetings had three parts. He began by talking to the group. Then the audience stood for a short break. The third part began with a recording of a vocal ensemble singing a hymn with guitars and other instruments, then "Kumbaya was played. He spoke over both records.
Theme: if his statement of January 2012 can be used as a guide, he was describing what would occur in the first part, and then performing in the third. Judging from the use of lighting and smoke, he was trying to dramatize contact with a spirit.
While he painted under the influence of a spirit, these videos adhered to a script that provided lighting and sound technicians with cues. All three followed the same form, but the first, was done in an outside pavilion and relied on lecture practices. The second, which was done in a studio, was dramatic and used techniques borrowed from black-and-white films. The last, also done with a studio audience, was less dramatic.
Notes of Music
He used a recording of Helmet Lotti’s version of "Kumbaya." The singer’s voice had the trained qualities of José Carreras, but the instrumental and choral accompaniment differed from the recording discussed 4 August 2017.
The other record was one of those that sounds familiar, though it may have been the orchestration that gave that impression. If anyone recognizes it, let me know.
Notes on Performance
Opening: a few lines of "Kumbaya" were played while the video displayed a picture of Mendrado with the words "Kumbaya do més de maio 2012."
Footage followed of Medrado talking in a room with a backdrop of painted sunflowers. This was the setting for the 2013 video. A long table was covered in white. Three ornate wooden chair backs stood between the table and painting. He was wearing a red-stripped polo shirt and slacks, and pacing from side to side. He brought the fist of one hand down into the palm of the other.
Part 1: at 0:10 the scene changed to a table covered with a white table cloth and objects, possibly, vases at each end. Sets of spotlights sat at each of the table, facing the audience, although only one could be seen at the beginning. The light was dim and purple, so the color scheme was black, purple, and white.
A voice began using intonations typical of a Shakespearean actor. Medrado could barely be seen as he moved in front of the table. The first time he said the word "Kumbaya" the word scrolled on the screen from the bottom up. The light increased enough to see him as a shadow. A fan was blowing the end of the table cloth.
Part 2: at 3:31 the crowd began making noise. He walked back and forth in front of the table without saying anything. Light gradually increased, and the camera panned the audience from the rear.
Part 3: at 4:05 modern-style hymn music started. He began talking as the audience settled down. His voice changed to that of a man addressing a large crowd. Color scheme was black, white, and gray before low lights in back flashed and smoke began. He still was a shadow with one or both arms raised high. Light in the smoke sometimes turned green, red, or purple.
5:31. The camera pulled back as a green laser-type light began flashing across the stage and audience from a high location on the far right side of the platform, as seen by the audience. Sometimes when he stopped speaking, he had his arms stretched out to the side. By the eighth minute, some in the audience were standing in silhouette.
8:23. First record ended, and he continued to talk. Color scheme again was shades of gray tinged with purple.
8:34. Second record began with an instrumental introduction as the scene remained unchanged and he talked.
9:00. Kumbaya verse began. Medrado’s voice became louder with the background shadowy from smoke-filled light. White floor spots were stronger, and the green laser occasionally flashed. He paused longer between his words and raised his arms over his head in the silences. He resumed talking when the first verse began, and the light turned purple.
When the kumbaya chorus began again, the word scrolled across the screen and the camera drew close to show Medrado from the waist up. Again, he was not speaking, but only moving his arms above his shoulders. He spoke to the "senhor" on the third line, and stopped when the repetition of the chorus began. The spotlights started flashing on and off, leaving moments of darkness.
Again, Medrado talked during the verse. The spotlights stopped flashing and returned to creating a shadowing gray background. When the final set of choruses started, he stopped speaking, raised his arms, and the lights resumed flashing. He became an indistinct black area in the smoke. When he spoke, the scene cleared a bit. He could be seen standing and gesturing without speaking until the third line of the last repetition.
Notes on Movement
He gestured with his entire arms, either raising one or both over his head, stretching them out into a vee, or lowering them to shoulder height. The first recalled images of labor leaders and politicians speaking at rallies. The second and third carried overtones of Christ on the cross.
He sometimes walked as he talked, and stood still when he wanted to increase his emphasis.
Notes on Performer
Medrado was born in 1961 into "humble" circumstances [12] in a "radical" Roman Catholic family. He saw his first spirit, a dead grandmother, when he was seven-years-old, and organized his first spiritual center when he was 17. [13] Soon after he would begin studying philosophy at the Universidade Católica do Salvador. After graduation, he worked for the Regional Court of Labor [14] and expanded his spiritist center to include medical care, an orphanage, and a school. He was 27 when he began his paintings. [15]
Availability
YouTube. "José Medrado e o primeiro Kumbaya de 2012 (03.01.2012)." Google translated as: "José Medrado and the first Kumbaya of 2012 (03.01.2012)." City of Light, Salvador, Brasil, 3 January 2012. 16.11 minutes.
YouTube. "José Medrado e o Kumbaya da primeira terça-feira do mês de maio na Cidade da Luz." Translated by Google as: "José Medrado and the Kumbaya of the first Tuesday of the month of May in Cidade da Luz." City of Light, Salvador, Brasil, 1 May 2012. 12.51 minutes. This is the one described in detail.
YouTube. "José Medrado e o Kumbaya do mês de março, na Cidade da Luz (05.03.2013)." Translated by Google as: "José Medrado and the Kumbaya of the month of March, in Cidade da Luz (05.03.2013)." City of Light, Salvador, Brasil, 5 March 2013. 10.38 minutes.
End Notes
1. Camila Mello. "Médium baiano José Medrado é um dos mais populares do Brasil." Posted on different blog sites.
2. Wikipedia. "Spiritism." Kardec was the nom de plume for Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail.
3. Wikipedia. "Chico Xavier."
4. Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística. Census, 2010. Cited by Wikipedia. "Salvador, Bahia."
5. Wikipedia, Salvador.
6. Wikipedia, Spiritism.
7. Wikipedia, Spiritism.
8. Wikipedia, Spiritism.
9. Wikipedia, Xavier.
10. Wikipedia in Portuguese. "Psicopictografia."
11. Mello.
12. Wikipedia in Portuguese. "José Medrado."
13. Mello.
14. "José Medrado." Cidade de Luz website.
15. Mello.
Friday, August 11, 2017
Wednesday, August 9, 2017
Reeves Chapel Gospel Singers - Come by Here Lord
Topic: Religious Uses
Folklorists first collected "Come by Here" in coastal South Carolina and Georgia. The earliest descriptions by whites of slave quarter religion in that area have been identified as ring shouts. One such report was made by Thomas Wentworth Higginson, the first commander of the African-American First South Carolina Volunteers near Beaufort in 1862. Every night he saw some enter a hut made from palm leaves where they began chanting, stamping their feet, and clapping their hands.
"Then the excitement spreads: inside and outside the enclosure men begin to quiver and dance, others join, a circle forms, winding monotonously round some one in the centre; some ‘heel and toe’ tumultuously, others merely tremble and stagger on, others stoop and rise, others whirl, others caper sideways, all keep steadily circling like dervishes." [1]
Ring shouts began as independent rituals like the ones in the army camp. When Protestant services were introduced, shouts followed the sermons. Daniel Payne described one at a bush meeting near Philadelphia in 1878:
"About this time I attended a ‘bush meeting,’ where I went to please the pastor whose circuit I was visiting. After the sermon they formed a ring, and with coats off sung, clapped their hands and stamped their feet in a most ridiculous and heathenish way. I requested the pastor to go and stop their dancing. At his request they stopped their dancing and clapping of hands, but remained singing and rocking their bodies to and fro. This they did for about fifteen minutes." [2]
The bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal church, whose parents were free Blacks in Charleston before the Civil War, [3] remembered he had remonstrated with the preacher, but was told:
"‘Sinners won’t get converted unless there is a ring.’ Said I: ‘You might sing till you fell down dead, and you would fail to convert a single sinner, because nothing but the Spirit of God and the word of God can convert sinners.’ He replied: ‘The Spirit of God works upon people in different ways. At camp-meeting there must be a ring here, a ring there, a ring over yonder, or sinners will not get converted’." [4]
The post-sermon shouts served the same purpose as the earlier rituals: they allowed participants to contact the spirits, redefined as the Holy Ghost. As suggested by the comments of Evelyn Turrentine-Agee [5] and Jerome Williams of the Evereadys,[6] "Come by Here" became one of the songs used to invite the Holy Spirit to manifest itself in modern services and concerts.
Beneath the common desire to contact the spirit, the differences between denominations led by assimilationist leaders like Payne and more emotional groups remain. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion church formed in New York about the same time Payne’s AME was expanding in Philadelphia, [7] and remained Methodist in disposition when Holiness groups became more radical at the end of the nineteenth century. Estrelda Alexander said the denomination is still less open to charismatic forms of worship. [8]
The Reeves Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church in Concord, North Carolina, was traditional in form in 2012, but had some elements of what Alexander called "Black Neo-Pentecostalism." [9] The pastor, identified as William Starnes, still was robed, but his choir was labeled "Gospel Singers." Instead of an organ, they used a drum. Most important, while they sang "Come by Here," they used it as a communal prayer to the Lord, rather than as a request for a physical presence. The soloist’s emphasis on Christ as a healer, however, was more common in sects that emphasized faith healing.
Performers
Vocal Soloist: one man and the pastor
Vocal Accompaniment: three women and two men
Instrumental Accompaniment: none
Rhythm Accompaniment: drum set
Notes on Lyrics
Pronoun: somebody
General Format: three parts
Line Repetition Pattern: AAAB
Line Form: statement-refrain
Verse Phrases: come by here, praying, now is the needed time, come if you don’t stay long, needs a blessing, needs your healing power
Prelude: the choir began the request to the Holy Spirit with three repetitions of come by here verse. One time, the third line was changed to "right now is the needing time."
Transition: the soloist made the request to the Holy Spirit more explicit when he sang the "somebody’s praying" verse.
Denouement: no verses. The soloist dramatized the prayer with single lines that were not repeated. He either said somebody was praying or gave a reason why somebody needed the Lord.
At the end, the choir said "amen."
Influences: key phrases were used by Lightnin’ Hopkins [10]
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-5
Tempo: slow
Basic Structure: call-response and soloist supported by group
Solo-Group Dynamics:
Prelude: The solist sang a statement, and the choir finished "come by here." On the final line, he sang "Oh" and they completed "come by here."
Transition: The solist sang a statement, and the choir sang "come by here." On the final line, he twice sang "Oh Lord" and they answered "Oh Lord." Then he sang "Come" and they responded "come by here."
Denouement: the chorus repeated their "Come by here" parts following the logic of when they should occur, while the soloist sang or spoke phrases that sometimes carried over their singing. Near the end, the soloist’s phrases become shorter and the choir changed to repetitions of "Oh Lord."
Singing Style:
Soloist: he sang during the prelude and transition, when he ornamented the "Lord" in the third line and "Oh." During the denouement, his voice sometimes went into a higher register or became harsher, and he ornamented more words.
Choir: used chordal harmony. Sometime when he sang "Oh Lord" on several notes, they followed his example.
Vocal-Rhythm Dynamics:
The choir began a capella. When the pastor spoke during the prelude, a brushed snare began. Toward the end of the prelude, the rhythm became louder; a block and possibly a cymbal were added. The rhythm continued through the transition and denouement.
Notes on Performance
The pastor wore a green stole with black robe. In traditional churches, green is used during the "Ordinary Time between Trinity Sunday (first Sunday after Pentecost) and the beginning of Advent." [11] In 2012 that period went from 27 May to 2 December. This service was in November.
The soloist wore a white jacket, brown shirt, and yellow tie. The other men wore suits or jackets with ties. The women wore blouses that came to their hips, and dark slacks or skirts.
The pastor’s podium was on the left side of the church in the video and the choir was on the right. The soloist stood behind a rostrum set on a table, with a floor microphone in front. A woman stood on each side. In back, a woman stood between two men. The drummer was never seen, and sounded like he was somewhere to the left.
The video began with the pastor sitting down. When the soloist reached "Oh" in the last line of the first repetition of the "come by here" verse, someone, presumably the pastor, began the invocation by saying "If you’re here today ... [life in Christ,] won’t you come?" Then he said, "Let us stand," the drums began, and the congregation stood. Some of his words were unintelligible because the camera’s microphone was pointed at the soloist.
On the third line of the last "come by here" verse of the prelude, the congregation sat. The reason was not obvious. Perhaps the pastor sat or gave some hand signal.
While the soloist was singing the "Oh Lords," the pastor said words that indicated it was a prayer, and the drum grew louder. The words I understood included "you come to pray to God" and "the altar gate is open." After the speaker finished, and while the choir still was singing the last line, one women in the first row began to clap as she sang.
During the denouement, the rhythm and vocal accompaniment were constant and unchanged, creating a hypnotic effect for the soloist’s prayer.
Notes on Movement
The choir and soloist shifted their weight from foot to foot, moving together. The soloist initiated the movement, and the women in front followed him more than the choir members in back. When the congregation stood, the two visible women, both wearing peacock blue, also moved, though not together.
Different choir members used their hands to keep time. The soloist beat the table with his fists. One woman slapped her thigh, with two beats and a pause. The woman in back hit a chair with the same pattern, two beats and a pause.
Toward the end of the prelude one woman began clapping: clap pause clap longer pause. The woman who had been hitting the chair joined her for a short time, then resumed beating time on the chair.
During the denouement the soloist began using his right hand to gesture. Otherwise, he continued hitting the table.
Notes on Performers
Concord, North Carolina, is located on the piedmont near Charlotte. The first settlers were Germans and Scots-Irish. Before the Civil War, plantations raised cotton. [12] Bernard Davis found records of 3,129 slaves in Cabarrus County in 1863 and 115 freedmen. The area was not in the path of the Union Army, so African-Americans probably had little contact with outsiders until Reconstruction. In 1867, a white Presbyterian church founded a secondary school for "women of color." Grace Lutheran church opened the first elementary school for Black children in 1891. [13]
The first textile mills arrived in 1888, but only whites were hired. Warren Clay Coleman, a former slave from Concord, open his own mill in 1897 that did hire African Americans. About once a generation the town jailed a Black man for raping or otherwise being too familiar with a white woman. [14] In this period, the white-led Wilmington Insurrection [15] spread to Concord in 1898 where freedmen’s business were destroyed. Coleman’s partner left, and the mill failed in 1904, after Coleman died. [16] Coleman supported another A.M.E. Zion church and helped it buy the local burying ground that had been used for African Americans and Native Americans. [17]
The white economy expanded with the fortunes of the Charlotte Motor Speedway, which hosted NASCAR events. [18] No new business hired many African Americans until Philip Morris opened a tobacco plant in 1984. [19] The town’s population increased from 55,977 to 79,066 between 2000 and 2010, with the percentage of Blacks and individuals from two or more races rising from 16.3% to 20.1%. [20] I have no idea how many of the newcomers joined this particular A.M.E. Zion church. I also have no idea if any of them introduced "Come by Here" or if it already was known.
Mute testimony to the community’s economic history appears in the Reeves Chapel cemetery. T. McManaway has been photographing its headstones for Find a Grave. He documented six between 1912 and 1931, and then nothing until 1974. [21] Some of the older ones had been reset in concrete, suggesting others existed that were too hard to read. When the economy failed in the 1930s, wooden or other sorts of grave markers may have been used. These may be among the ones not yet documented.
The alternative explanation for the gap in graves was the original church ceased to exist, and the land later was reclaimed as already sacred by the Reeves Chapel. Davis described the Reeves Chapel building as the "current" one, implying an earlier one had existed. His photograph showed a long rectangular building with four windows along the side. A steeple was built toward the entrance; a tall chimney rose on one side toward the rear. An enclosed entrance porch was centered below the peaked gable. [22] The interior was white with a simple brown cross on the wall behind the preacher. A solid railing separated his area from the congregation, which sat on wooden benches. A brown support post in front of the choir suggested at least one row of interior supports. There was a double-hung window behind them.
Availability
YouTube: Sunday Morning Service, 11 November 2012. Reeves Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church, Concord, North Carolina. Uploaded by videoqueen444 on 16 November 2012.
End Notes
1. Thomas Wentworth Higginson. Army Life in a Black Regiment. Boston: Fields, Osgood, and Company, 1870. 17-18.
2. Daniel Alexander Payne. Recollections of Seventy Years. Compiled and arranged by Sarah C. Bierce Scarborough; edited by C. S. Smith. Nashville: Publishing House of the A. M. E. Sunday School Union, 1888. 253.
3. Wikipedia. "Daniel Payne."
4. Payne. 254.
5. Evelyn Turrentine-Agee. See post for 6 August 2017.
6. Jerome Williams. See post for 3 August 2017 on The Evereadys.
7. Wikipedia. "African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church." Richard Allen founded the AME church in 1794. The first church that would become A.M.E. Zion church was built in 1800.
8. Estrelda Y. Alexander. Black Fire: One Hundred Years of African American Pentecostalism. Downers Grove, Illinois: InverVarsity Press, 2011. 363-364.
9. Alexander. 356.
10. Lightnin’ Hopkins. "Needed Time." RPM 359. Houston, 1952.
11. Dennis Bratcher. "The Meaning of Church Colors." Christian Resource Institute website.
12. Wikipedia. "Concord, North Carolina."
13. Bernard Davis Jr. Portraits of the African-American Experience in Concord-Cabarrus, North Carolina. Bloomington, Indiana: Xlibris, 2010. No pages in on-line version.
14. Davis.
15. Wikipedia. "Wilmington insurrection of 1898."
16. Wikipedia, Concord.
17. Davis.
18. Wikipedia, Concord.
19. Davis.
20. Wikipedia, Concord.
21. T. McMannaway. "Reeves Chapel AME Zion Church Cemetery." Find a Grave website.
22. Davis
Folklorists first collected "Come by Here" in coastal South Carolina and Georgia. The earliest descriptions by whites of slave quarter religion in that area have been identified as ring shouts. One such report was made by Thomas Wentworth Higginson, the first commander of the African-American First South Carolina Volunteers near Beaufort in 1862. Every night he saw some enter a hut made from palm leaves where they began chanting, stamping their feet, and clapping their hands.
"Then the excitement spreads: inside and outside the enclosure men begin to quiver and dance, others join, a circle forms, winding monotonously round some one in the centre; some ‘heel and toe’ tumultuously, others merely tremble and stagger on, others stoop and rise, others whirl, others caper sideways, all keep steadily circling like dervishes." [1]
Ring shouts began as independent rituals like the ones in the army camp. When Protestant services were introduced, shouts followed the sermons. Daniel Payne described one at a bush meeting near Philadelphia in 1878:
"About this time I attended a ‘bush meeting,’ where I went to please the pastor whose circuit I was visiting. After the sermon they formed a ring, and with coats off sung, clapped their hands and stamped their feet in a most ridiculous and heathenish way. I requested the pastor to go and stop their dancing. At his request they stopped their dancing and clapping of hands, but remained singing and rocking their bodies to and fro. This they did for about fifteen minutes." [2]
The bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal church, whose parents were free Blacks in Charleston before the Civil War, [3] remembered he had remonstrated with the preacher, but was told:
"‘Sinners won’t get converted unless there is a ring.’ Said I: ‘You might sing till you fell down dead, and you would fail to convert a single sinner, because nothing but the Spirit of God and the word of God can convert sinners.’ He replied: ‘The Spirit of God works upon people in different ways. At camp-meeting there must be a ring here, a ring there, a ring over yonder, or sinners will not get converted’." [4]
The post-sermon shouts served the same purpose as the earlier rituals: they allowed participants to contact the spirits, redefined as the Holy Ghost. As suggested by the comments of Evelyn Turrentine-Agee [5] and Jerome Williams of the Evereadys,[6] "Come by Here" became one of the songs used to invite the Holy Spirit to manifest itself in modern services and concerts.
Beneath the common desire to contact the spirit, the differences between denominations led by assimilationist leaders like Payne and more emotional groups remain. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion church formed in New York about the same time Payne’s AME was expanding in Philadelphia, [7] and remained Methodist in disposition when Holiness groups became more radical at the end of the nineteenth century. Estrelda Alexander said the denomination is still less open to charismatic forms of worship. [8]
The Reeves Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church in Concord, North Carolina, was traditional in form in 2012, but had some elements of what Alexander called "Black Neo-Pentecostalism." [9] The pastor, identified as William Starnes, still was robed, but his choir was labeled "Gospel Singers." Instead of an organ, they used a drum. Most important, while they sang "Come by Here," they used it as a communal prayer to the Lord, rather than as a request for a physical presence. The soloist’s emphasis on Christ as a healer, however, was more common in sects that emphasized faith healing.
Performers
Vocal Soloist: one man and the pastor
Vocal Accompaniment: three women and two men
Instrumental Accompaniment: none
Rhythm Accompaniment: drum set
Notes on Lyrics
Pronoun: somebody
General Format: three parts
Line Repetition Pattern: AAAB
Line Form: statement-refrain
Verse Phrases: come by here, praying, now is the needed time, come if you don’t stay long, needs a blessing, needs your healing power
Prelude: the choir began the request to the Holy Spirit with three repetitions of come by here verse. One time, the third line was changed to "right now is the needing time."
Transition: the soloist made the request to the Holy Spirit more explicit when he sang the "somebody’s praying" verse.
Denouement: no verses. The soloist dramatized the prayer with single lines that were not repeated. He either said somebody was praying or gave a reason why somebody needed the Lord.
At the end, the choir said "amen."
Influences: key phrases were used by Lightnin’ Hopkins [10]
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-5
Tempo: slow
Basic Structure: call-response and soloist supported by group
Solo-Group Dynamics:
Prelude: The solist sang a statement, and the choir finished "come by here." On the final line, he sang "Oh" and they completed "come by here."
Transition: The solist sang a statement, and the choir sang "come by here." On the final line, he twice sang "Oh Lord" and they answered "Oh Lord." Then he sang "Come" and they responded "come by here."
Denouement: the chorus repeated their "Come by here" parts following the logic of when they should occur, while the soloist sang or spoke phrases that sometimes carried over their singing. Near the end, the soloist’s phrases become shorter and the choir changed to repetitions of "Oh Lord."
Singing Style:
Soloist: he sang during the prelude and transition, when he ornamented the "Lord" in the third line and "Oh." During the denouement, his voice sometimes went into a higher register or became harsher, and he ornamented more words.
Choir: used chordal harmony. Sometime when he sang "Oh Lord" on several notes, they followed his example.
Vocal-Rhythm Dynamics:
The choir began a capella. When the pastor spoke during the prelude, a brushed snare began. Toward the end of the prelude, the rhythm became louder; a block and possibly a cymbal were added. The rhythm continued through the transition and denouement.
Notes on Performance
The pastor wore a green stole with black robe. In traditional churches, green is used during the "Ordinary Time between Trinity Sunday (first Sunday after Pentecost) and the beginning of Advent." [11] In 2012 that period went from 27 May to 2 December. This service was in November.
The soloist wore a white jacket, brown shirt, and yellow tie. The other men wore suits or jackets with ties. The women wore blouses that came to their hips, and dark slacks or skirts.
The pastor’s podium was on the left side of the church in the video and the choir was on the right. The soloist stood behind a rostrum set on a table, with a floor microphone in front. A woman stood on each side. In back, a woman stood between two men. The drummer was never seen, and sounded like he was somewhere to the left.
The video began with the pastor sitting down. When the soloist reached "Oh" in the last line of the first repetition of the "come by here" verse, someone, presumably the pastor, began the invocation by saying "If you’re here today ... [life in Christ,] won’t you come?" Then he said, "Let us stand," the drums began, and the congregation stood. Some of his words were unintelligible because the camera’s microphone was pointed at the soloist.
On the third line of the last "come by here" verse of the prelude, the congregation sat. The reason was not obvious. Perhaps the pastor sat or gave some hand signal.
While the soloist was singing the "Oh Lords," the pastor said words that indicated it was a prayer, and the drum grew louder. The words I understood included "you come to pray to God" and "the altar gate is open." After the speaker finished, and while the choir still was singing the last line, one women in the first row began to clap as she sang.
During the denouement, the rhythm and vocal accompaniment were constant and unchanged, creating a hypnotic effect for the soloist’s prayer.
Notes on Movement
The choir and soloist shifted their weight from foot to foot, moving together. The soloist initiated the movement, and the women in front followed him more than the choir members in back. When the congregation stood, the two visible women, both wearing peacock blue, also moved, though not together.
Different choir members used their hands to keep time. The soloist beat the table with his fists. One woman slapped her thigh, with two beats and a pause. The woman in back hit a chair with the same pattern, two beats and a pause.
Toward the end of the prelude one woman began clapping: clap pause clap longer pause. The woman who had been hitting the chair joined her for a short time, then resumed beating time on the chair.
During the denouement the soloist began using his right hand to gesture. Otherwise, he continued hitting the table.
Notes on Performers
Concord, North Carolina, is located on the piedmont near Charlotte. The first settlers were Germans and Scots-Irish. Before the Civil War, plantations raised cotton. [12] Bernard Davis found records of 3,129 slaves in Cabarrus County in 1863 and 115 freedmen. The area was not in the path of the Union Army, so African-Americans probably had little contact with outsiders until Reconstruction. In 1867, a white Presbyterian church founded a secondary school for "women of color." Grace Lutheran church opened the first elementary school for Black children in 1891. [13]
The first textile mills arrived in 1888, but only whites were hired. Warren Clay Coleman, a former slave from Concord, open his own mill in 1897 that did hire African Americans. About once a generation the town jailed a Black man for raping or otherwise being too familiar with a white woman. [14] In this period, the white-led Wilmington Insurrection [15] spread to Concord in 1898 where freedmen’s business were destroyed. Coleman’s partner left, and the mill failed in 1904, after Coleman died. [16] Coleman supported another A.M.E. Zion church and helped it buy the local burying ground that had been used for African Americans and Native Americans. [17]
The white economy expanded with the fortunes of the Charlotte Motor Speedway, which hosted NASCAR events. [18] No new business hired many African Americans until Philip Morris opened a tobacco plant in 1984. [19] The town’s population increased from 55,977 to 79,066 between 2000 and 2010, with the percentage of Blacks and individuals from two or more races rising from 16.3% to 20.1%. [20] I have no idea how many of the newcomers joined this particular A.M.E. Zion church. I also have no idea if any of them introduced "Come by Here" or if it already was known.
Mute testimony to the community’s economic history appears in the Reeves Chapel cemetery. T. McManaway has been photographing its headstones for Find a Grave. He documented six between 1912 and 1931, and then nothing until 1974. [21] Some of the older ones had been reset in concrete, suggesting others existed that were too hard to read. When the economy failed in the 1930s, wooden or other sorts of grave markers may have been used. These may be among the ones not yet documented.
The alternative explanation for the gap in graves was the original church ceased to exist, and the land later was reclaimed as already sacred by the Reeves Chapel. Davis described the Reeves Chapel building as the "current" one, implying an earlier one had existed. His photograph showed a long rectangular building with four windows along the side. A steeple was built toward the entrance; a tall chimney rose on one side toward the rear. An enclosed entrance porch was centered below the peaked gable. [22] The interior was white with a simple brown cross on the wall behind the preacher. A solid railing separated his area from the congregation, which sat on wooden benches. A brown support post in front of the choir suggested at least one row of interior supports. There was a double-hung window behind them.
Availability
YouTube: Sunday Morning Service, 11 November 2012. Reeves Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church, Concord, North Carolina. Uploaded by videoqueen444 on 16 November 2012.
End Notes
1. Thomas Wentworth Higginson. Army Life in a Black Regiment. Boston: Fields, Osgood, and Company, 1870. 17-18.
2. Daniel Alexander Payne. Recollections of Seventy Years. Compiled and arranged by Sarah C. Bierce Scarborough; edited by C. S. Smith. Nashville: Publishing House of the A. M. E. Sunday School Union, 1888. 253.
3. Wikipedia. "Daniel Payne."
4. Payne. 254.
5. Evelyn Turrentine-Agee. See post for 6 August 2017.
6. Jerome Williams. See post for 3 August 2017 on The Evereadys.
7. Wikipedia. "African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church." Richard Allen founded the AME church in 1794. The first church that would become A.M.E. Zion church was built in 1800.
8. Estrelda Y. Alexander. Black Fire: One Hundred Years of African American Pentecostalism. Downers Grove, Illinois: InverVarsity Press, 2011. 363-364.
9. Alexander. 356.
10. Lightnin’ Hopkins. "Needed Time." RPM 359. Houston, 1952.
11. Dennis Bratcher. "The Meaning of Church Colors." Christian Resource Institute website.
12. Wikipedia. "Concord, North Carolina."
13. Bernard Davis Jr. Portraits of the African-American Experience in Concord-Cabarrus, North Carolina. Bloomington, Indiana: Xlibris, 2010. No pages in on-line version.
14. Davis.
15. Wikipedia. "Wilmington insurrection of 1898."
16. Wikipedia, Concord.
17. Davis.
18. Wikipedia, Concord.
19. Davis.
20. Wikipedia, Concord.
21. T. McMannaway. "Reeves Chapel AME Zion Church Cemetery." Find a Grave website.
22. Davis
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
WMS - Kumbaya my Lord
Topic: Religious Uses
"Come by Here" began as a religious song, and "Kumbaya" evolved into one. Long before it was ensconced in hymnals by the Methodists in 1989 [1] and Presbyterians in 1990, [2] adolescents had included it in their worship services in camps. Andrea Spurrell reported it was a "chapel song" at Mint Brook in 1973. [3] The girls’ camp session was sponsored by the Anglican Diocese of Central Newfoundland.
"Kumbaya" held a special attraction for adolescents. In the 1950s, Arnold Gesell led a team that had been interviewing groups of children and their parents every year since they were young. They found most began developing abstract cognitive patterns around the age of eleven or twelve. Among other things, this brought an improved ability to listen. Many music educators considered this fundamental to the ability to sing well. [4] Before this time, children who were singing in groups were each singing individually. Around age twelve, the Gesell Institute found, a boy or girl [5] "especially enjoys singing in harmony." [6] This coincided with a new interest in religion [7] that led them to join the church choir. [8]
A youth group in Miêdzywodzie, Poland, sang "Kumbaya" in a Roman Catholic mass in 2013 for a group who were leaving on a mission. It incorporated many elements youth in this country included in their services.
Performers
Vocal soloist: young woman
Vocal group: congregation
Instrumental accompaniment: two guitars, with steel strings
Rhythm accompaniment: drum with head about 8-12" across, played with the hands. Only the head was visible in the video.
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: first syllable was "koom." Accent on the second syllable, "ba."
Pronoun: someone
Format: verse-burden. Two repetitions of "kumbaya," a verse in English, one repetition of "kumbaya," another verse in English, then two repetitions of "kumbaya."
Line repetition pattern: AAAB
Line pattern: statement-refrain
Verses: "someone’s crying" and "yes we need you."
Notes on Music
Melody: 1-3-5 with elements of Seeker’s tune
Basic Structure: group or solo statement, group refrain
Solo-Group Dynamics: a woman started the verses, and sang the statements. As soon as they heard "kum," the congregation joined, otherwise they only sand the refrains. When the youth were in the back, they were not sure if they were to continue moving, until they hear the woman start the next repetition.
Singing Style: the congregation sang all the "kumbaya" refrains in unison. The range of voices gave it a denser sound.
Notes on Performance
Two young men and six young women dressed in tie-dyed or large-print caftans sang as they walked down the central aisle of a modern church with narrow wooden bench seats. They carried single candles, which they must have placed on the altar platform. They moved their arms as they walked back along the side aisles, and continued at the rear where the musicians were sitting. The lead singer stood to one side.
The community of Miêdzywodzie was small: Wikipedia said 681 in 2014. [9] The only Roman Catholic church was the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Mary. The priests or their aides, and maybe the men leaving for service stood on the altar platform dressed in white gowns. They walked about during the singing conduction their own business. It was not clear from Google’s translation of the YouTube comments if the volunteers were missionaries or military men.
Notes on Movement
Congregation is standing. As the youth moved down the center aisle they stepped on diagonals so they appeared to move from side to side as they moved forward; some may have been exaggerating the affect with their hips. On the last "Lord" of the first repetition, they turned in place.
On their way back along the side aisles, they used movements one associates with Hawaiian dancers. They moved both arms to one side where they pulled them back and forth from the elbows with the undulating hands extended. This was repeated on the other side, and the general pattern repeated. When they were in a line at the back, they continued, but held their arms upward and moved them to the front diagonals.
On the very last "Lord," they turned in place.
Audience Perceptions
It sounded like members of the congregation were the ones doing the singing. A woman, presumably the solist, said something at the beginning that may have cued them.
Viewers’ Perceptions
The choreography and use of "Kumbaya" was not possible until Vatican II allowed changes in the liturgy. The only comments were from someone who preferred the older rituals. He or she wrote:
"I invite you also to familiarize yourself with the Traditional Catholic Mass, which in the fullest and most dignified way of painting us the power and power of our God in the One Trinity (type in you tuba Latin Mass).
"It is the liturgy of St. Padre Pio, St. Pius V, St. Pius X, Ignatius Loyola, John Mary Jordan from the Cross, and many other holy men and women, for example." [10]
Even more than the use of laymen singing "Kumbaya," the self-identified Apologetic objected to the movement.
"Dear WMS, is it really a good way of worshiping Our Lord present in the Blessed Sacrament. Let’s see what it says about Rome: ‘If the proposal of religious dance in the West would indeed be accepted, it would be necessary to take care that its place was outside the liturgy, in such places of assembly, which do not have a strictly liturgical destiny.’ Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship 1975." [11]
Availability
YouTube: Mass, Miêdzywodzie, Poland. 5 April 2013. Uploaded by Magdalena Kania, 5 May 2013.
End Notes
Translations by Google Translate.
1. "Kum Ba Yah (Come By Here)." The United Methodist Hymnal. Edited by Carlton R. Young, et al. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989. 491.
2. "Kum ba Yah." The Presbyterian Hymnal. Edited for Presbyterian Church (U. S. A.). Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1990.
3. Andrea Christine Spurrell. "Singing traditions at Mint Brook girls camp." November, 1973. Memorial University of Newfoundland’s Folklore and Language Archive, 1974. 28. Description of collection on Ralph Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website for RN11924. Information verified by Pauline Cox and Nicole Penny, Memorial University.
4. Karl Wilson Gehrkens. Music in the Grade Schools. Boston: C. C. Birchard, 1934. 89-90.
5. Gesell consistently used the male pronoun to refer to both boys and girls, and boys alone. In places like this, one wishes he or his editors had found a way to distinguish between the groups.
6. Arnold Gesell, Frances L. Ilg, and Louise Bates Ames. Youth: The Years from Ten to Sixteen. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1956. 133.
7. Gesell. 137.
8. Gesell. 103, 138.
9. Wikipedia. "Miêdzywodzie."
10. Blog Apologetyczny. YouTube. Comment, 2014. The person used a painting of Christ on the cross for his/her picture.
11. Blog Apologetyczny. YouTube. Separate comment, 2014.
"Come by Here" began as a religious song, and "Kumbaya" evolved into one. Long before it was ensconced in hymnals by the Methodists in 1989 [1] and Presbyterians in 1990, [2] adolescents had included it in their worship services in camps. Andrea Spurrell reported it was a "chapel song" at Mint Brook in 1973. [3] The girls’ camp session was sponsored by the Anglican Diocese of Central Newfoundland.
"Kumbaya" held a special attraction for adolescents. In the 1950s, Arnold Gesell led a team that had been interviewing groups of children and their parents every year since they were young. They found most began developing abstract cognitive patterns around the age of eleven or twelve. Among other things, this brought an improved ability to listen. Many music educators considered this fundamental to the ability to sing well. [4] Before this time, children who were singing in groups were each singing individually. Around age twelve, the Gesell Institute found, a boy or girl [5] "especially enjoys singing in harmony." [6] This coincided with a new interest in religion [7] that led them to join the church choir. [8]
A youth group in Miêdzywodzie, Poland, sang "Kumbaya" in a Roman Catholic mass in 2013 for a group who were leaving on a mission. It incorporated many elements youth in this country included in their services.
Performers
Vocal soloist: young woman
Vocal group: congregation
Instrumental accompaniment: two guitars, with steel strings
Rhythm accompaniment: drum with head about 8-12" across, played with the hands. Only the head was visible in the video.
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: first syllable was "koom." Accent on the second syllable, "ba."
Pronoun: someone
Format: verse-burden. Two repetitions of "kumbaya," a verse in English, one repetition of "kumbaya," another verse in English, then two repetitions of "kumbaya."
Line repetition pattern: AAAB
Line pattern: statement-refrain
Verses: "someone’s crying" and "yes we need you."
Notes on Music
Melody: 1-3-5 with elements of Seeker’s tune
Basic Structure: group or solo statement, group refrain
Solo-Group Dynamics: a woman started the verses, and sang the statements. As soon as they heard "kum," the congregation joined, otherwise they only sand the refrains. When the youth were in the back, they were not sure if they were to continue moving, until they hear the woman start the next repetition.
Singing Style: the congregation sang all the "kumbaya" refrains in unison. The range of voices gave it a denser sound.
Notes on Performance
Two young men and six young women dressed in tie-dyed or large-print caftans sang as they walked down the central aisle of a modern church with narrow wooden bench seats. They carried single candles, which they must have placed on the altar platform. They moved their arms as they walked back along the side aisles, and continued at the rear where the musicians were sitting. The lead singer stood to one side.
The community of Miêdzywodzie was small: Wikipedia said 681 in 2014. [9] The only Roman Catholic church was the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Mary. The priests or their aides, and maybe the men leaving for service stood on the altar platform dressed in white gowns. They walked about during the singing conduction their own business. It was not clear from Google’s translation of the YouTube comments if the volunteers were missionaries or military men.
Notes on Movement
Congregation is standing. As the youth moved down the center aisle they stepped on diagonals so they appeared to move from side to side as they moved forward; some may have been exaggerating the affect with their hips. On the last "Lord" of the first repetition, they turned in place.
On their way back along the side aisles, they used movements one associates with Hawaiian dancers. They moved both arms to one side where they pulled them back and forth from the elbows with the undulating hands extended. This was repeated on the other side, and the general pattern repeated. When they were in a line at the back, they continued, but held their arms upward and moved them to the front diagonals.
On the very last "Lord," they turned in place.
Audience Perceptions
It sounded like members of the congregation were the ones doing the singing. A woman, presumably the solist, said something at the beginning that may have cued them.
Viewers’ Perceptions
The choreography and use of "Kumbaya" was not possible until Vatican II allowed changes in the liturgy. The only comments were from someone who preferred the older rituals. He or she wrote:
"I invite you also to familiarize yourself with the Traditional Catholic Mass, which in the fullest and most dignified way of painting us the power and power of our God in the One Trinity (type in you tuba Latin Mass).
"It is the liturgy of St. Padre Pio, St. Pius V, St. Pius X, Ignatius Loyola, John Mary Jordan from the Cross, and many other holy men and women, for example." [10]
Even more than the use of laymen singing "Kumbaya," the self-identified Apologetic objected to the movement.
"Dear WMS, is it really a good way of worshiping Our Lord present in the Blessed Sacrament. Let’s see what it says about Rome: ‘If the proposal of religious dance in the West would indeed be accepted, it would be necessary to take care that its place was outside the liturgy, in such places of assembly, which do not have a strictly liturgical destiny.’ Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship 1975." [11]
Availability
YouTube: Mass, Miêdzywodzie, Poland. 5 April 2013. Uploaded by Magdalena Kania, 5 May 2013.
End Notes
Translations by Google Translate.
1. "Kum Ba Yah (Come By Here)." The United Methodist Hymnal. Edited by Carlton R. Young, et al. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989. 491.
2. "Kum ba Yah." The Presbyterian Hymnal. Edited for Presbyterian Church (U. S. A.). Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1990.
3. Andrea Christine Spurrell. "Singing traditions at Mint Brook girls camp." November, 1973. Memorial University of Newfoundland’s Folklore and Language Archive, 1974. 28. Description of collection on Ralph Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website for RN11924. Information verified by Pauline Cox and Nicole Penny, Memorial University.
4. Karl Wilson Gehrkens. Music in the Grade Schools. Boston: C. C. Birchard, 1934. 89-90.
5. Gesell consistently used the male pronoun to refer to both boys and girls, and boys alone. In places like this, one wishes he or his editors had found a way to distinguish between the groups.
6. Arnold Gesell, Frances L. Ilg, and Louise Bates Ames. Youth: The Years from Ten to Sixteen. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1956. 133.
7. Gesell. 137.
8. Gesell. 103, 138.
9. Wikipedia. "Miêdzywodzie."
10. Blog Apologetyczny. YouTube. Comment, 2014. The person used a painting of Christ on the cross for his/her picture.
11. Blog Apologetyczny. YouTube. Separate comment, 2014.
Sunday, August 6, 2017
Evelyn Turrentine-Agee - Come By Here
Topic: Live versus Recorded Versions
Evelyn Turrentine-Agee’s two versions of "Come by Here" are the opposite of those of the Spirituál Kvintet, Evereadys, and José Carreras. For those fans interested in hearing her sing, the recording is primary, not the live performance because she turned the lead over to another woman in a video of a 2000 Detroit concert uploaded to YouTube.
Turrentine-Agee had a stroke in 1999, and may have been taking rests during the concert when she could turn the performance over to someone. She had cancer surgery in 2011, and Lee Hildebrand noted, in a concert in Oakland, California, she sat and let her son take over the singing. [1] The woman singing in the 2000 concert may have been her daughter. [2]
Other than the differences in soloists, the live and recorded versions had the same traits as the two versions by The Eveready’s: the record was polished and the verses were sung, while the live performance had more spoken testimony.
Performers
Vocal Accompaniment
Live Performance: three women
Recording: two women, one man
Instrumental Accompaniment
Live Performance (musicians not visible): two level keyboard, neck of a bass or guitar visible, something like a pedal steel guitar. The keyboard usually sounded like an organ.
Recording (credits for album): keyboards, lead guitar, synthbass
Rhythm Accompaniment
Live Performance (musicians not visible): might have been a quiet drum
Recording (credits for album): percussion, drums, bass, organ
Credits
Recording: Gloster Williams/Copyright Management, Inc.
Arranger
Recording: Gloster Williams
Notes on Lyrics
Pronoun: somebody
General format: ritual prelude-denouement structure
Line repetition pattern: AAAB
Line form: statement-refrain
Live Performance
Prelude
One woman, presumably Turrentine-Agee, spoke:
"This is the time that we wait for in ever service, the annoiting of the Holy Ghost, to stop by for a little while"
She continued by itemizing things that happened when one was saved, with an emphasis on marital problems. Her reference to redeemed children abandoning the streets drew the greatest response from the audience.
Transition
The woman turned the microphone over to another woman, and she and the group sang three verses: come by here, somebody needs you, and somebody’s praying.
Denouement
The lead woman testified in a speaking voice. One line was: "I know he’s present, but he needs us to invite him in." The group continually repeated the "come by here" verse.
Recording
Prelude
Turentine-Agee testified we need your spirit Lord.
Transition:
Turrentine-Agee stated the line of a verse the group sang, while she spoke about it. Verses included we need your spirit, come by here, and somebody’s praying.
Denouement:
Turrentine-Agee testified on how much she needed the Lord.
Notes on Music
Opening phrase: 1-5
Tempo
Live Performance: slow; uniform throughout
Recording: slow; uniform throughout
Singing style:
Live performance: the soloist ornamented each word, especially in the beginning of the transition.
Recording: when Turrentine-Agee sang, she began a phrase with ornamentation.
Basic structure: soloist supported by group
Live performance:
Prelude: Turrentine-Agee spoke with instrumental accompaniment
Transition: the soloist sang with the group.
Denouement: the soloist spoke with the group singing one verse over and over in an unchanging style. Her voice got harsher as she continued. The tape stopped before she did.
Recording:
Prelude: began with chords played by the keyboard (changed between piano and organ sound). Turrentine-Agee spoke with only instrumental accompaniment.
Transition: Turentine-Agee spoke with group singing related verses at same time. She sang all or part of the last line of each verse.
Denouement: Turentine-Agee spoke with organ/piano as primary accompaniment. Her speaking style alternated between spoken and sung sections, with some high pitched notes and much ornamentation. The group sang the line "come by here" at the ends of sections.
Notes on Performer
Turrentine-Agee was raised in Saint Louis, Missouri. [3] Her mother was from Mississippi,[4] and her parents may have moved to the city. Her father was a deacon and founding member of the New Seraphim Baptist Church [5] there. More important, his mother was a singer, and he was a quartet singer. [6] During her childhood, he organized her and her siblings into singing groups.
She moved to Detroit where she earned a degree in Industrial Psychology from University of Detroit. [7] Her liner notes said she was working for Wayne County Legal Services and was a member of Michael Jones’ Fountain of Truth Baptist Church. [8]
Notes on Performance
Live Performance.
Three women stood behind the soloist, facing front, each with a microphone on a stand. They stayed in place, but shifted their weight from foot to foot. Once in a while one would lift a foot a little off the ground. The soloist did not change position often, and mainly used her arms and occasionally bent forward from the waist.
Turrentine-Agee and all the women were dressed alike in ankle-length, gathered skirts and matching tops that fell to their hips. There were two layers, a maroon one, and a filmier overlay that glittered a little in the light. They wore black heels and silver-colored ear-rings.
Notes on Movement
Live Performance
At times when Turrentine-Agee was speaking, her dress moved as if she were jiggling. It was not possible to see her feet to know what produced the effect.
During the transition, the three women had a set of gestures tied to the lyrics, but were not committed to doing them consistently or together. The one woman did few and did them close to her body; the others did them more often, and they reached farther from their bodies. The basic set of movements was:
Somebody - reach out with both arms
Come - bring the elbows back to bring the hands in
Lord - two hands reach up with elbows bent, and bring arms down
Here - turn hands palms down and reach arms out horizontally
Praying - hands in prayer
Otherwise, each individual would reach one or both arms upward. All the motions were done in time to the music, so the arms were usually in motion. However, the praying gesture was not done every time the word was used.
Influences:
The camp version of "Kumbaya" had mimic gestures and the verse "someone’s praying."
Notes on Audience
Live Performance: the camera showed several women in the audience who were waving their arms with closed eyes; one had tears on her cheeks. A couple men in front, who appeared in silhouette in long shots of the group, were standing with their arms raised above their heads.
Availability
CD: God Did It! Black Smoke Music. WOS1273. 2000.
Live Performance: VHS. Uploaded to YouTube by Pannellctp Traditional Gospel Music, 9 November 2013.
End Notes
1. Lee Hildebrand. "Evelyn Turrentine-Agee Delivers a New Gospel Keynote. East Bay Express, 11 May 2011.
2. Hildebrand.
3. Wikipedia. "Evelyn Turrentine-Agee."
4. Hildebrand.
5. Obituary for her sister, Paula Tyler. Austin Layne Mortuary.
6. Patricia Snider. "Evelyn Turrentine-Agee." Detroit Gospel website.
7. Wikipedia.
8. Liner notes. God Did It!
Evelyn Turrentine-Agee’s two versions of "Come by Here" are the opposite of those of the Spirituál Kvintet, Evereadys, and José Carreras. For those fans interested in hearing her sing, the recording is primary, not the live performance because she turned the lead over to another woman in a video of a 2000 Detroit concert uploaded to YouTube.
Turrentine-Agee had a stroke in 1999, and may have been taking rests during the concert when she could turn the performance over to someone. She had cancer surgery in 2011, and Lee Hildebrand noted, in a concert in Oakland, California, she sat and let her son take over the singing. [1] The woman singing in the 2000 concert may have been her daughter. [2]
Other than the differences in soloists, the live and recorded versions had the same traits as the two versions by The Eveready’s: the record was polished and the verses were sung, while the live performance had more spoken testimony.
Performers
Vocal Accompaniment
Live Performance: three women
Recording: two women, one man
Instrumental Accompaniment
Live Performance (musicians not visible): two level keyboard, neck of a bass or guitar visible, something like a pedal steel guitar. The keyboard usually sounded like an organ.
Recording (credits for album): keyboards, lead guitar, synthbass
Rhythm Accompaniment
Live Performance (musicians not visible): might have been a quiet drum
Recording (credits for album): percussion, drums, bass, organ
Credits
Arranger
Recording: Gloster Williams
Notes on Lyrics
Pronoun: somebody
General format: ritual prelude-denouement structure
Line repetition pattern: AAAB
Line form: statement-refrain
Live Performance
Prelude
One woman, presumably Turrentine-Agee, spoke:
"This is the time that we wait for in ever service, the annoiting of the Holy Ghost, to stop by for a little while"
She continued by itemizing things that happened when one was saved, with an emphasis on marital problems. Her reference to redeemed children abandoning the streets drew the greatest response from the audience.
Transition
The woman turned the microphone over to another woman, and she and the group sang three verses: come by here, somebody needs you, and somebody’s praying.
Denouement
The lead woman testified in a speaking voice. One line was: "I know he’s present, but he needs us to invite him in." The group continually repeated the "come by here" verse.
Recording
Prelude
Turentine-Agee testified we need your spirit Lord.
Transition:
Turrentine-Agee stated the line of a verse the group sang, while she spoke about it. Verses included we need your spirit, come by here, and somebody’s praying.
Denouement:
Turrentine-Agee testified on how much she needed the Lord.
Notes on Music
Opening phrase: 1-5
Tempo
Live Performance: slow; uniform throughout
Recording: slow; uniform throughout
Singing style:
Live performance: the soloist ornamented each word, especially in the beginning of the transition.
Recording: when Turrentine-Agee sang, she began a phrase with ornamentation.
Basic structure: soloist supported by group
Live performance:
Prelude: Turrentine-Agee spoke with instrumental accompaniment
Transition: the soloist sang with the group.
Denouement: the soloist spoke with the group singing one verse over and over in an unchanging style. Her voice got harsher as she continued. The tape stopped before she did.
Recording:
Prelude: began with chords played by the keyboard (changed between piano and organ sound). Turrentine-Agee spoke with only instrumental accompaniment.
Transition: Turentine-Agee spoke with group singing related verses at same time. She sang all or part of the last line of each verse.
Denouement: Turentine-Agee spoke with organ/piano as primary accompaniment. Her speaking style alternated between spoken and sung sections, with some high pitched notes and much ornamentation. The group sang the line "come by here" at the ends of sections.
Notes on Performer
Turrentine-Agee was raised in Saint Louis, Missouri. [3] Her mother was from Mississippi,[4] and her parents may have moved to the city. Her father was a deacon and founding member of the New Seraphim Baptist Church [5] there. More important, his mother was a singer, and he was a quartet singer. [6] During her childhood, he organized her and her siblings into singing groups.
She moved to Detroit where she earned a degree in Industrial Psychology from University of Detroit. [7] Her liner notes said she was working for Wayne County Legal Services and was a member of Michael Jones’ Fountain of Truth Baptist Church. [8]
Notes on Performance
Live Performance.
Three women stood behind the soloist, facing front, each with a microphone on a stand. They stayed in place, but shifted their weight from foot to foot. Once in a while one would lift a foot a little off the ground. The soloist did not change position often, and mainly used her arms and occasionally bent forward from the waist.
Turrentine-Agee and all the women were dressed alike in ankle-length, gathered skirts and matching tops that fell to their hips. There were two layers, a maroon one, and a filmier overlay that glittered a little in the light. They wore black heels and silver-colored ear-rings.
Notes on Movement
Live Performance
At times when Turrentine-Agee was speaking, her dress moved as if she were jiggling. It was not possible to see her feet to know what produced the effect.
During the transition, the three women had a set of gestures tied to the lyrics, but were not committed to doing them consistently or together. The one woman did few and did them close to her body; the others did them more often, and they reached farther from their bodies. The basic set of movements was:
Somebody - reach out with both arms
Come - bring the elbows back to bring the hands in
Lord - two hands reach up with elbows bent, and bring arms down
Here - turn hands palms down and reach arms out horizontally
Praying - hands in prayer
Otherwise, each individual would reach one or both arms upward. All the motions were done in time to the music, so the arms were usually in motion. However, the praying gesture was not done every time the word was used.
Influences:
The camp version of "Kumbaya" had mimic gestures and the verse "someone’s praying."
Notes on Audience
Live Performance: the camera showed several women in the audience who were waving their arms with closed eyes; one had tears on her cheeks. A couple men in front, who appeared in silhouette in long shots of the group, were standing with their arms raised above their heads.
Availability
CD: God Did It! Black Smoke Music. WOS1273. 2000.
Live Performance: VHS. Uploaded to YouTube by Pannellctp Traditional Gospel Music, 9 November 2013.
End Notes
1. Lee Hildebrand. "Evelyn Turrentine-Agee Delivers a New Gospel Keynote. East Bay Express, 11 May 2011.
2. Hildebrand.
3. Wikipedia. "Evelyn Turrentine-Agee."
4. Hildebrand.
5. Obituary for her sister, Paula Tyler. Austin Layne Mortuary.
6. Patricia Snider. "Evelyn Turrentine-Agee." Detroit Gospel website.
7. Wikipedia.
8. Liner notes. God Did It!
Friday, August 4, 2017
José Carreras - Kumbaya My Lord
Topic: Live versus Recorded Versions
José Carreras sang "Kumbaya" in concert with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and also recorded it. The live video has been removed since I viewed it in the spring of 2016, so I have to rely on my memory for describing the differences between the two.
The primary one, I think, was pacing. That’s not the same as tempo, which probably was the same. I think there were more pauses in the live version, but ones not long enough to register as such. This may simply be the result of a person accustomed to performing live being more relaxed in a concert than in a recording studio. In the one, when errors happen, no one notices. In the other, the artist must make another tape with all the attendant costs.
A second source for variations between records and life performances is acoustics. The concert was in the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. Most comments on the web were posted by concert or tour promoters, who, of course, only said positive things. An exception was Barbara Cacao, who said the hall is small and "the acoustics are not the best." [1] Robert Tidmarsh reported it had been renovated in 2010, after the Carreras concert. [2] The sound quality didn’t have to be bad, to be different than a recording studio. Just the small things, like the sounds of an audience talking or sneezing, make a difference.
A third possible difference between the two versions was a function of the size of the palace theatre. There may have been fewer musicians, fewer microphones, and different sorts of microphone accesses for the instrumental sections. Ozgur Nevres said the concert included five additional singers: Joan Orleans, Gary Lux, Bernhard Rabitsch, Patricia Graf-Simpson, and Sandrine Rohrmoser. [3] They would have produced a different sound than the chorus listed on the record: it claimed 150 members, but fewer may have been paid for the studio work with Carreras. It is even possible Carreras recorded with a small group, and the rest was added later. The credits included separate entries for engineers of the vocal recordings and the orchestral recordings. It listed album recording locations in Barcelona, Vienna, Hamburg, and London.
The other possible reason for differing listening experiences may lay in the natures of visual and auditory experiences. When one is watching someone sing, there are no breaks in concentration, even when there is no music. When one is only listening, pauses are obvious, and must be filled. I suppose the technology has grown so sophisticated that engineers can remove long pauses, so the sound is continuous. And again, the conductor can make subtle changes.
The impression is the recorded performance was highly polished while the live one had the variations and flaws that come from humans singing.
Performers
Live Performance
Instrumental Accompaniment: Vienna Symphony Orchestra
Recording
Vocal Accompaniment: Crouch End Festival Chorus.
Instrumental Accompaniment: Vienna Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Christian Kolonovits
Credit
EAI Edition, publisher
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation:
Live Performance: Carreras strongly stressed the last syllable and had a clipped pronunciation of words.
Recording: Carreras stressed the last syllable, but his pronunciation was less clipped.
Format: "Kumbaya" was converted into a chorus for verses to a different tune. The additional text by Helmut Lotti and Wim Bohets had lines like "for the sun, that rises in the sky," which echoed nineteenth-century German nature hymns.
Ending:
Recording: "Oh, Lord, Kumbaya" repeated twice.
Notes on Music
Recording
Basic structure: Carreras sang a verse by himself, and the kumbaya refrain twice with the chorus. The second refrain began a tone higher than the previous one. Occasionally, Carreras ornamented a syllable.
Solo-group dynamics:
Carreras always sang. On the refrains, the chorus joined on the first "yah" and continued though the line.
Vocal-orchestral dynamics:
The recording began with disembodied voices in an echo chamber, as if it was imitating a space film. The sounds of the instruments were blurred so they only gave the impression of being strings and horns. Percussion only was strong before Carreras sang the first time.
Notes on Performers
Carreras is a Catalan-born lyric tenor best known for this appearances with Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti. He began singing opera, but in 2001, when these recordings were made, was concentrating on concert performances.
Notes on Performance
Live version:
The Schönbrunn Palace was the summer home of the Hapsburgs in Vienna; the interior is ornate with gold and white walls and crystal chandeliers. Carreras and the orchestra wore black tuxedos with white ties. He stood straight when he was singing.
Availability
Album: Around The World. Warner Classics 8573-85798-2. 2001.
Live performance: uploaded to YouTube by EuroArtsChannel. Blocked in the United States.
End Notes
1. Barbara Cacao. "Schonbrunn Palace Vienna Guide – Pomp, Stucco And Hidden Gems." Vienna Upwrapped website
2. Robert M. Tidmarsh. "Schönbrunn Palace Theatre." His website.
3. Ozgur Nevres. "José Carreras sings Kumbaya my lord (with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra)." Andante Moderato website. 2 June 2015.
4. Crouch End Festival Chorus. "About Us" tab. Its website.
José Carreras sang "Kumbaya" in concert with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and also recorded it. The live video has been removed since I viewed it in the spring of 2016, so I have to rely on my memory for describing the differences between the two.
The primary one, I think, was pacing. That’s not the same as tempo, which probably was the same. I think there were more pauses in the live version, but ones not long enough to register as such. This may simply be the result of a person accustomed to performing live being more relaxed in a concert than in a recording studio. In the one, when errors happen, no one notices. In the other, the artist must make another tape with all the attendant costs.
A second source for variations between records and life performances is acoustics. The concert was in the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. Most comments on the web were posted by concert or tour promoters, who, of course, only said positive things. An exception was Barbara Cacao, who said the hall is small and "the acoustics are not the best." [1] Robert Tidmarsh reported it had been renovated in 2010, after the Carreras concert. [2] The sound quality didn’t have to be bad, to be different than a recording studio. Just the small things, like the sounds of an audience talking or sneezing, make a difference.
A third possible difference between the two versions was a function of the size of the palace theatre. There may have been fewer musicians, fewer microphones, and different sorts of microphone accesses for the instrumental sections. Ozgur Nevres said the concert included five additional singers: Joan Orleans, Gary Lux, Bernhard Rabitsch, Patricia Graf-Simpson, and Sandrine Rohrmoser. [3] They would have produced a different sound than the chorus listed on the record: it claimed 150 members, but fewer may have been paid for the studio work with Carreras. It is even possible Carreras recorded with a small group, and the rest was added later. The credits included separate entries for engineers of the vocal recordings and the orchestral recordings. It listed album recording locations in Barcelona, Vienna, Hamburg, and London.
The other possible reason for differing listening experiences may lay in the natures of visual and auditory experiences. When one is watching someone sing, there are no breaks in concentration, even when there is no music. When one is only listening, pauses are obvious, and must be filled. I suppose the technology has grown so sophisticated that engineers can remove long pauses, so the sound is continuous. And again, the conductor can make subtle changes.
The impression is the recorded performance was highly polished while the live one had the variations and flaws that come from humans singing.
Performers
Live Performance
Instrumental Accompaniment: Vienna Symphony Orchestra
Recording
Vocal Accompaniment: Crouch End Festival Chorus.
Instrumental Accompaniment: Vienna Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Christian Kolonovits
Credit
EAI Edition, publisher
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation:
Live Performance: Carreras strongly stressed the last syllable and had a clipped pronunciation of words.
Recording: Carreras stressed the last syllable, but his pronunciation was less clipped.
Format: "Kumbaya" was converted into a chorus for verses to a different tune. The additional text by Helmut Lotti and Wim Bohets had lines like "for the sun, that rises in the sky," which echoed nineteenth-century German nature hymns.
Ending:
Recording: "Oh, Lord, Kumbaya" repeated twice.
Notes on Music
Recording
Basic structure: Carreras sang a verse by himself, and the kumbaya refrain twice with the chorus. The second refrain began a tone higher than the previous one. Occasionally, Carreras ornamented a syllable.
Solo-group dynamics:
Carreras always sang. On the refrains, the chorus joined on the first "yah" and continued though the line.
Vocal-orchestral dynamics:
The recording began with disembodied voices in an echo chamber, as if it was imitating a space film. The sounds of the instruments were blurred so they only gave the impression of being strings and horns. Percussion only was strong before Carreras sang the first time.
Notes on Performers
Carreras is a Catalan-born lyric tenor best known for this appearances with Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti. He began singing opera, but in 2001, when these recordings were made, was concentrating on concert performances.
Notes on Performance
Live version:
The Schönbrunn Palace was the summer home of the Hapsburgs in Vienna; the interior is ornate with gold and white walls and crystal chandeliers. Carreras and the orchestra wore black tuxedos with white ties. He stood straight when he was singing.
Availability
Album: Around The World. Warner Classics 8573-85798-2. 2001.
Live performance: uploaded to YouTube by EuroArtsChannel. Blocked in the United States.
End Notes
1. Barbara Cacao. "Schonbrunn Palace Vienna Guide – Pomp, Stucco And Hidden Gems." Vienna Upwrapped website
2. Robert M. Tidmarsh. "Schönbrunn Palace Theatre." His website.
3. Ozgur Nevres. "José Carreras sings Kumbaya my lord (with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra)." Andante Moderato website. 2 June 2015.
4. Crouch End Festival Chorus. "About Us" tab. Its website.
Thursday, August 3, 2017
The Evereadys - Lord Come By Here (Live Version)
Topic: Live versus Recorded Versions
Gilbert Rouget surveyed the use of music in possession cults in ancient Greece, the Middle East, and Africa in Music and Trance. [1] In an academic area fraught with overlapping and contradictory terminology, he made several useful distinctions.
First there were groups who used music and those who did not. He termed the second ecstatic. [2]
He then separated possession experiences from shamanism by noting shamans were in control of their trances, made their own music, and let their spirits leave their bodies. In possession, the entranced were not in control, professionals provided the music, and spirits entered their bodies. [3] Musicians were not active participants. Instead, they watched the progression of rituals, and modified their work to fit changes or to bring about climaxes. [4]
His definition of possession was narrow. It involved a god who chose to take over a human’s body for its own purpose. [5] Rouget quoted Jean Rouch, [6] who said of the Songai religion [7] in Mali and Niger: "A deity’s supreme requirement is that one among the faithful become his ‘horse’ by means of trance, so that he can come down among mankind and dance." [8] Rouch added, "‘playing horse’ for a god is not necessarily an agreeable role." [9]
Rouget only discussed shamanism cursorily, and did not discuss contemporary American Black religious services.
The nature of the Holy Spirit and how it manifests itself has led it sectarian splits in both Black and white churches in this country that obscure an underlying agreement on the possibility of contact with the Spirit. It is rather like the early Reformation, when theologians disagreed over the presence of Christ in the Eucharist; their disputes masked their shared separation from Huldrych Zwingli who wished to demystify the ritual. The differences between transubstantiation in which Christ’s body became the wafer and wine and consubstantiation in which the elements existed along side his body are probably a useful metaphor for the continuum of beliefs about what happens in religious services when the presence of the Lord is invoked. Everyone may use the term "possession," but the meanings vary from some like Rouget that posit the Spirit initiates the encounter to ones that imply humans begin the process. I try to avoid the term "possession" as a third-party observer, but use whatever term an individual uses to describe his or her personal experience.
Performers
Vocal: two soloists and a group. One person on YouTube wrote: "Jerome had it, but Freddy took it to another level, then Jerome had to bring it back down and go up even higher." [10] Jerome was Jerome Williams, and Freddy was his brother.
Instrumental accompaniment: one man played a solid-body electric guitar with a steel plate on it; a second played another solid-body electrified guitar.
Rhythm accompaniment: drum set. Hand claps by backup singers and members of the audience.
Notes on Lyrics
Prelude Section: The soloist, Jerome, opened with a testimony that identified him as "Sanctified with the Holy Ghost." He then paraphrased the prelude verses from the recorded version described in the last post.
Denouement: two soloists, Jerome and Freddy, took turns repeating phrases like "come by here." The phrases were interspersed with testimony.
Notes on Music
Prelude Section: the soloist, Jerome, spoke, rather than sang, with no musical accompaniment.
Denouement Section: instrumental accompaniment through both the sung and spoken parts.
Notes on Performance
The concert was in a park somewhere in Detroit. The band was on a low platform, with the area in front roped off. All members wore matching, three-piece, gold-brown suits with flared bottoms on their trouser legs and no ties.
Jerome Williams defied Roget’s convention performers were agents to bring the Holy Spirit to their audiences. In the 1984 performance, he was the one who was dancing. From the beginning he was on the ground in front of the platform. He began by testifying, with lines that summarized the first verses on the recording described in the last post:
"We gonna do something right now. We gonna ask the Lord to stop by here if you don’t stay long. Somebody needs a blessing. Somebody needs a miracle. Somebody’s got pain and it won’t go nowhere."
When the band began playing, the Spirit already had descended. The men on stage sang "Oh Lord" or "come by here" or "Jesus stop by" as Jerome sang phrases and stepped around. The men on stage were stepping, and Freddy and another backup singer were clapping. Then, Freddy jumped down and took over singing while Jerome continued dancing. Toward the end they traded phrases, most of which were impossible to understand, because they were not directed to the location where the microphone was positioned.
Notes on Movement
Jerome held his microphone in his right hand, and gestured with his left. When he was not gesturing, he placed it behind his back. If he switched the mike to his left hand, then his right hand went in back. Freddy held his microphone with his right hand and let his left arm move naturally.
All the steps were done with deliberately bent knees, as distinct from the natural bends that occur when one walks. Much of the variation came from changes in the degree of the bends and the location of the raised calves during the bends. In addition, both Jerome and Freddy moved their torsos forward or arched back from the hips.
In the beginning, Jerome stood in one place and pivoted from diagonal to diagonal on his heels. Because he was in grass, he may have had to jump to complete the changes of direction.
Both Jerome and Freddy used march steps–that is walks with bent knees. Freddy especially kept his toe tips on the ground when he was marking time in place. When the two were sitting on the stage, one foot continued to keep the beat with the heel rising and falling.
The men on the stage stepped from side to side. At the end of phrases, they stepped back with one foot, stepped back with the other, shifted the weight to the other foot, stepped forward and resumed moving side to side.
Toward the end, the camera showed Jerome’s dance steps, which were done quickly. One combination involved changing from stepping forward by stepping sidewards, then shifting back, before resuming the forward movement. Several times, the right foot crossed in back of the left, then returned. These shifts were emphasized by bringing the raised feet higher in back, and occasionally a straight leg was thrust forward with the foot flexed.
Influences:
It is easy to say the group’s costumes and movements were influenced by Motown–after all The Evereadys lived in Detroit when the company was at the height of its influence. One can also point to specific things, like Jerome’s hair style or the way Freddy took off his jacket to sing.
As I watched the steps closely I detected another influence: high school marching bands. When I was in high school, our band went to Michigan State band days between 1958 and 1961. During the halftime show, the bands were massed, but in the parking lot before the game some bands demonstrated their skills. I especially remember the ones from Detroit and Flint.
The combination used by the backup artists on the stage with a bend forward as they stepped back evoked the tuba lines of those city bands. When marching, players would turn their bells from left to right, then bend forward at the end. Only someone who has tried to lift one of those instruments can appreciate the sheer athleticism of those moves.
I rewatched the section of the video where Freddy threw his jacket over his shoulder for Jerome to catch, and thought of majorettes trading batons. The way Jerome watched Freddy, and the way Freddy was aware of Jerome’s location recalled my attempt with another girl to imitate the city routines. As we quickly realized, the proper positioning took a great deal of practice.
Once I started thinking about Jerome’s moves as band moves, I saw that most of the steps he did, except when he was doing quick footwork in one place, were taken from skilled marching bands. The difference was the use of the feet. Members of high school bands stepped on every beat, did not raise their feet much, and kept them parallel to the ground. If one stepped less frequently, and that meant having a sense of multiple simultaneous rhythms, then one could execute the same moves, but with time to raise the feet higher, extend them from the legs, and bend the knees more. The other difference was most people in school bands put their weight on their heels when they stepped, not the balls of their feet. That change in balance made agility easier.
Audience Perceptions
The audience stayed outside the ropes. Several women near the rope on the stage-right side stepped from side to side and clapped by bringing their erect hands together. One man, who also moved from side to side, held one hand relatively steady, palm up, and brought his other hand down on it.
Viewers’ Perceptions
Several YouTube viewers commented on the group and their contact with the Holy Spirit.
In 2016, Rochelle wrote: "Go head Mr. Jerome with that Holy Ghost power dance." [11]
Two years before, Greg had said: "AWESOME!!! those boys got the Anointing!!" [12]
Harry made a similar comment in 2013: "The Fantastic Evereadys, taking off with the Holy Spirit !!!" [13]
And, in 2008, Tim observed: "Jerome and Freddy put a hurtin on this joint 4real !! LAWD !!!" [14]
Jeremiah made a comment on the song itself: "my church still sing dis very song...n its 2009...God is Good!!! dis is a ole song!" [15]
Availability
YouTube. Uploaded by dshock11, 7 May 2008.
End Notes
1. Gilbert Rouget. "La musique et la transe." PhD Diss. University of Paris, 1980. Translated by Brunhilde Biebuyck as Music and Trance: A Theory of the Relations Between Music and Possession. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985.
2. Rouget. 7.
3. Rouget. 18-19, 23.
4. Rouget. 103-104, 112.
5. Rouget. 34.
6. Jean Rouch. La Religion et la Magie Songhay. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1960. 2nd revised edition published by Brussels: Éditions de l’Université de Bruxelles, 1989.
7. The Songhai religion is not the same thing as the Songhai Empire. It is a religion that developed in an area once controlled by the empire.
8. Rouget. 116.
9. Rouget. 166.
10. Shelton. YouTube. December 2016. Last names withheld for privacy.
11. Rochelle. YouTube. 2016.
12. Greg. YouTube. 2014.
13. Harry. YouTube. 2013
14. Tim. YouTube. 2008.
15. Jeremiah. YouTube. 2009.
Gilbert Rouget surveyed the use of music in possession cults in ancient Greece, the Middle East, and Africa in Music and Trance. [1] In an academic area fraught with overlapping and contradictory terminology, he made several useful distinctions.
First there were groups who used music and those who did not. He termed the second ecstatic. [2]
He then separated possession experiences from shamanism by noting shamans were in control of their trances, made their own music, and let their spirits leave their bodies. In possession, the entranced were not in control, professionals provided the music, and spirits entered their bodies. [3] Musicians were not active participants. Instead, they watched the progression of rituals, and modified their work to fit changes or to bring about climaxes. [4]
His definition of possession was narrow. It involved a god who chose to take over a human’s body for its own purpose. [5] Rouget quoted Jean Rouch, [6] who said of the Songai religion [7] in Mali and Niger: "A deity’s supreme requirement is that one among the faithful become his ‘horse’ by means of trance, so that he can come down among mankind and dance." [8] Rouch added, "‘playing horse’ for a god is not necessarily an agreeable role." [9]
Rouget only discussed shamanism cursorily, and did not discuss contemporary American Black religious services.
The nature of the Holy Spirit and how it manifests itself has led it sectarian splits in both Black and white churches in this country that obscure an underlying agreement on the possibility of contact with the Spirit. It is rather like the early Reformation, when theologians disagreed over the presence of Christ in the Eucharist; their disputes masked their shared separation from Huldrych Zwingli who wished to demystify the ritual. The differences between transubstantiation in which Christ’s body became the wafer and wine and consubstantiation in which the elements existed along side his body are probably a useful metaphor for the continuum of beliefs about what happens in religious services when the presence of the Lord is invoked. Everyone may use the term "possession," but the meanings vary from some like Rouget that posit the Spirit initiates the encounter to ones that imply humans begin the process. I try to avoid the term "possession" as a third-party observer, but use whatever term an individual uses to describe his or her personal experience.
Performers
Vocal: two soloists and a group. One person on YouTube wrote: "Jerome had it, but Freddy took it to another level, then Jerome had to bring it back down and go up even higher." [10] Jerome was Jerome Williams, and Freddy was his brother.
Instrumental accompaniment: one man played a solid-body electric guitar with a steel plate on it; a second played another solid-body electrified guitar.
Rhythm accompaniment: drum set. Hand claps by backup singers and members of the audience.
Notes on Lyrics
Prelude Section: The soloist, Jerome, opened with a testimony that identified him as "Sanctified with the Holy Ghost." He then paraphrased the prelude verses from the recorded version described in the last post.
Denouement: two soloists, Jerome and Freddy, took turns repeating phrases like "come by here." The phrases were interspersed with testimony.
Notes on Music
Prelude Section: the soloist, Jerome, spoke, rather than sang, with no musical accompaniment.
Denouement Section: instrumental accompaniment through both the sung and spoken parts.
Notes on Performance
The concert was in a park somewhere in Detroit. The band was on a low platform, with the area in front roped off. All members wore matching, three-piece, gold-brown suits with flared bottoms on their trouser legs and no ties.
Jerome Williams defied Roget’s convention performers were agents to bring the Holy Spirit to their audiences. In the 1984 performance, he was the one who was dancing. From the beginning he was on the ground in front of the platform. He began by testifying, with lines that summarized the first verses on the recording described in the last post:
"We gonna do something right now. We gonna ask the Lord to stop by here if you don’t stay long. Somebody needs a blessing. Somebody needs a miracle. Somebody’s got pain and it won’t go nowhere."
When the band began playing, the Spirit already had descended. The men on stage sang "Oh Lord" or "come by here" or "Jesus stop by" as Jerome sang phrases and stepped around. The men on stage were stepping, and Freddy and another backup singer were clapping. Then, Freddy jumped down and took over singing while Jerome continued dancing. Toward the end they traded phrases, most of which were impossible to understand, because they were not directed to the location where the microphone was positioned.
Notes on Movement
Jerome held his microphone in his right hand, and gestured with his left. When he was not gesturing, he placed it behind his back. If he switched the mike to his left hand, then his right hand went in back. Freddy held his microphone with his right hand and let his left arm move naturally.
All the steps were done with deliberately bent knees, as distinct from the natural bends that occur when one walks. Much of the variation came from changes in the degree of the bends and the location of the raised calves during the bends. In addition, both Jerome and Freddy moved their torsos forward or arched back from the hips.
In the beginning, Jerome stood in one place and pivoted from diagonal to diagonal on his heels. Because he was in grass, he may have had to jump to complete the changes of direction.
Both Jerome and Freddy used march steps–that is walks with bent knees. Freddy especially kept his toe tips on the ground when he was marking time in place. When the two were sitting on the stage, one foot continued to keep the beat with the heel rising and falling.
The men on the stage stepped from side to side. At the end of phrases, they stepped back with one foot, stepped back with the other, shifted the weight to the other foot, stepped forward and resumed moving side to side.
Toward the end, the camera showed Jerome’s dance steps, which were done quickly. One combination involved changing from stepping forward by stepping sidewards, then shifting back, before resuming the forward movement. Several times, the right foot crossed in back of the left, then returned. These shifts were emphasized by bringing the raised feet higher in back, and occasionally a straight leg was thrust forward with the foot flexed.
Influences:
It is easy to say the group’s costumes and movements were influenced by Motown–after all The Evereadys lived in Detroit when the company was at the height of its influence. One can also point to specific things, like Jerome’s hair style or the way Freddy took off his jacket to sing.
As I watched the steps closely I detected another influence: high school marching bands. When I was in high school, our band went to Michigan State band days between 1958 and 1961. During the halftime show, the bands were massed, but in the parking lot before the game some bands demonstrated their skills. I especially remember the ones from Detroit and Flint.
The combination used by the backup artists on the stage with a bend forward as they stepped back evoked the tuba lines of those city bands. When marching, players would turn their bells from left to right, then bend forward at the end. Only someone who has tried to lift one of those instruments can appreciate the sheer athleticism of those moves.
I rewatched the section of the video where Freddy threw his jacket over his shoulder for Jerome to catch, and thought of majorettes trading batons. The way Jerome watched Freddy, and the way Freddy was aware of Jerome’s location recalled my attempt with another girl to imitate the city routines. As we quickly realized, the proper positioning took a great deal of practice.
Once I started thinking about Jerome’s moves as band moves, I saw that most of the steps he did, except when he was doing quick footwork in one place, were taken from skilled marching bands. The difference was the use of the feet. Members of high school bands stepped on every beat, did not raise their feet much, and kept them parallel to the ground. If one stepped less frequently, and that meant having a sense of multiple simultaneous rhythms, then one could execute the same moves, but with time to raise the feet higher, extend them from the legs, and bend the knees more. The other difference was most people in school bands put their weight on their heels when they stepped, not the balls of their feet. That change in balance made agility easier.
Audience Perceptions
The audience stayed outside the ropes. Several women near the rope on the stage-right side stepped from side to side and clapped by bringing their erect hands together. One man, who also moved from side to side, held one hand relatively steady, palm up, and brought his other hand down on it.
Viewers’ Perceptions
Several YouTube viewers commented on the group and their contact with the Holy Spirit.
In 2016, Rochelle wrote: "Go head Mr. Jerome with that Holy Ghost power dance." [11]
Two years before, Greg had said: "AWESOME!!! those boys got the Anointing!!" [12]
Harry made a similar comment in 2013: "The Fantastic Evereadys, taking off with the Holy Spirit !!!" [13]
And, in 2008, Tim observed: "Jerome and Freddy put a hurtin on this joint 4real !! LAWD !!!" [14]
Jeremiah made a comment on the song itself: "my church still sing dis very song...n its 2009...God is Good!!! dis is a ole song!" [15]
Availability
YouTube. Uploaded by dshock11, 7 May 2008.
End Notes
1. Gilbert Rouget. "La musique et la transe." PhD Diss. University of Paris, 1980. Translated by Brunhilde Biebuyck as Music and Trance: A Theory of the Relations Between Music and Possession. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985.
2. Rouget. 7.
3. Rouget. 18-19, 23.
4. Rouget. 103-104, 112.
5. Rouget. 34.
6. Jean Rouch. La Religion et la Magie Songhay. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1960. 2nd revised edition published by Brussels: Éditions de l’Université de Bruxelles, 1989.
7. The Songhai religion is not the same thing as the Songhai Empire. It is a religion that developed in an area once controlled by the empire.
8. Rouget. 116.
9. Rouget. 166.
10. Shelton. YouTube. December 2016. Last names withheld for privacy.
11. Rochelle. YouTube. 2016.
12. Greg. YouTube. 2014.
13. Harry. YouTube. 2013
14. Tim. YouTube. 2008.
15. Jeremiah. YouTube. 2009.
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
The Evereadys - Lord Come By Here (Recorded Version)
Topic: Live versus Recorded Versions
The differences between live and recorded versions of "Come by Here" stem from the imperatives of radio programming. Until the maturation of the internet with web sites like YouTube and artist-support organizations like CD Baby, the only way an artist could become known was through records played on radio stations, advertisements for live performances, or word of mouth. In the 1940s, stations used 78’s; in the 1950s, they were 45’s. The physical size of the records limited them to about three minutes. Station managers then scheduled their advertisements around those time slots, and maintained their scheduling ideas even after technology made longer songs possible.
"Come by Here" was used in religious services that invoked the presence of the Holy Spirit. By the early 1960s, recordings had distilled the ritual into three minutes with a three-part structure.
(a) A prelude with verses appealing to the Lord. The soloist or two alternating soloists and the group often alternated parts in a call-response pattern. Everyone used normal singing voices.
(b) A transition between the two phases that might be handled by the instrumental accompanists or by the singers.
In some versions, the second part dramatized the coming of the Spirit with solos over percussive group-chants. It might be a spoken-sung line, or one that became increasingly higher pitched until it incorporated screams. Several singers might take turns in different styles.
(c) A denouement dramatizing the presence of the Spirit. The solo-group interaction was the same, but more vocal ornamentations were used. Key words tended to used instead of phrases, and, often, testifying was done.
Performers
Vocal: solo and group sections
Instrumental accompaniment: piano, guitars, and organ were identifiable
Rhythm accompaniment: drums and a shaker were identifiable
Credit
By Jerome Williams
Notes of Lyrics
Language: English
Pronoun: somebody
General Format: ritual prelude-denouement structure.
Prelude Section:
Form: three verses with the AAAB line repetition form. The soloist sang the line with variations, and the group repeated it with fewer changes. The last line was variations of "If You don’t stay long."
Theme: a statement of a problem (somebody needs you) followed by an appeal to the Lord to solve the problem (I’m leaving a message) and then an explanation for why the Lord’s presence was needed (somebody’s sick).
Transition:
The soloist began repeating short phrases from the prelude like "somebody’s praying" and "looking for a blessing," while the group chanted variations of "stop by here."
Denouement Section:
The soloist reduced the lines to key words ("I need you," "I’m waiting") while the group continued to chant "stop by here." Toward the end, the lead simply repeated "come on" and "I need you."
Influences:
"If you don’t stay long" was used in 1952 by Lightnin’ Hopkins recording. [1]
Repetitions in the denouement of needing the Lord in the morning, in the evening appeared in a 1958 Hightowers recording. [2]
Notes on Music
I don’t know the voices of the members of the group and so I can’t be more specific. If anyone has more information, I would be glad to include it. One of the YouTube comments said: "Jerome is the bomb... I wish my tenor would stay that high. His range is dynamic!!" [3] This suggested Jerome Williams was the lead singer.
Opening Phrase: Eveready's own melody.
Prelude Section:
The first verse of the prelude was sung by one person, and the other two verses were sung by another with a higher pitched voice. In the second verse, the individual began the lines on successively higher tones. In the third verse, he added screams on the variations. Guitars and organs underscored the melodic aspects of the section.
Transition:
The first singer returned while the man with the higher voice accented the ends of lines with screams. A piano replaced the organ and guitars to emphasize the rhythm.
Denouement Section:
The first singer ended phrases with gasps at the ends of lines, while the man with the higher voice added accenting trills. Again, the piano was used.
By the way, I don’t mean scream or gasp to be pejorative; I am using them as non-technical terms to describe the vocal quality. I would be happy to incorporate better terms if someone has suggestions that refer to specific lines in the video.
Notes on Performers
The Ever Ready Gospel Singers began in Detroit in the early 1950s when Jackie Wilson was a member. The sister of one of the members encouraged her sons, Jerome and Marvin Williams to form a group and reuse the name in 1967. By the early 1980s, the members included "four sets of brothers including his [Jerome’s] own brother Marvin, Aaron Beasley, Marvin Reed and Charles and Kenny Porter." [4]
Photographs reproduced on the video showed six men. For a while, Jerome worked "with the music ministry at Pastor Marvin Winans’ Perfecting Church in Detroit," but then returned to singing. [5] In 2007, the Evereadys were a quartet composed of Bealsey, Reed, Freddy Williams and his brother Jerome. [6]
Availability
Album: Revived. Malaco Records MAL 4385. 1983. Uploaded to YouTube by Bobby Lahmon, 24 December 2008.
Live concert: uploaded to YouTube by dshock11, 7 May 2008.
End Notes
1. Lightnin’ Hopkins [Sam John Hopkins]. "Needed Time." RPM 359. Houston, 1952.
2. Hightower Brothers. "Come By Here." Gospel 1008. New York City, 13 October 1958.
3. bigboybev. YouTube. 2008.
4. "The Evereadys - Group History." Gloryland Gospel website.
5. Same as #4.
6. Bob Marovich. "Eveready’s Aaron Beasley Dies in Detroit." Journal of Gospel Music website. 3 October 2007.
The differences between live and recorded versions of "Come by Here" stem from the imperatives of radio programming. Until the maturation of the internet with web sites like YouTube and artist-support organizations like CD Baby, the only way an artist could become known was through records played on radio stations, advertisements for live performances, or word of mouth. In the 1940s, stations used 78’s; in the 1950s, they were 45’s. The physical size of the records limited them to about three minutes. Station managers then scheduled their advertisements around those time slots, and maintained their scheduling ideas even after technology made longer songs possible.
"Come by Here" was used in religious services that invoked the presence of the Holy Spirit. By the early 1960s, recordings had distilled the ritual into three minutes with a three-part structure.
(a) A prelude with verses appealing to the Lord. The soloist or two alternating soloists and the group often alternated parts in a call-response pattern. Everyone used normal singing voices.
(b) A transition between the two phases that might be handled by the instrumental accompanists or by the singers.
In some versions, the second part dramatized the coming of the Spirit with solos over percussive group-chants. It might be a spoken-sung line, or one that became increasingly higher pitched until it incorporated screams. Several singers might take turns in different styles.
(c) A denouement dramatizing the presence of the Spirit. The solo-group interaction was the same, but more vocal ornamentations were used. Key words tended to used instead of phrases, and, often, testifying was done.
Performers
Vocal: solo and group sections
Instrumental accompaniment: piano, guitars, and organ were identifiable
Rhythm accompaniment: drums and a shaker were identifiable
Credit
By Jerome Williams
Notes of Lyrics
Language: English
Pronoun: somebody
General Format: ritual prelude-denouement structure.
Prelude Section:
Form: three verses with the AAAB line repetition form. The soloist sang the line with variations, and the group repeated it with fewer changes. The last line was variations of "If You don’t stay long."
Theme: a statement of a problem (somebody needs you) followed by an appeal to the Lord to solve the problem (I’m leaving a message) and then an explanation for why the Lord’s presence was needed (somebody’s sick).
Transition:
The soloist began repeating short phrases from the prelude like "somebody’s praying" and "looking for a blessing," while the group chanted variations of "stop by here."
Denouement Section:
The soloist reduced the lines to key words ("I need you," "I’m waiting") while the group continued to chant "stop by here." Toward the end, the lead simply repeated "come on" and "I need you."
Influences:
"If you don’t stay long" was used in 1952 by Lightnin’ Hopkins recording. [1]
Repetitions in the denouement of needing the Lord in the morning, in the evening appeared in a 1958 Hightowers recording. [2]
Notes on Music
I don’t know the voices of the members of the group and so I can’t be more specific. If anyone has more information, I would be glad to include it. One of the YouTube comments said: "Jerome is the bomb... I wish my tenor would stay that high. His range is dynamic!!" [3] This suggested Jerome Williams was the lead singer.
Opening Phrase: Eveready's own melody.
Prelude Section:
The first verse of the prelude was sung by one person, and the other two verses were sung by another with a higher pitched voice. In the second verse, the individual began the lines on successively higher tones. In the third verse, he added screams on the variations. Guitars and organs underscored the melodic aspects of the section.
Transition:
The first singer returned while the man with the higher voice accented the ends of lines with screams. A piano replaced the organ and guitars to emphasize the rhythm.
Denouement Section:
The first singer ended phrases with gasps at the ends of lines, while the man with the higher voice added accenting trills. Again, the piano was used.
By the way, I don’t mean scream or gasp to be pejorative; I am using them as non-technical terms to describe the vocal quality. I would be happy to incorporate better terms if someone has suggestions that refer to specific lines in the video.
Notes on Performers
The Ever Ready Gospel Singers began in Detroit in the early 1950s when Jackie Wilson was a member. The sister of one of the members encouraged her sons, Jerome and Marvin Williams to form a group and reuse the name in 1967. By the early 1980s, the members included "four sets of brothers including his [Jerome’s] own brother Marvin, Aaron Beasley, Marvin Reed and Charles and Kenny Porter." [4]
Photographs reproduced on the video showed six men. For a while, Jerome worked "with the music ministry at Pastor Marvin Winans’ Perfecting Church in Detroit," but then returned to singing. [5] In 2007, the Evereadys were a quartet composed of Bealsey, Reed, Freddy Williams and his brother Jerome. [6]
Availability
Album: Revived. Malaco Records MAL 4385. 1983. Uploaded to YouTube by Bobby Lahmon, 24 December 2008.
Live concert: uploaded to YouTube by dshock11, 7 May 2008.
End Notes
1. Lightnin’ Hopkins [Sam John Hopkins]. "Needed Time." RPM 359. Houston, 1952.
2. Hightower Brothers. "Come By Here." Gospel 1008. New York City, 13 October 1958.
3. bigboybev. YouTube. 2008.
4. "The Evereadys - Group History." Gloryland Gospel website.
5. Same as #4.
6. Bob Marovich. "Eveready’s Aaron Beasley Dies in Detroit." Journal of Gospel Music website. 3 October 2007.
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