Topic: Seminal Versions
The copyright law inherited English precedents that went back before Haydn when the only recognized compositions were made for the court or church. It then was assumed the folk tradition was a corrosive process that took those compositions, broke them down, and preserved bits.
When white folklorists confronted African-American traditions they applied that same concept. In 1937, Ruby Pickens Tartt was asked by the WPA to provide spirituals from Sumter County, Alabama. She wrote a friend she "knew how little" her supervisor "knew of the time it would take to get the verses to eight songs."
"I told her spirituals don’t thrive around the courthouse square, that I might drive all day in the country and never find one complete song. One person would know one verse, one another, and on. [1]
Tartt knew different individuals all sang versions that were recognizably related, but each differed in the verses included. She assumed there once had been a standard version of which each only retained a part.
She did not comprehend that instead of an immutable song that could be transcribed for piano, African Americans had collections of verses they grouped into song clusters, and that anyone, at anytime, could sing any or all of the verses in any order, and the next time that person sang it, he or she could create a different combination. There was no restriction against including a verse from another cluster.
Lightnin’ Hopkins tried to explain the difference to a white film-maker. He claimed the churches
"didn’t teach me the song. Nuh uh, they made them up. Fact of the business, the way it goes, they sang the songs and I played them. Whatever they sing, I played it. All they do is get into tune just like they [plays]." [2]
When Hopkins recorded his version of "Come by Here" in 1952, he used variations on three phrases that had been used in earlier recordings, [3] and added his own. "Come if you don’t stay long" was an abbreviated form of the Southern invitation, "come, even if you can’t stay long" shortened to fit the length of the musical line.
The early recordings of "Come by Here," made primarily by people from the southeastern United States, had repeated one line six times, with little variation. Hopkins was a blues musician from cotton country in the upper reaches of the Trinity river in Texas. He kept the sestet form, but alternated a three-line AAA verse with three repetitions of "now is the needed time." He then reverted to the AAB blues stanza, with "Jesus, will you come by here" as the commentary (AAB-CCC).
His version of "Come by Here" may not have been long enough for a three-minute recording. [4] He began with three variations on the "come" theme, then played the melody on the guitar. Next he reversed the pattern and began with three repetitions of "needed time," which he followed with a repetition of the "stay long" verse. He already had said he was praying for Jesus to come. He reworded that verse by repeating he was down on his knees twice, and finished by singing come by here four times (AAB-BBB).
He made the recording for a company owned by the Bihari brothers. The label gave him credit as the composer, but the music publisher also was owned by the brothers. It was a small operation that diverted royalties whenever it could. [5]
Performers
Instrumental Accompaniment: acoustic guitar
Rhythm Accompaniment: acoustic guitar
Credits
Written-by - Lightnin’ Hopkins [6]
Mod Music Pub Co. (BMI) [7]
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: a loose coupling between music and text allowed Hopkins to emphasize the important word "come" rather than the one that ended the sentence or phrase, "here."
Verses: come by here, needed time, come if you don’t stay long, praying, praying on my knees
Vocabulary:
Pronoun: I
Term for Deity: Jesus
Jesus: in the form of the Holy Spirit
Now: this is not a premillennial reference to the second coming of Christ, but a request for the Holy Spirit to materialize immediately.
Down on my knees: refers both to the common habit of getting on one’s knees to pray and older African-American initiation rituals where an individual went out in the wilderness to contact the spirits.
Format: sestet
Line Meter: varies around a basic iambic trimeter
Line Repetition Pattern: AAB-CCC
Notes on Music
Basic Structure: repetition of first verse with few changes.
Singing Style: fundamentally one syllable to one note. The sustained words like come, Lord, and Oh occasionally shifted to a second tone toward the end, sometime shading into a hum of the extended vowel. Many African languages did not end in consonants, and the emphasis on the vowel here is one way Black American English perpetuated older pronunciation patterns. [8]
Vocal-Orchestral Dynamics: rhythmic accompaniment to vocal parts and an instrumental interlude when the guitar replaced the voice.
The general pattern was simple chords on the first two lines, with the guitar playing a parallel melody on the last phrase of the third line. In the interlude, the guitar played the melody with chords. Base runs were used between melodic phrases.
Notes on Performer
Sam Hopkins, who lived from 1911 to 1982, had two recording careers: one on labels marketed to African-American audiences in the 1940s and 1950s, and another on albums aimed at whites interested in the rural blues. He was a link with early musicians, like Blind Lemon Jefferson, and thus was interviewed numerous times. Sam Charters released one set of interviews on a Prestige record, and Les Blank and PBS captured others on films. Blank made his unused footage available to biographers.
Lightnin’ Hopkins. My Life in Blues. Prestige 7370. 1965. Interviewed by Sam Charters. Fantasy, Inc reissued it as the seventh CD in The Complete Prestige/Bluesville Recordings in 1991.
Les Blank. The Blues According to Lightnin’ Hopkins. El Cerrito, California: Flower Films, 1968.
PBS. Artists in America, 1971, program 6, "Sam ‘Lightnin’’ Hopkins." Produced by KUHT, Houston.
Availability
78/45 rpm: RPM Records 359. Recorded in Houston, 1952.
Reissue: No Blues for Young Men. Leicester, UK: Broken Audio Recordings. 19 September 2013.
Reissue: In God We Trust. Zürich, Switzerland: Brownsville Records. 15 November 2015.
YouTube: uploaded by stompingsevens, 10 February 2013.
End Notes
1. Ruby Pickens Tartt. Letter to Janie Long Allen, undated. Ruby Pickens Tartt Collection, Julia Tutwiler Library, University of West Alabama University. Reprinted by Virginia Pounds Brown and Laurella Owens. Toting the Lead Row. University: The University of Alabama Press, 1981. 13.
The WPA program was the Federal Writer’s Project sponsored by the federal government’s Works Progress Administration.
2. Lightnin’ Hopkins. Transcribed by Timothy J. O’Brien and David Ensminger. Mojo Hand: The Life and Music of Lightnin’ Hopkins. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2013. 15. Credit to the PBS documentary.
Hopkins’ separation of the roles of accompanying and participating in a church service was the same distinction made about trance rituals by Gilbert Rouget that was discussed in the post for 3 August 2017.
3. I will be discussing the early recordings in later posts.
4. The three-minute record form was discussed in the post for 2 August 2017.
5. Wikipedia. "Bihari Brothers."
6. "Lightning Hopkins And His Guitar – One Kind Favor / Needed Time." Discogs website. It reproduced the label for the other song on the recording, and implied the information was the same for both.
7. RPM was a subsidiary of Modern Records, and Modern Music Publishing was one of the Bihari’s properties.
8. Lorenzo Dow Turner. Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 2002 edition. 247.
Monday, August 21, 2017
Saturday, August 19, 2017
Helmut Lotti - Kumbaya My Lord
Topic: Seminal Versions
Mechanical reproduction of music began in the 1880s with piano rolls. [1] In 1908, the Supreme Court ruled they were unique creations and not subject to royalty payments. Composers responded by advocating passage of the 1909 copyright law that forced reimbursements for rolls, cylinders, and the newer photograph records. [2] Their professional organization later was able to establish their rights to reimbursement for music played by radio stations. [3]
The 1909 law was written specifically to meet the needs of professional composers working for the popular stage. It stipulated songs that were not registered with the government office and did not carry proper ownership notices fell into the public domain, available for use by anyone.
Individuals who performed traditional works would add a bit of melody, a special orchestration, or supplemental words so they could copyright their particular versions, and more important, protect themselves from some rival’s lien on their proceeds. Thus, Ralph Carmichael could copyright his version of "Kum-ba-yah" in 1969 because it had some unique words along with a piano and vocal arrangement. [4]
Sometime after the Beatles emerged, the value of copyrights increased in value and so did the number of lawsuits. In summer camps, youth sang the songs of the commercial folk revival without paying royalties, just as they had been doing with other music for generations. However, more vigilant royalties seekers began complaining. The Girl Scouts published their own songbook in 1973 that had all the correct permissions. [5] Rather than rely upon an older source for "Kumbaya," they published James Leisy’s version because it protected them from liabilities with a copyright justified by an additional verse. [6]
The law was rewritten in 1976, and copyrights came to be seen as intellectual property inherited through the generations by those who had not registered their rights properly under the previous law. Public domain turned into a dangerous swamp, and anyone singing "Kumbaya" on a record or in a live performance needed a protected version.
Most of the copyrighted additions, liked the verses added by Carmichael and Leisy, never were sung. They did not exist for that reason. People were still free to sing selected parts so long as their paid for songbooks.
I do not know if people stopped publishing or recording "Kumbaya" after that law went into effect in 1978, or if I simply have not found references to versions from the 1980s and 1990s. There was a hiatus in my research between 1980 and 2015.
While the newer copyright law had a repressive effect on public domain versions of both "Kumbaya" and "Come by Here," it also stimulated creative changes. Most innovations were forgotten soon after they were recorded or performed, but sometimes one became so popular others imitated it and it acquired a set form. They became islands in the sea of tradition surrounded by small eddies of followers. [7]
The version used by José Carreras and José Medrado was one of those special archetypes. As mentioned in the post for 4 August 2017, they used one associated with Helmut Lotti. He and Wim Boherts treated "kumbaya" as the chorus for a new song. The distinctive words included "for the sun that rises in the sky."
The lines followed no rhyme pattern. Instead they recalled phrases from a prayer to the creator of the natural world. Since English was not the primary language of either of the credited writers, I do not know if the recording was a translation of something that followed literary conventions in another language. Although Lotti said he preferred singing in English, he still might have thought in Dutch. [8]
The official credits suggested the usual tangle of business relationships that ensued from the copyright laws. Profits from most records were small, and performers were only paid for their sessions. The ones who earned the most were the composers, who were given a royalty every time a song was played by some media outlet. It was common for singers and company owners to list themselves as co-authors to earn more. In this case, Lotti was primarily a singer, while Boherts was a pianist and arranger. The company that controlled the rights was owned by Lotti’s manager, Piet Roehling.
Lotti’s version seemed to be most popular in Brazil. It also had been used by a Fox Networks subsidiary for a cartoon aimed at young children in Portuguese, Spanish, Polish, Turkish, and English. [9] This version might replace earlier ones simply because it will be the first many hear.
Performers
Instrumental Accompaniment: Golden Symphonic Orchestra, conducted by André Walschaerts
Credits
Arrangement: Helmut Lotti and Wim Bohets
Copyright: Piet Roelen Publishing
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: cum-ba-yah with emphasis on last syllable
Pronoun: none
Term for Deity: Lord
Format: verse-chorus (VV C VV C VV)
Verse Rhyme Patterns: last lines have internal rhyme
Line Meter: iambic tetrameter, with strong first and last syllables
Rhetorical Devices: contrasts of sun/rain, great/small
Notes on Music
Basic structure: two repetitions of the chorus, the second beginning on a higher note, followed by a verse that returned to the original base note.
Ending: repeated last line twice, then repeated the word kumbaya with each syllable on a higher tone, with the very last sustained.
Style: one syllable to one note with the last notes of phrases sustained. Ornamentations rarely were used, and most were in the ending. He stayed in his middle range except at the end.
Solo-Group Dynamics: choral group either sang the same words and notes as Lotti, or some repeated his kumbaya’s that ended lines.
Vocal-Orchestral Dynamics: the full orchestra was used sparingly. When it was heard, it was playing the same melody at Lotti. A flute or horns provided flourishes after Lotti’s sung phrases.
Rhythm: the recording began with strong rhythmic pulses by the strings. Then, only a soft drum or voices imitating a soft drum were deployed to mark phrases, not beats.
Influences: the vocalized drum was like the one used on the 1958 recording of "The Little Drummer Boy" by the Harry Simeone Chorale. Some melodic motifs were from the Seekers.
Viewers’ Perceptions
Raphael Gutemberg uploaded a video to YouTube that featured speeded-up pictures of clouds moving over mountains behind the lyrics in Portuguese and English. Unlike most, the Brazilian translated Lord as senhor. He also was the only one to treat "kumbaya" as a translatable word. He wrote the song meant: "‘Come to us Lord or Pass by here Lord’. A Singing Praise." He described himself as someone interested in "Editing Messages, Spirituality Prayers, and Romantic Songs." [10]
Notes on Performers
Lotti was born in Ghent in 1969 where Dutch was his native language. [11] He began as an Elvis impersonator. The Belgian had the usual problem of artists who toiled for years in the lower levels of the music industry: when he changed recording companies and became successful singing classics, his previous employer flooded the market with unauthorized collections. [12]
In a 2015 interview promoting a different album, he said:
"‘I noticed that religion also reared its head in other songs,’ he says. "I wouldn’t call it an album about religion, though, more one about ways of living: What do we cling to when life turns sour? What are life’s traps? And what makes one a better human being?’" [13]
Lotti added: "The duality between good and evil is fascinating." [14]
Availability
CD: Out of Africa (Polydor) and Out of Africa (Coeur de Lion). 1999.
YouTube: uploaded by Raphael Gutemberg, 27 November 2015
End Notes
1. Wikipedia. "Piano Roll."
2. Wikipedia, Piano.
3. Their organization was the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, which did not recognize blues, country, or gospel music writers. In 1939, radio stations formed Broadcast Music Inc, to give themselves an alternative to the ASCAP monopoly. BMI recruited non-mainstream popular music composers. The representation did not stop Black or Southern white artists from being cheated by their record companies or music publishers, but it was a step toward fairer reimbursement. (Wikipedia. "Broadcast Music, Inc.")
4. Ralph Carmichael. "Kum-ba-yah." Copyright 1969 by Lexicon Music. In Cliff Barrows Now! Waco, Texas: Lexicon Music, Inc., 1970. 21-27.
5. "Kum Ba Ya." Sing Together. Edited by Constance L. Bell, et alia. New York: Girl Scouts of the U. S. A., third edition, 1973. 143.
6. The credit line read: The Folk Song Abededary, by James F. Leisy. © 1966 by Hawthorn Books, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Hawthorn Books, Inc., 70 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10911.
7. Common language changed with the 1976 copyright law. Before, when composers were primary, artists simply recorded their songs. In the 1950s white popular music performers made copies of records by blues and country artists that made slight modifications in style to sell the creative efforts as their own. They were called "covers" and more unprintable nouns. Recently, people have been using the term "cover" to refer to any song that was not originated by the performer, as if singing anything from the popular repertoire was somehow disreputable.
8. Christophe Verbiest. "Helmut Lotti Offers Hopeful Message for Dark Times." Flanders Today, 13 December 2015.
9. BabyTV. "Kumbaya." Different language versions with same animation. YouTube.
10. Translations by Google.
11. Wikipedia. "Helmut Lotti."
12. Marc Maes. "Helmut Lotti Wins Law Suit." Billboard website. 13 April 2007.
13. Verbiest.
14. Verbiest.
Mechanical reproduction of music began in the 1880s with piano rolls. [1] In 1908, the Supreme Court ruled they were unique creations and not subject to royalty payments. Composers responded by advocating passage of the 1909 copyright law that forced reimbursements for rolls, cylinders, and the newer photograph records. [2] Their professional organization later was able to establish their rights to reimbursement for music played by radio stations. [3]
The 1909 law was written specifically to meet the needs of professional composers working for the popular stage. It stipulated songs that were not registered with the government office and did not carry proper ownership notices fell into the public domain, available for use by anyone.
Individuals who performed traditional works would add a bit of melody, a special orchestration, or supplemental words so they could copyright their particular versions, and more important, protect themselves from some rival’s lien on their proceeds. Thus, Ralph Carmichael could copyright his version of "Kum-ba-yah" in 1969 because it had some unique words along with a piano and vocal arrangement. [4]
Sometime after the Beatles emerged, the value of copyrights increased in value and so did the number of lawsuits. In summer camps, youth sang the songs of the commercial folk revival without paying royalties, just as they had been doing with other music for generations. However, more vigilant royalties seekers began complaining. The Girl Scouts published their own songbook in 1973 that had all the correct permissions. [5] Rather than rely upon an older source for "Kumbaya," they published James Leisy’s version because it protected them from liabilities with a copyright justified by an additional verse. [6]
The law was rewritten in 1976, and copyrights came to be seen as intellectual property inherited through the generations by those who had not registered their rights properly under the previous law. Public domain turned into a dangerous swamp, and anyone singing "Kumbaya" on a record or in a live performance needed a protected version.
Most of the copyrighted additions, liked the verses added by Carmichael and Leisy, never were sung. They did not exist for that reason. People were still free to sing selected parts so long as their paid for songbooks.
I do not know if people stopped publishing or recording "Kumbaya" after that law went into effect in 1978, or if I simply have not found references to versions from the 1980s and 1990s. There was a hiatus in my research between 1980 and 2015.
While the newer copyright law had a repressive effect on public domain versions of both "Kumbaya" and "Come by Here," it also stimulated creative changes. Most innovations were forgotten soon after they were recorded or performed, but sometimes one became so popular others imitated it and it acquired a set form. They became islands in the sea of tradition surrounded by small eddies of followers. [7]
The version used by José Carreras and José Medrado was one of those special archetypes. As mentioned in the post for 4 August 2017, they used one associated with Helmut Lotti. He and Wim Boherts treated "kumbaya" as the chorus for a new song. The distinctive words included "for the sun that rises in the sky."
The lines followed no rhyme pattern. Instead they recalled phrases from a prayer to the creator of the natural world. Since English was not the primary language of either of the credited writers, I do not know if the recording was a translation of something that followed literary conventions in another language. Although Lotti said he preferred singing in English, he still might have thought in Dutch. [8]
The official credits suggested the usual tangle of business relationships that ensued from the copyright laws. Profits from most records were small, and performers were only paid for their sessions. The ones who earned the most were the composers, who were given a royalty every time a song was played by some media outlet. It was common for singers and company owners to list themselves as co-authors to earn more. In this case, Lotti was primarily a singer, while Boherts was a pianist and arranger. The company that controlled the rights was owned by Lotti’s manager, Piet Roehling.
Lotti’s version seemed to be most popular in Brazil. It also had been used by a Fox Networks subsidiary for a cartoon aimed at young children in Portuguese, Spanish, Polish, Turkish, and English. [9] This version might replace earlier ones simply because it will be the first many hear.
Performers
Instrumental Accompaniment: Golden Symphonic Orchestra, conducted by André Walschaerts
Credits
Arrangement: Helmut Lotti and Wim Bohets
Copyright: Piet Roelen Publishing
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: cum-ba-yah with emphasis on last syllable
Pronoun: none
Term for Deity: Lord
Format: verse-chorus (VV C VV C VV)
Verse Rhyme Patterns: last lines have internal rhyme
Line Meter: iambic tetrameter, with strong first and last syllables
Rhetorical Devices: contrasts of sun/rain, great/small
Notes on Music
Basic structure: two repetitions of the chorus, the second beginning on a higher note, followed by a verse that returned to the original base note.
Ending: repeated last line twice, then repeated the word kumbaya with each syllable on a higher tone, with the very last sustained.
Style: one syllable to one note with the last notes of phrases sustained. Ornamentations rarely were used, and most were in the ending. He stayed in his middle range except at the end.
Solo-Group Dynamics: choral group either sang the same words and notes as Lotti, or some repeated his kumbaya’s that ended lines.
Vocal-Orchestral Dynamics: the full orchestra was used sparingly. When it was heard, it was playing the same melody at Lotti. A flute or horns provided flourishes after Lotti’s sung phrases.
Rhythm: the recording began with strong rhythmic pulses by the strings. Then, only a soft drum or voices imitating a soft drum were deployed to mark phrases, not beats.
Influences: the vocalized drum was like the one used on the 1958 recording of "The Little Drummer Boy" by the Harry Simeone Chorale. Some melodic motifs were from the Seekers.
Viewers’ Perceptions
Raphael Gutemberg uploaded a video to YouTube that featured speeded-up pictures of clouds moving over mountains behind the lyrics in Portuguese and English. Unlike most, the Brazilian translated Lord as senhor. He also was the only one to treat "kumbaya" as a translatable word. He wrote the song meant: "‘Come to us Lord or Pass by here Lord’. A Singing Praise." He described himself as someone interested in "Editing Messages, Spirituality Prayers, and Romantic Songs." [10]
Notes on Performers
Lotti was born in Ghent in 1969 where Dutch was his native language. [11] He began as an Elvis impersonator. The Belgian had the usual problem of artists who toiled for years in the lower levels of the music industry: when he changed recording companies and became successful singing classics, his previous employer flooded the market with unauthorized collections. [12]
In a 2015 interview promoting a different album, he said:
"‘I noticed that religion also reared its head in other songs,’ he says. "I wouldn’t call it an album about religion, though, more one about ways of living: What do we cling to when life turns sour? What are life’s traps? And what makes one a better human being?’" [13]
Lotti added: "The duality between good and evil is fascinating." [14]
Availability
CD: Out of Africa (Polydor) and Out of Africa (Coeur de Lion). 1999.
YouTube: uploaded by Raphael Gutemberg, 27 November 2015
End Notes
1. Wikipedia. "Piano Roll."
2. Wikipedia, Piano.
3. Their organization was the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, which did not recognize blues, country, or gospel music writers. In 1939, radio stations formed Broadcast Music Inc, to give themselves an alternative to the ASCAP monopoly. BMI recruited non-mainstream popular music composers. The representation did not stop Black or Southern white artists from being cheated by their record companies or music publishers, but it was a step toward fairer reimbursement. (Wikipedia. "Broadcast Music, Inc.")
4. Ralph Carmichael. "Kum-ba-yah." Copyright 1969 by Lexicon Music. In Cliff Barrows Now! Waco, Texas: Lexicon Music, Inc., 1970. 21-27.
5. "Kum Ba Ya." Sing Together. Edited by Constance L. Bell, et alia. New York: Girl Scouts of the U. S. A., third edition, 1973. 143.
6. The credit line read: The Folk Song Abededary, by James F. Leisy. © 1966 by Hawthorn Books, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Hawthorn Books, Inc., 70 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10911.
7. Common language changed with the 1976 copyright law. Before, when composers were primary, artists simply recorded their songs. In the 1950s white popular music performers made copies of records by blues and country artists that made slight modifications in style to sell the creative efforts as their own. They were called "covers" and more unprintable nouns. Recently, people have been using the term "cover" to refer to any song that was not originated by the performer, as if singing anything from the popular repertoire was somehow disreputable.
8. Christophe Verbiest. "Helmut Lotti Offers Hopeful Message for Dark Times." Flanders Today, 13 December 2015.
9. BabyTV. "Kumbaya." Different language versions with same animation. YouTube.
10. Translations by Google.
11. Wikipedia. "Helmut Lotti."
12. Marc Maes. "Helmut Lotti Wins Law Suit." Billboard website. 13 April 2007.
13. Verbiest.
14. Verbiest.
Thursday, August 17, 2017
John Littleton - Kumbaya
Topic: Art Song
Encores are a special part of the concert program, when an artist is expected to sing something light or humanizing. African-Americans uniformly are expected to perform a spiritual. If one were, instead, to offer something like Sam Cook’s "You Send Me" that would disappoint their audience by breaking protocol.
The concert spiritual repertoire is a subset limited to those songs recognized by white audiences. The corpus was set by Marion Anderson and Paul Robeson in the 1930s. Very few songs have been added since. The familiar "Kumbaya" can be used as an encore, but not "Come by Here."
John Littleton was born on a plantation in Madison parish in northeastern Louisiana [1] where the population today is more than 77% Black. [2] The African American enlisted after graduating from high school and served during World War II. He stayed in France after the war and entered the Académie Nationale de Musique of Paris for opera training in the middle-1950s. [3] The baritone mastered the roles of Boris Godunov and Faust in operas by Mussorgsky and Gounod. [4]
As a baritone Littleton faced special challenges. As a class, baritones are less likely to attract the followings necessary to generate lucrative opportunities than tenors who have the leads in most operas. In addition, he faced the unique challenges created by Robeson whose resonant baritone voice defined the sound of many spirituals for white Europeans.
Littleton worked the concert circuit and, in 1960, turned to spirituals. [5] Soon after, Mickey Baker moved to France from New York. The Louisville-born African-American sideman had played guitar on sessions for Savoy records. [6] He created Littleman’s arrangement of "Kumbaya" and directed the musicians and singers.
The encore spiritual repertoire is essentially a romantic genre. A French website devoted to Littleton said he:
"was always faithful to his origin and his roots. He never forgot the pain of his ancestor slaves, their joy when they discovered God, this God who had released the people of Israel. The black slaves sang, shouted towards those that liked them." [7]
After Littleton died in Rheims in 1998, Christian Price put together a "JLS ‘Amen’" program in Montréal based on Littleton’s most popular album. [8] It featured the deep-voiced Placide Adombi Yapo Atsé and a choir directed by Christophe Absi. Adombi was from Côte d’Ivoire. [9] Absi was white. The choir included children, one of whom had a dark-colored face.
Performers
Vocal Accompaniment: Chœur Mickey Baker
Instrumental Accompaniment: Orchestre Mickey Baker
Rhythm Accompaniment: piano, cymbal
Credits
"Kumbaya" by Mickey Baker
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: cum-bye-yah with emphasis on first syllable
Pronoun: someone
Format: four-verse song
Line Repetition Pattern: AAAB
Line Form: statement-refrain
Verses: kumabya, singing, praying
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: tune from The Seekers
Basic Structure: repetitions of the four-line melody with increasingly more voices and instruments
Solo Style: simple, unembellished
Solo-Group Dynamics (by repetition):
1. Solo joined by men with deep voices on last line
2. Softer solo with male chorus singing "kumbaya" after he finished, and joining on final line
3. Solo with male and female chorus. On the echo of "kumbaya" the men sang "kum" and the group finished "baya."
4. Solo with chorus singing broad chords of "oh," except when following the established pattern. The last line was sung by all.
Vocal-Orchestra Dynamics: nearly a capella with cymbal on the beats, and piano chords marking the beginnings of phrases. The cymbal may have been augmented by other stringed instruments in later repetitions, and especially in the final iteration.
Notes on Performance
The Littleton video showed an album cover with a dark-skinned choir wearing white robes. Their arms were raised from the elbows and they were holding hands.
JLS "Amen" used the same vocal parts from Littleton’s recording, but employed different instruments. The credits listed a drum set, keyboards, electric bass, guitar, and flute. Everyone wore black slacks and white shirts; the girls added colored scarves. Absi wore a black suit and conducted with a baton. Except for Adombi, who walked about as he sang with a hand-held microphone, everyone stood in place.
Notes on Performers
Littleton’s father was a Baptist pastor and farmer. According to the French Wikipedia, as translated by Google, "The young John starts singing along with his father in the churches. He sings in a soloist and in choirs of gospel." [10] Another French source said he "accompanied his father when he would go in the various small Baptist Churches of the area." [11]
Availability
Album: Spirituals. Editions Studio S.M. 30-377. 1971.
YouTube: uploaded by Sing To God!, 6 June 2016.
JLS "Amen." "Kumbaya." Cathédral de Nicolet, Québec, 5 October 2013. Uploaded to YouTube 2 February 2014.
End Notes
1. Wikipedia. "Tallulah, Louisiana."
2. "Tallulah, Louisiana." City-Data website.
3. Richard P. Sevier. "John L. Littleton, Jr., Madison Parish, Louisiana." Ancestry website.
4. French Wikipedia. "John Littleton."
5. Wikipedia, Littleton.
6. Wikipedia. "Mickey Baker."
7. Translation reprinted by Sevier.
8. John Littleton. Amen. Editions Studio S.M. SM 30 M-361. 1970. It did not have "Kumbaya." The album was devoted to songs by Odette Vercruysse, a contemporary Christian composer.
9. Nathalie Zemgbo-Djiezion. "Canada: voyage dans l’univers des patriotes pour la préparation de la victoire de Laurent Gbagbo." Abidjan.net, 18 November 2010.
10. Wikipedia, Littleton.
11. Translation reprinted by Sevier.
Encores are a special part of the concert program, when an artist is expected to sing something light or humanizing. African-Americans uniformly are expected to perform a spiritual. If one were, instead, to offer something like Sam Cook’s "You Send Me" that would disappoint their audience by breaking protocol.
The concert spiritual repertoire is a subset limited to those songs recognized by white audiences. The corpus was set by Marion Anderson and Paul Robeson in the 1930s. Very few songs have been added since. The familiar "Kumbaya" can be used as an encore, but not "Come by Here."
John Littleton was born on a plantation in Madison parish in northeastern Louisiana [1] where the population today is more than 77% Black. [2] The African American enlisted after graduating from high school and served during World War II. He stayed in France after the war and entered the Académie Nationale de Musique of Paris for opera training in the middle-1950s. [3] The baritone mastered the roles of Boris Godunov and Faust in operas by Mussorgsky and Gounod. [4]
As a baritone Littleton faced special challenges. As a class, baritones are less likely to attract the followings necessary to generate lucrative opportunities than tenors who have the leads in most operas. In addition, he faced the unique challenges created by Robeson whose resonant baritone voice defined the sound of many spirituals for white Europeans.
Littleton worked the concert circuit and, in 1960, turned to spirituals. [5] Soon after, Mickey Baker moved to France from New York. The Louisville-born African-American sideman had played guitar on sessions for Savoy records. [6] He created Littleman’s arrangement of "Kumbaya" and directed the musicians and singers.
The encore spiritual repertoire is essentially a romantic genre. A French website devoted to Littleton said he:
"was always faithful to his origin and his roots. He never forgot the pain of his ancestor slaves, their joy when they discovered God, this God who had released the people of Israel. The black slaves sang, shouted towards those that liked them." [7]
After Littleton died in Rheims in 1998, Christian Price put together a "JLS ‘Amen’" program in Montréal based on Littleton’s most popular album. [8] It featured the deep-voiced Placide Adombi Yapo Atsé and a choir directed by Christophe Absi. Adombi was from Côte d’Ivoire. [9] Absi was white. The choir included children, one of whom had a dark-colored face.
Performers
Vocal Accompaniment: Chœur Mickey Baker
Instrumental Accompaniment: Orchestre Mickey Baker
Rhythm Accompaniment: piano, cymbal
Credits
"Kumbaya" by Mickey Baker
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: cum-bye-yah with emphasis on first syllable
Pronoun: someone
Format: four-verse song
Line Repetition Pattern: AAAB
Line Form: statement-refrain
Verses: kumabya, singing, praying
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: tune from The Seekers
Basic Structure: repetitions of the four-line melody with increasingly more voices and instruments
Solo Style: simple, unembellished
Solo-Group Dynamics (by repetition):
1. Solo joined by men with deep voices on last line
2. Softer solo with male chorus singing "kumbaya" after he finished, and joining on final line
3. Solo with male and female chorus. On the echo of "kumbaya" the men sang "kum" and the group finished "baya."
4. Solo with chorus singing broad chords of "oh," except when following the established pattern. The last line was sung by all.
Vocal-Orchestra Dynamics: nearly a capella with cymbal on the beats, and piano chords marking the beginnings of phrases. The cymbal may have been augmented by other stringed instruments in later repetitions, and especially in the final iteration.
Notes on Performance
The Littleton video showed an album cover with a dark-skinned choir wearing white robes. Their arms were raised from the elbows and they were holding hands.
JLS "Amen" used the same vocal parts from Littleton’s recording, but employed different instruments. The credits listed a drum set, keyboards, electric bass, guitar, and flute. Everyone wore black slacks and white shirts; the girls added colored scarves. Absi wore a black suit and conducted with a baton. Except for Adombi, who walked about as he sang with a hand-held microphone, everyone stood in place.
Notes on Performers
Littleton’s father was a Baptist pastor and farmer. According to the French Wikipedia, as translated by Google, "The young John starts singing along with his father in the churches. He sings in a soloist and in choirs of gospel." [10] Another French source said he "accompanied his father when he would go in the various small Baptist Churches of the area." [11]
Availability
Album: Spirituals. Editions Studio S.M. 30-377. 1971.
YouTube: uploaded by Sing To God!, 6 June 2016.
JLS "Amen." "Kumbaya." Cathédral de Nicolet, Québec, 5 October 2013. Uploaded to YouTube 2 February 2014.
End Notes
1. Wikipedia. "Tallulah, Louisiana."
2. "Tallulah, Louisiana." City-Data website.
3. Richard P. Sevier. "John L. Littleton, Jr., Madison Parish, Louisiana." Ancestry website.
4. French Wikipedia. "John Littleton."
5. Wikipedia, Littleton.
6. Wikipedia. "Mickey Baker."
7. Translation reprinted by Sevier.
8. John Littleton. Amen. Editions Studio S.M. SM 30 M-361. 1970. It did not have "Kumbaya." The album was devoted to songs by Odette Vercruysse, a contemporary Christian composer.
9. Nathalie Zemgbo-Djiezion. "Canada: voyage dans l’univers des patriotes pour la préparation de la victoire de Laurent Gbagbo." Abidjan.net, 18 November 2010.
10. Wikipedia, Littleton.
11. Translation reprinted by Sevier.
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Kyrkjebø, Aznavour, Domingo - Kum Bah Yah
Topic: Art Song
Antonín Dvorák may have been responsible for converting spirituals into motifs for classical composers, but Enrico Caruso was the one who created the image of the classical artist as man of the people able to sing both arias and popular songs. He had a voice that could be captured by early reproduction technology and was willing to make the necessary effort to learn how to make decent recordings. [1] Two of his most popular releases were "Santa Lucia" and "’O Sole Mio." [2]
He was unusual in his ability to sing both. Art song and folk song are different genres, and, as different forms, they have different internal rules for composition and make different demands on singers. While individuals can be trained to sing opera, their ability to sing folk or popular music often depends of they’re having been exposed to it when they were very young. Caruso grew up in working class Naples where he sometimes performed in cafés and resorts. [3] "’O Sole Mio" was written by a local café singer. [4]
The usual problem when individuals with highly trained voices sing folk material is they oversing it with their melliferous tones and precise enunciations. That was the less the problem with a 1994 Vienna concert that featured three soloists from different backgrounds than the fact the varying qualities of their voices threatened to overwhelm one another.
Each was accomplished in his or her field: Sissel Kyrkjebø was Norwegian popular singer, Charles Aznavour came from French clubs, and Plácido Domingo from opera. However, their voices were very different. Domingo’s was powerful because he had to project in large theaters, while Aznavour’s was softer for the more intimate milieus he first played. They could not be brought together without a great deal of expensive rehearsal by a conductor willing to balance them.
Instead, it sounded like they or the managers negotiating their contracts had agreed each would sing a verse in his or her own style, and only come together one time on the final repetition. When they repeated the last line of each verse, instead of all three singing, only two could be heard on the recording.
The use of duets rather than trios reflected another problem with expecting three soloists to sing together: they all had voices that traditionally sang melody. She was a soprano, and the men were tenors. The operatic repertoire had a number of arias written for a soprano and tenor, but not many for two tenors. [5] When more than two were brought together, the other parts tended to have lower registers like altos for women or baritones and bassos for men. There were no clear precedents in any popular or classical genre for how these three parts could be joined.
Performers
Instrumental Accompaniment: Vienna State Opera orchestra conducted by Vjekoslav Šutej
Rhythm Accompaniment: plucked strings
Credits
Traditional West Indies
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation:
Norwegian: coom-bye-ya with accent on second syllable. She did not sing the final d’s in Lord.
Spanish: kum-ba-ya with accent on last syllable. He emphasized the final d’s in Lord.
French: kum-bye-ya with emphasis on second syllable. He did not sing the final g’s in laughing.
Pronoun: someone
Format: four-verse song
Line Repetition Pattern: AAABB
Line Format: statement-refrain
Verses: kumbaya, crying, laughing, singing
Theme: the song was used in a Christmas concert and on a Christmas collection.
Notes on Music
Tempo: slow
Vocal Parts: two tenors and a soprano (STT)
Basic Structure: each part was heard alone, then they were combined. Thus, she went high on the last line, and Domingo were low in ways that only made aesthetic sense when they were brought together.
Solo-Solo Dynamics: each sang the complete verse with minimal accompaniment, then repeated the last line with another singer. On Kyrkjebø’s first iteration Aznavour sang the last line with her. On Domingo’s second verse, Aznavour joined on the closing line. Aznavour sang the third solo while Kyrkjebø joined him on the final line.
Style:
Solo: each was free to embellish words of his or her choice. "By" was the syllable more often ornamented, and Lord the one that was likely to be sung on several tones.
Group: chordal harmony
Vocal-Orchestral Dynamics: a harp with an occasion piano embellishment were used with Kyrkjebø. The plucked strings began with Domingo; sometimes a choral group or a flute could be heard. Only the plucked strings played during Aznavour. Full strings were deployed on the final repetition.
Notes on Performance
The video of the performance no longer is available on YouTube. My recollection was that it was very formal with the two mean wearing white ties and black tuxedos. The three stood next to each other with a music stand in front of each, and each looked straight ahead. Everyone seemed very careful when they were singing.
Notes on Performers
All three had childhood singing experiences that would have made them comfortable singing a wide range of material: Kyrkjebø was in a children’s choir, [6] Domingo’s parents ran a small troupe that staged musical dramas, [7] and Aznavour’s parents operated a restaurant where he was discovered by Édith Piaf. [8] In addition, two were children of immigrants who had to accommodate themselves in new cultures: Aznavour’s family were Armenians who moved to Paris, [9] Domingo’s family migrated from Madrid to México when he was eight-years-old. [10]
Availability
Amazon MP3: Various artists. I’ll Be Home For Christmas. Sony Classical. 1 November 1998. You cannot buy just the one track; you have to buy the whole album.
YouTube: Vienna Noël 94 concert, Vienna State Opera, 22 December 1994. Uploaded 26 November 2012. It since has been removed.
End Notes
1. Neil Kurtzman. "The Recordings of Enrico Caruso 1902 – 1904." His Medicine and Opera blog, 14 January 2009.
2. Wikipedia. "Enrico Caruso."
3. Wikipedia, Caruso.
4. Serena. "‘O Sole Mio." Her Transparent Language blog, 18 June 2009. The melody for "’O Sole Mio" was by Eduardo di Capua, a professional posteggiatore. A journalist, Giovanni Capurro, wrote the lyrics.
5. The Opera-Arias online database found only twelve in the repertoire for a listing of "Opera Duets for Two Tenors." No doubt there are more, but, even if that database only included the most popular, twelve was still a small number.
6. Wikipedia. "Sissel Kyrkjebø."
7. Wikipedia. "Plácido Domingo." They had a zarzuela troupe.
8. Wikipedia. "Charles Aznavour." He worked with Piaf for years.
9. Wikipedia, Aznavour. His father moved from Georgia, his mother from Turkey.
10. Wikipedia, Domingo.
Antonín Dvorák may have been responsible for converting spirituals into motifs for classical composers, but Enrico Caruso was the one who created the image of the classical artist as man of the people able to sing both arias and popular songs. He had a voice that could be captured by early reproduction technology and was willing to make the necessary effort to learn how to make decent recordings. [1] Two of his most popular releases were "Santa Lucia" and "’O Sole Mio." [2]
He was unusual in his ability to sing both. Art song and folk song are different genres, and, as different forms, they have different internal rules for composition and make different demands on singers. While individuals can be trained to sing opera, their ability to sing folk or popular music often depends of they’re having been exposed to it when they were very young. Caruso grew up in working class Naples where he sometimes performed in cafés and resorts. [3] "’O Sole Mio" was written by a local café singer. [4]
The usual problem when individuals with highly trained voices sing folk material is they oversing it with their melliferous tones and precise enunciations. That was the less the problem with a 1994 Vienna concert that featured three soloists from different backgrounds than the fact the varying qualities of their voices threatened to overwhelm one another.
Each was accomplished in his or her field: Sissel Kyrkjebø was Norwegian popular singer, Charles Aznavour came from French clubs, and Plácido Domingo from opera. However, their voices were very different. Domingo’s was powerful because he had to project in large theaters, while Aznavour’s was softer for the more intimate milieus he first played. They could not be brought together without a great deal of expensive rehearsal by a conductor willing to balance them.
Instead, it sounded like they or the managers negotiating their contracts had agreed each would sing a verse in his or her own style, and only come together one time on the final repetition. When they repeated the last line of each verse, instead of all three singing, only two could be heard on the recording.
The use of duets rather than trios reflected another problem with expecting three soloists to sing together: they all had voices that traditionally sang melody. She was a soprano, and the men were tenors. The operatic repertoire had a number of arias written for a soprano and tenor, but not many for two tenors. [5] When more than two were brought together, the other parts tended to have lower registers like altos for women or baritones and bassos for men. There were no clear precedents in any popular or classical genre for how these three parts could be joined.
Performers
Instrumental Accompaniment: Vienna State Opera orchestra conducted by Vjekoslav Šutej
Rhythm Accompaniment: plucked strings
Credits
Traditional West Indies
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation:
Norwegian: coom-bye-ya with accent on second syllable. She did not sing the final d’s in Lord.
Spanish: kum-ba-ya with accent on last syllable. He emphasized the final d’s in Lord.
French: kum-bye-ya with emphasis on second syllable. He did not sing the final g’s in laughing.
Pronoun: someone
Format: four-verse song
Line Repetition Pattern: AAABB
Line Format: statement-refrain
Verses: kumbaya, crying, laughing, singing
Theme: the song was used in a Christmas concert and on a Christmas collection.
Notes on Music
Tempo: slow
Vocal Parts: two tenors and a soprano (STT)
Basic Structure: each part was heard alone, then they were combined. Thus, she went high on the last line, and Domingo were low in ways that only made aesthetic sense when they were brought together.
Solo-Solo Dynamics: each sang the complete verse with minimal accompaniment, then repeated the last line with another singer. On Kyrkjebø’s first iteration Aznavour sang the last line with her. On Domingo’s second verse, Aznavour joined on the closing line. Aznavour sang the third solo while Kyrkjebø joined him on the final line.
Style:
Solo: each was free to embellish words of his or her choice. "By" was the syllable more often ornamented, and Lord the one that was likely to be sung on several tones.
Group: chordal harmony
Vocal-Orchestral Dynamics: a harp with an occasion piano embellishment were used with Kyrkjebø. The plucked strings began with Domingo; sometimes a choral group or a flute could be heard. Only the plucked strings played during Aznavour. Full strings were deployed on the final repetition.
Notes on Performance
The video of the performance no longer is available on YouTube. My recollection was that it was very formal with the two mean wearing white ties and black tuxedos. The three stood next to each other with a music stand in front of each, and each looked straight ahead. Everyone seemed very careful when they were singing.
Notes on Performers
All three had childhood singing experiences that would have made them comfortable singing a wide range of material: Kyrkjebø was in a children’s choir, [6] Domingo’s parents ran a small troupe that staged musical dramas, [7] and Aznavour’s parents operated a restaurant where he was discovered by Édith Piaf. [8] In addition, two were children of immigrants who had to accommodate themselves in new cultures: Aznavour’s family were Armenians who moved to Paris, [9] Domingo’s family migrated from Madrid to México when he was eight-years-old. [10]
Availability
Amazon MP3: Various artists. I’ll Be Home For Christmas. Sony Classical. 1 November 1998. You cannot buy just the one track; you have to buy the whole album.
YouTube: Vienna Noël 94 concert, Vienna State Opera, 22 December 1994. Uploaded 26 November 2012. It since has been removed.
End Notes
1. Neil Kurtzman. "The Recordings of Enrico Caruso 1902 – 1904." His Medicine and Opera blog, 14 January 2009.
2. Wikipedia. "Enrico Caruso."
3. Wikipedia, Caruso.
4. Serena. "‘O Sole Mio." Her Transparent Language blog, 18 June 2009. The melody for "’O Sole Mio" was by Eduardo di Capua, a professional posteggiatore. A journalist, Giovanni Capurro, wrote the lyrics.
5. The Opera-Arias online database found only twelve in the repertoire for a listing of "Opera Duets for Two Tenors." No doubt there are more, but, even if that database only included the most popular, twelve was still a small number.
6. Wikipedia. "Sissel Kyrkjebø."
7. Wikipedia. "Plácido Domingo." They had a zarzuela troupe.
8. Wikipedia. "Charles Aznavour." He worked with Piaf for years.
9. Wikipedia, Aznavour. His father moved from Georgia, his mother from Turkey.
10. Wikipedia, Domingo.
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
Stephen M. Lee - Come by Here
Topic: Art Song
Harry Burleigh, mentioned in the last post, was more responsible than anyone else for introducing African-American spirituals into classical music. He began singing them as art songs in New York in the 1890s, [1] and published a setting for "Deep River" in 1917. [2] The Library of Congress noted:
"As his spiritual arrangements become increasingly popular with concert soloists, a tradition of concluding concerts with a set of spirituals was established." [3]
He was not shunning the original forms as reminders of slavery as so many then were. Indeed, he learned the songs from his grandfather who had purchased his freedom in Maryland in 1832. [4] Instead, he was trying to present an alternative to the stereotypes then rampant in vaudeville that ridiculed Blacks while coopting some of their musical forms. [5]
Stephen Lee created a program devoted to spirituals that began with a series of songs interspersed with readings. After a brief intermission the narrator provided a brief history of the genre, then the choir sang a series of more modern spirituals. The work grew out of a commission by the American Music Therapy Association in 2005. [6]
Performers
Spelman College Glee Club, Morehouse College Glee Club, Clark Atlanta University Philharmonic Society
Instrumental accompaniment: none
Rhythm accompaniment: African-style drum, men’s voices
Credits
© 2013 Stephen M Lee
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: accent on second syllable of kumbaya
Pronoun: somebody
Line repetition pattern: AAAB
Verses:
Come by here (repeated 4 times)
Somebody needs you
Kumbaya
Come by here
Notes on Music
Basic Structure: repetitions of the four-line melody with variations in roles of men’s chorus, and of male and female choruses. Men sang rhythm and women sang melody. The repetitions fell into two groups.
Group 1 repeated one verse by adding rhythms
Verse 1. Male group sang rhythmic "come by–pause–here–pause–my Lord–come by–here–Oh Lordy. The first and third lines were sung in unison; the second was in chordal harmony with the last phrase sung "Oh Lord of mercy" by men with higher voices.
Verse 2. The group singing rhythm was joined by a single African-style drum.
Verse 3. The vocal rhythm and drum were joined by men singing "ooh."
Group 2 once the melody was added the verses changed
Verse 4-5. The vocal rhythm and drum began. Then, the women joined them singing the melody.
Verse 6. The men began the rhythm on a higher note. Then men and women sang the kumbaya verse together in harmony.
Verse 7. Men sang rhythm, and men and women sang the melody in harmony. On the last line, each word was sustained.
Notes on Performance
According to the script released online, the program began with a soloist singing "Over My Head." Then the chorus entered singing "Come by Here."
The video only showed the cover of the CD. It provided no information on when or where it was recorded.
Notes on Performers
Lee was raised in Washington, D. C. He earned music degrees from Loyola University New Orleans and Morehouse College. He was living in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina struck, and relocated to Douglasville, Georgia. [7]
Availability
CD: Stand by Me. Portland: Oregon Catholic Press. 25 May 2013.
YouTube: uploaded by The Orchard Enterprises, 20 July 2014.
Narrator Script: Stand by Me. Portland: Oregon Catholic Press. 25 May 2013.
End Notes
1. Wikipedia. "Harry Burleigh."
2. "H. T. Burleigh (1866-1949)." Library of Congress website.
3. Library of Congress.
4. Wikipedia.
5. Jean E. Snyder. Harry T. Burleigh. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2016. Summary of chapter 16 published on Project Muse website.
6. "Stephen Lee." Oregon Catholic Press website.
7. Oregon Catholic Press.
Harry Burleigh, mentioned in the last post, was more responsible than anyone else for introducing African-American spirituals into classical music. He began singing them as art songs in New York in the 1890s, [1] and published a setting for "Deep River" in 1917. [2] The Library of Congress noted:
"As his spiritual arrangements become increasingly popular with concert soloists, a tradition of concluding concerts with a set of spirituals was established." [3]
He was not shunning the original forms as reminders of slavery as so many then were. Indeed, he learned the songs from his grandfather who had purchased his freedom in Maryland in 1832. [4] Instead, he was trying to present an alternative to the stereotypes then rampant in vaudeville that ridiculed Blacks while coopting some of their musical forms. [5]
Stephen Lee created a program devoted to spirituals that began with a series of songs interspersed with readings. After a brief intermission the narrator provided a brief history of the genre, then the choir sang a series of more modern spirituals. The work grew out of a commission by the American Music Therapy Association in 2005. [6]
Performers
Spelman College Glee Club, Morehouse College Glee Club, Clark Atlanta University Philharmonic Society
Instrumental accompaniment: none
Rhythm accompaniment: African-style drum, men’s voices
Credits
© 2013 Stephen M Lee
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: accent on second syllable of kumbaya
Pronoun: somebody
Line repetition pattern: AAAB
Verses:
Come by here (repeated 4 times)
Somebody needs you
Kumbaya
Come by here
Notes on Music
Basic Structure: repetitions of the four-line melody with variations in roles of men’s chorus, and of male and female choruses. Men sang rhythm and women sang melody. The repetitions fell into two groups.
Group 1 repeated one verse by adding rhythms
Verse 1. Male group sang rhythmic "come by–pause–here–pause–my Lord–come by–here–Oh Lordy. The first and third lines were sung in unison; the second was in chordal harmony with the last phrase sung "Oh Lord of mercy" by men with higher voices.
Verse 2. The group singing rhythm was joined by a single African-style drum.
Verse 3. The vocal rhythm and drum were joined by men singing "ooh."
Group 2 once the melody was added the verses changed
Verse 4-5. The vocal rhythm and drum began. Then, the women joined them singing the melody.
Verse 6. The men began the rhythm on a higher note. Then men and women sang the kumbaya verse together in harmony.
Verse 7. Men sang rhythm, and men and women sang the melody in harmony. On the last line, each word was sustained.
Notes on Performance
According to the script released online, the program began with a soloist singing "Over My Head." Then the chorus entered singing "Come by Here."
The video only showed the cover of the CD. It provided no information on when or where it was recorded.
Notes on Performers
Lee was raised in Washington, D. C. He earned music degrees from Loyola University New Orleans and Morehouse College. He was living in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina struck, and relocated to Douglasville, Georgia. [7]
Availability
CD: Stand by Me. Portland: Oregon Catholic Press. 25 May 2013.
YouTube: uploaded by The Orchard Enterprises, 20 July 2014.
Narrator Script: Stand by Me. Portland: Oregon Catholic Press. 25 May 2013.
End Notes
1. Wikipedia. "Harry Burleigh."
2. "H. T. Burleigh (1866-1949)." Library of Congress website.
3. Library of Congress.
4. Wikipedia.
5. Jean E. Snyder. Harry T. Burleigh. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2016. Summary of chapter 16 published on Project Muse website.
6. "Stephen Lee." Oregon Catholic Press website.
7. Oregon Catholic Press.
Monday, August 14, 2017
Cincinnati Pops Orchestra - Kumbaya
Topic: Art Song
The realization that distinct cultural groups who shared a common market town had different music traditions began dawning in the middle-1700s in England. Prior to this there was a general recognition the arts of the court differed from those of the people, the populus.
The career of Franz Josef Haydn reflected the emergence of commercial non-court traditions. He managed the music for the court of Nikolaus Esterházy from 1761 until his death in 1790. His heir reduced the money he spent on art and Haydn needed to find a new audience. [1] He began incorporating folk and folklike elements into his orchestral music. He introduced these innovations when he visited the center of the Hanoverian court in London between 1792 and 1795. [2]
Haydn’s concerts in London for the rising middle class coincided with the emergence of Napoléon. After Bonaparte destroyed the Holy Roman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and emerging Prussian empires fought to fill the vacuum. Intellectuals from principalities that were being absorbed resisted by glorifying their groups’ traditions. Some composers began creating orchestrations of folk songs, and others followed Haydn by incorporating folk motifs into their more formal compositions.
Bohemian Antonín Dvorák produced Three Slavonic Rhapsodies in 1878, and a Polanaise in 1879. While he was in the United States, he heard a Black baritone, Henry Thacker Burleigh, sing "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." The flute theme in the adagio first movement of his ninth symphony of 1893, From the New World, quoted it. [3]
American composers like Virgil Thompson [4] and Aaron Copland [5] started using folk melodies in their works in the middle-1930s. However, unlike Dvorák who made brief allusions in his New World symphony, they essentially created orchestrations of folk songs within the framework of their film scores and ballets. This literal use has characterized the way later classical composers treated traditional music: they tended to make tone poems that told stories like Jean Sibelius’s "Finlandia" of 1900.
The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra recorded "Kumbaya" in 2015. It must have been included in the program of Stephen Foster music to broaden the representation of American music. Because spirituals were created before the Civil War, the music first had to evoke that period. Ever since Ken Burns’ 1990 documentary on the war [6] that has been a single fiddle and muffled drum.’
The orchestra needed to convey another piece of information: spirituals were the creation of African slaves. Therefore, the work needed African elements, which meant drums, although they were the one instrument generally forbidden on plantations. The symphony employed a djembé. [7]
Performers
Soloists: Timothy Lees, Kathryn Woolley, Gabriel Pegis, Scott Mozlin, all violinists
Instrumental Accompaniment: Cincinnati Pops Orchestra conducted by John Morris Russell
Rhythm Accompaniment: Richard Jensen, djembé
Credit
Traditional
Arr. Timothy Berens
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Basic Structure: repetitions of the four-line melody with increasingly more instruments.
1. Single violin with plucked strings sounding like a muffled drum
1 End. Djembé begin repetitions after end of repetition
2. Single violin with djembé and plucked strings
2 End. Strings pulse in time between repetitions
3. Single violin with djembé and strings playing rhythmic figures
4. One violin and second playing a counterpart; djembé and strings continue
4 End. Strings repeat the last line three times, the second time slower and softer; the third time slower and by-lower pitched instruments
5. More violins
6. Several violins begin on a higher note and play faster
6 End. Repetitions of final melodic line slower and with fully chords. Then, djembé solo
Notes on Performers
The arranger, Timothy Berens, went to school in suburban Dayton [8] and graduated from the University of Cincinnati’s Conservatory of Music in 1983. [9] He began with the symphony as a guitar player, and became their principal arranger in the late 1990s. [10]
Richard Jensen played djembé. He grew up in Seattle where he studied with the local symphony’s percussionist. He began working for the Cincinnati Pops in 1972, and later graduated from the Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. [11]
As would be obvious from their names, both men were white.
Availability
CD: American Originals. Recorded January 2015; released 11 September 2015. [12]
YouTube: uploaded by NAXOS of America, 12 September 2015.
End Notes
1. Wikipedia. "Joseph Haydn."
2. Patricia Averill. Camp Songs, Folk Songs. 46. The London symphonies were numbered 93-104.
3. Harry Thacker Burleigh. Quoted by "African American Influences." Dvorak American Heritage Association website.
4. Virgil Thompson. The Plow That Broke the Plains. Score, 1936.
5. Aaron Copeland. Billy the Kid, 1938; Rodeo, 1942, and Appalachian Spring, 1944.
6. Ken Burns. The Civil War. PBS miniseries, 23-27 September 1990.
7. A djembé was a goblet drum popularized by the Guinea dance troupe, Les Ballets Africains. (Wikipedia. "Djembe.")
8. "Bio." Tim Berens website.
9. "About Tim Berens." Facebook.
10. Berens website.
11. "Richard Jensen." Northern Kentucky University website.
12. "American Originals Album." Cincinnati Pops website.
The realization that distinct cultural groups who shared a common market town had different music traditions began dawning in the middle-1700s in England. Prior to this there was a general recognition the arts of the court differed from those of the people, the populus.
The career of Franz Josef Haydn reflected the emergence of commercial non-court traditions. He managed the music for the court of Nikolaus Esterházy from 1761 until his death in 1790. His heir reduced the money he spent on art and Haydn needed to find a new audience. [1] He began incorporating folk and folklike elements into his orchestral music. He introduced these innovations when he visited the center of the Hanoverian court in London between 1792 and 1795. [2]
Haydn’s concerts in London for the rising middle class coincided with the emergence of Napoléon. After Bonaparte destroyed the Holy Roman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and emerging Prussian empires fought to fill the vacuum. Intellectuals from principalities that were being absorbed resisted by glorifying their groups’ traditions. Some composers began creating orchestrations of folk songs, and others followed Haydn by incorporating folk motifs into their more formal compositions.
Bohemian Antonín Dvorák produced Three Slavonic Rhapsodies in 1878, and a Polanaise in 1879. While he was in the United States, he heard a Black baritone, Henry Thacker Burleigh, sing "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." The flute theme in the adagio first movement of his ninth symphony of 1893, From the New World, quoted it. [3]
American composers like Virgil Thompson [4] and Aaron Copland [5] started using folk melodies in their works in the middle-1930s. However, unlike Dvorák who made brief allusions in his New World symphony, they essentially created orchestrations of folk songs within the framework of their film scores and ballets. This literal use has characterized the way later classical composers treated traditional music: they tended to make tone poems that told stories like Jean Sibelius’s "Finlandia" of 1900.
The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra recorded "Kumbaya" in 2015. It must have been included in the program of Stephen Foster music to broaden the representation of American music. Because spirituals were created before the Civil War, the music first had to evoke that period. Ever since Ken Burns’ 1990 documentary on the war [6] that has been a single fiddle and muffled drum.’
The orchestra needed to convey another piece of information: spirituals were the creation of African slaves. Therefore, the work needed African elements, which meant drums, although they were the one instrument generally forbidden on plantations. The symphony employed a djembé. [7]
Performers
Soloists: Timothy Lees, Kathryn Woolley, Gabriel Pegis, Scott Mozlin, all violinists
Instrumental Accompaniment: Cincinnati Pops Orchestra conducted by John Morris Russell
Rhythm Accompaniment: Richard Jensen, djembé
Credit
Traditional
Arr. Timothy Berens
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Basic Structure: repetitions of the four-line melody with increasingly more instruments.
1. Single violin with plucked strings sounding like a muffled drum
1 End. Djembé begin repetitions after end of repetition
2. Single violin with djembé and plucked strings
2 End. Strings pulse in time between repetitions
3. Single violin with djembé and strings playing rhythmic figures
4. One violin and second playing a counterpart; djembé and strings continue
4 End. Strings repeat the last line three times, the second time slower and softer; the third time slower and by-lower pitched instruments
5. More violins
6. Several violins begin on a higher note and play faster
6 End. Repetitions of final melodic line slower and with fully chords. Then, djembé solo
Notes on Performers
The arranger, Timothy Berens, went to school in suburban Dayton [8] and graduated from the University of Cincinnati’s Conservatory of Music in 1983. [9] He began with the symphony as a guitar player, and became their principal arranger in the late 1990s. [10]
Richard Jensen played djembé. He grew up in Seattle where he studied with the local symphony’s percussionist. He began working for the Cincinnati Pops in 1972, and later graduated from the Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. [11]
As would be obvious from their names, both men were white.
Availability
CD: American Originals. Recorded January 2015; released 11 September 2015. [12]
YouTube: uploaded by NAXOS of America, 12 September 2015.
End Notes
1. Wikipedia. "Joseph Haydn."
2. Patricia Averill. Camp Songs, Folk Songs. 46. The London symphonies were numbered 93-104.
3. Harry Thacker Burleigh. Quoted by "African American Influences." Dvorak American Heritage Association website.
4. Virgil Thompson. The Plow That Broke the Plains. Score, 1936.
5. Aaron Copeland. Billy the Kid, 1938; Rodeo, 1942, and Appalachian Spring, 1944.
6. Ken Burns. The Civil War. PBS miniseries, 23-27 September 1990.
7. A djembé was a goblet drum popularized by the Guinea dance troupe, Les Ballets Africains. (Wikipedia. "Djembe.")
8. "Bio." Tim Berens website.
9. "About Tim Berens." Facebook.
10. Berens website.
11. "Richard Jensen." Northern Kentucky University website.
12. "American Originals Album." Cincinnati Pops website.
Saturday, August 12, 2017
Bolton Brothers - Come by Here
Topic: Religious Uses
The Bolton Brothers used memories of their mother to introduce "Come by Here" to a revival audience in a Decatur, Georgia, Baptist church:
"We’d be down on the mourning bench. [Names individuals] and my momma. They would all gather ’round us. And they would sing the old song."
Mourning benches were popularized in New York state by Charles Finney, a nineteenth-century Presbyterian evangelist who applied methods of mass persuasion to the pulpit. He revived the fiery rhetorical techniques of the Calvinist divines of New England to scare people. Then he directed his attention to particular individuals to shame them before their neighbors for not heeding his call to come to the altar and commit themselves to Christ before their eyes. Once individuals had come forward to his anxious seat, he and his aides verbally worked them over to break their spirit. Once humiliated and begging for forgiveness, they were accepted. Then, of course, being Presbyterians, they had to undergo indoctrination in the creeds of the church to become full members. [1]
The altar call and anxious seat were quickly adopted by camp meetings, including ones held by Baptists who did not have the same commitment to scriptural knowledge as evidence of salvation. They had spread to parts of the South by 1836 when Alexander Campbell reported the thoughts of another revival Presbyterian on the validity of baptisms given in what would become West Virginia to individuals who had not fully repented. He thought:
"little or no confidence is to be placed in the Baptist mourning bench, camp-meeting, and revival converts. He regards them as drawn more by passion than by faith; and should they ever afterwards come to believe on the proper testimony, they ought to be re-immersed." [2]
The Dictionary of American Regional English map for the term "mourner’s bench" showed the term became most popular in South Carolina and in states in the Mississippi river drainage, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Kentucky. [3] In the Boltons’ church in southeastern Mississippi, "Come by Here" was used to ask the Lord to help bringing about conversions.
Performers
Soloists: James Bolton, Ray Bolton, L. W. Bolton, Jr.
Vocal accompaniment: Byrone Bolton, Paul Bolton, Cedric King, and New Hope Baptist Church Choir, Powder Springs, Georgia
Instrumental accompaniment: Jerry Bolton, keyboard; Chris Hatchett, keyboard (piano); Keith Brumfield, organ; Tony Gibbs, electric bass; Undra Watts, electric guitar
Rhythm accompaniment: Hand claps by choir and audience; Shawn Williams, drum set
Note: CD, and probably the YouTube, has dubbing and mixing, including for the choir
Credits
James Bolton, ASCAP
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronoun: somebody
General Format: prelude-denouement
Line Form: statement-refrain
Prelude
Form: one man sang two AAAB verses and a second man sang one. A third brother varied each line to A1A2A3B. The choir sang "come by here." The verses requested the presence of the Lord with come by here, somebody’s praying, and variations on we need your power.
Transition
Form: instrumental interlude.
Denouement
Form: the choir sang "Oh Lord" over and over" while two brothers took turns singing fragments of lines or just sang "Oh." These brief phrases indicated the Spirit was present.
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-5
Tempo: upbeat
Basic Structure: call-response and group accented by the soloist
Solo-Solo Dynamics: each brother sang alone. They made eye contact, but only one time did two of them sing together, and that was on an "Oh" in the denouement. There were instrumental sections between each verse, so musicians had no need to make transitions from one singer’s style to the next.
Solo-Group Dynamics:
Prelude: on the first three lines of the verse, the soloist sang the statement and the choir followed with "come by here." On the last line, the soloist sang "Oh" and they finished "Lord come by here."
Denouement: the choir sang "Oh Lord" over and over, without stopping. The soloist either sang "Oh," "Oh Lord," or part of a line like "calling on you name." Most of the time one or the other brother sang something at the beginning of every phrase. Toward the end, the opening singer skipped some phrases and let the choir keep repeating its part.
Choir singing style: chordal harmony.
Vocal-Orchestral Dynamics: the brothers used a local choir and may have used some local musicians. They no doubt rehearsed, but still needed coordination during the performance. One brother, the one who introduced the song and sang the first two verses, used the expression "here we go" when he transferred the lead to his other brothers. He used the expression again at the end of the instrumental-movement transition to signal the choir and instrumentalists to change to the denouement. At the end of the last part, he used a hand signal to indicate the choir should sing the last line. Then he turned to the accompanists to direct the final notes.
The choir director often was turned towards the brothers, with his back to his choir, to pick up the necessary cues for his group. He used his body to keep them together, both by stepping and by clapping.
Notes on Performance
The Bolton Brothers’ performance was at a revival held by the New Beginning Full Gospel Baptists Church. [4] The founder, James H. Morton, was raised in Windsor, Canada, and spent time with C. L. Franklin in Detroit. [5] His church purchased an existing religious complex in 1994; the renovated sanctuary seated 2,300. [6]
The Bolton Brothers wore mustard-yellow suits with white shirts and handkerchiefs. They did not wear ties. The tops their shirts were open, but their jackets were buttoned. The choir and musicians wore black; some men were in turtlenecks; most of the women were in dresses.
Introduction: at the end of each phrase, the organ would sustain a chord. The pronunciations of the names with the pauses was reminiscent of some routines by Jerry Clower. The white country-music comedian was from the Mississippi delta, and the linguistic patterns probably were regional.
Prelude: the choir began clapping as soon as the music started, and the brothers started bending their knees. An instrumental break separated each verse during which the brothers moved and the choir clapped.
Transition: a longer instrumental break with coordinated movements by the brothers. The choir continued clapping.
Denouement: no instrumental breaks; the choir’s repetitions of "Oh Lord" were unceasing. They continued clapping and the brothers continued bending their knees.
Notes on Movement
The Bolton Brothers stood in a line, with the solist turning in different directions and often bending forward from the waist while he was singing. While they were singing, the men bent their knees as they stepped from side to side, giving a visual, but not an actual, bounce to the move. During the instrumental break, they bent their knees twice, then rotated on their heels to bend their knees twice facing right. They then rotated 180 degrees on their heels to bend their knees once facing left, then rotated back to face front.
The choir clapped throughout. Instead of slapping their hands into a praying position, one hand was held palm up, and the other was brought down onto it. Some switched the position every few claps, and some less often. Even when the hands were nearly upright, the clap was one coming down on the other. The hand switches did not affect the clap rhythm, even though they added to the complexity of the motion.
Notes on Audience
While the Bolton Brothers were singing, members of the audience were singing with the choir or stepping. As the song continued, some men began dancing in place. During the instrumental break, some in front moved forward and began dancing in the open area before the stage. The most innovative was a young man, but an older woman also shuffled about. Most wore suits or dresses.
Viewers’ Perceptions
In addition to comments praising the group or Christ, some on YouTube talked about the song itself. One said:
"my dad would always sing this song around the house. He died back in 1983. I was 13 years old then.
"Today I sing this song in our small church way back in Abq, NM. Some good old southern gospel, revival stompin’ Holy Ghost feelin’ shouten." [7]
Another remembered: "Come by here dear lord come by if u don’t stay long love this song since I’ve heard it in my lovely church glorious church of god newton North Carolina founded by Ethel Ramseur and her family." [8]
Notes on Performers
Linwood Bolton, was a Baptist minister in McLain Mississippi, and so were all eight of his sons. [9]. One of his twelve daughters, Ruthie, played on Olympic basketball teams. [10] The brothers began performing in Hattiesburg in 1976, and recorded their first live album in 1996. [11]
Availability
CD: Revival in Atlanta. Blackberry Records BBD-1632. New Beginning Full Gospel Church, Decatur, Georgia, 21 August 2001.
YouTube: VHS. Uploaded by Pannellctp Traditional Gospel Music on 15 May 2012.
End Notes
1. Charles G. Finney. Revival Lectures. Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1835.
2. "Re-immersion and Brother Thomas." The Millennial Harbinger 7:56-58:February 1836. 58. Campbell later formed the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Immersed refers to baptism.
3. "Mourners’ Bench." In Frederic G. Cassidy. Dictionary of American Regional English. On-line edition on University of Wisconsin website.
4. New Beginning Full Gospel Baptists Church, Decatur. "Church History." Its website. 2016.
5. New Beginning FGBC. "Bishop James H. Morton."
6. New Beginning FGBC, History.
7. NDN. Comment. YouTube, March 2017.
8. Luis. Comment. YouTube, 8 August 2017.
9. Obituary for Paul Bolton, 18 October 2013. GenLookUps website.
10. "Ruthie Bolton Boyd Childress." Encyclopedia of Alabama website.
11. Charlotte Dillon. "The Bolton Brothers." All Music website.
The Bolton Brothers used memories of their mother to introduce "Come by Here" to a revival audience in a Decatur, Georgia, Baptist church:
"We’d be down on the mourning bench. [Names individuals] and my momma. They would all gather ’round us. And they would sing the old song."
Mourning benches were popularized in New York state by Charles Finney, a nineteenth-century Presbyterian evangelist who applied methods of mass persuasion to the pulpit. He revived the fiery rhetorical techniques of the Calvinist divines of New England to scare people. Then he directed his attention to particular individuals to shame them before their neighbors for not heeding his call to come to the altar and commit themselves to Christ before their eyes. Once individuals had come forward to his anxious seat, he and his aides verbally worked them over to break their spirit. Once humiliated and begging for forgiveness, they were accepted. Then, of course, being Presbyterians, they had to undergo indoctrination in the creeds of the church to become full members. [1]
The altar call and anxious seat were quickly adopted by camp meetings, including ones held by Baptists who did not have the same commitment to scriptural knowledge as evidence of salvation. They had spread to parts of the South by 1836 when Alexander Campbell reported the thoughts of another revival Presbyterian on the validity of baptisms given in what would become West Virginia to individuals who had not fully repented. He thought:
"little or no confidence is to be placed in the Baptist mourning bench, camp-meeting, and revival converts. He regards them as drawn more by passion than by faith; and should they ever afterwards come to believe on the proper testimony, they ought to be re-immersed." [2]
The Dictionary of American Regional English map for the term "mourner’s bench" showed the term became most popular in South Carolina and in states in the Mississippi river drainage, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Kentucky. [3] In the Boltons’ church in southeastern Mississippi, "Come by Here" was used to ask the Lord to help bringing about conversions.
Performers
Soloists: James Bolton, Ray Bolton, L. W. Bolton, Jr.
Vocal accompaniment: Byrone Bolton, Paul Bolton, Cedric King, and New Hope Baptist Church Choir, Powder Springs, Georgia
Instrumental accompaniment: Jerry Bolton, keyboard; Chris Hatchett, keyboard (piano); Keith Brumfield, organ; Tony Gibbs, electric bass; Undra Watts, electric guitar
Rhythm accompaniment: Hand claps by choir and audience; Shawn Williams, drum set
Note: CD, and probably the YouTube, has dubbing and mixing, including for the choir
Credits
James Bolton, ASCAP
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronoun: somebody
General Format: prelude-denouement
Line Form: statement-refrain
Prelude
Form: one man sang two AAAB verses and a second man sang one. A third brother varied each line to A1A2A3B. The choir sang "come by here." The verses requested the presence of the Lord with come by here, somebody’s praying, and variations on we need your power.
Transition
Form: instrumental interlude.
Denouement
Form: the choir sang "Oh Lord" over and over" while two brothers took turns singing fragments of lines or just sang "Oh." These brief phrases indicated the Spirit was present.
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-5
Tempo: upbeat
Basic Structure: call-response and group accented by the soloist
Solo-Solo Dynamics: each brother sang alone. They made eye contact, but only one time did two of them sing together, and that was on an "Oh" in the denouement. There were instrumental sections between each verse, so musicians had no need to make transitions from one singer’s style to the next.
Solo-Group Dynamics:
Prelude: on the first three lines of the verse, the soloist sang the statement and the choir followed with "come by here." On the last line, the soloist sang "Oh" and they finished "Lord come by here."
Denouement: the choir sang "Oh Lord" over and over, without stopping. The soloist either sang "Oh," "Oh Lord," or part of a line like "calling on you name." Most of the time one or the other brother sang something at the beginning of every phrase. Toward the end, the opening singer skipped some phrases and let the choir keep repeating its part.
Choir singing style: chordal harmony.
Vocal-Orchestral Dynamics: the brothers used a local choir and may have used some local musicians. They no doubt rehearsed, but still needed coordination during the performance. One brother, the one who introduced the song and sang the first two verses, used the expression "here we go" when he transferred the lead to his other brothers. He used the expression again at the end of the instrumental-movement transition to signal the choir and instrumentalists to change to the denouement. At the end of the last part, he used a hand signal to indicate the choir should sing the last line. Then he turned to the accompanists to direct the final notes.
The choir director often was turned towards the brothers, with his back to his choir, to pick up the necessary cues for his group. He used his body to keep them together, both by stepping and by clapping.
Notes on Performance
The Bolton Brothers’ performance was at a revival held by the New Beginning Full Gospel Baptists Church. [4] The founder, James H. Morton, was raised in Windsor, Canada, and spent time with C. L. Franklin in Detroit. [5] His church purchased an existing religious complex in 1994; the renovated sanctuary seated 2,300. [6]
The Bolton Brothers wore mustard-yellow suits with white shirts and handkerchiefs. They did not wear ties. The tops their shirts were open, but their jackets were buttoned. The choir and musicians wore black; some men were in turtlenecks; most of the women were in dresses.
Introduction: at the end of each phrase, the organ would sustain a chord. The pronunciations of the names with the pauses was reminiscent of some routines by Jerry Clower. The white country-music comedian was from the Mississippi delta, and the linguistic patterns probably were regional.
Prelude: the choir began clapping as soon as the music started, and the brothers started bending their knees. An instrumental break separated each verse during which the brothers moved and the choir clapped.
Transition: a longer instrumental break with coordinated movements by the brothers. The choir continued clapping.
Denouement: no instrumental breaks; the choir’s repetitions of "Oh Lord" were unceasing. They continued clapping and the brothers continued bending their knees.
Notes on Movement
The Bolton Brothers stood in a line, with the solist turning in different directions and often bending forward from the waist while he was singing. While they were singing, the men bent their knees as they stepped from side to side, giving a visual, but not an actual, bounce to the move. During the instrumental break, they bent their knees twice, then rotated on their heels to bend their knees twice facing right. They then rotated 180 degrees on their heels to bend their knees once facing left, then rotated back to face front.
The choir clapped throughout. Instead of slapping their hands into a praying position, one hand was held palm up, and the other was brought down onto it. Some switched the position every few claps, and some less often. Even when the hands were nearly upright, the clap was one coming down on the other. The hand switches did not affect the clap rhythm, even though they added to the complexity of the motion.
Notes on Audience
While the Bolton Brothers were singing, members of the audience were singing with the choir or stepping. As the song continued, some men began dancing in place. During the instrumental break, some in front moved forward and began dancing in the open area before the stage. The most innovative was a young man, but an older woman also shuffled about. Most wore suits or dresses.
Viewers’ Perceptions
In addition to comments praising the group or Christ, some on YouTube talked about the song itself. One said:
"my dad would always sing this song around the house. He died back in 1983. I was 13 years old then.
"Today I sing this song in our small church way back in Abq, NM. Some good old southern gospel, revival stompin’ Holy Ghost feelin’ shouten." [7]
Another remembered: "Come by here dear lord come by if u don’t stay long love this song since I’ve heard it in my lovely church glorious church of god newton North Carolina founded by Ethel Ramseur and her family." [8]
Notes on Performers
Linwood Bolton, was a Baptist minister in McLain Mississippi, and so were all eight of his sons. [9]. One of his twelve daughters, Ruthie, played on Olympic basketball teams. [10] The brothers began performing in Hattiesburg in 1976, and recorded their first live album in 1996. [11]
Availability
CD: Revival in Atlanta. Blackberry Records BBD-1632. New Beginning Full Gospel Church, Decatur, Georgia, 21 August 2001.
YouTube: VHS. Uploaded by Pannellctp Traditional Gospel Music on 15 May 2012.
End Notes
1. Charles G. Finney. Revival Lectures. Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1835.
2. "Re-immersion and Brother Thomas." The Millennial Harbinger 7:56-58:February 1836. 58. Campbell later formed the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Immersed refers to baptism.
3. "Mourners’ Bench." In Frederic G. Cassidy. Dictionary of American Regional English. On-line edition on University of Wisconsin website.
4. New Beginning Full Gospel Baptists Church, Decatur. "Church History." Its website. 2016.
5. New Beginning FGBC. "Bishop James H. Morton."
6. New Beginning FGBC, History.
7. NDN. Comment. YouTube, March 2017.
8. Luis. Comment. YouTube, 8 August 2017.
9. Obituary for Paul Bolton, 18 October 2013. GenLookUps website.
10. "Ruthie Bolton Boyd Childress." Encyclopedia of Alabama website.
11. Charlotte Dillon. "The Bolton Brothers." All Music website.
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