Posted on 09/09/2012 7:19:11 AM PDT by WXRGina
The choir was accompanied by organist George Broadbent and Rudy Atwood, a famous gospel pianist. My mother said she had seen Atwood carry on a conversation while playing a song on the piano.
Most of their repertoire consisted of postbellum American Protestant hymns and gospel songs written or co-written by Phillip Paul Bliss, Fanny Crosby, William Kirkpatrick, Lelia Morris, James McGranahan, Ira Sankey and other great hymn writers. H. Leland Green (1907-1984), the choir director, also wrote a few hymns of his own.
‘The “Africanization” of music. All rhythm, no melody or intellectual structure.
The article’s author was just too polite to state that — and had to dance around it with a symphony of words.’
I’m afraid you didn’t really understand me at all. You obviously have your own opinions, but I don’t agree with him. Rather than taking my meaning, you read your own meaning into what I wrote. I am not dancing around anything. The so-called “Africanization” of music in America is what produced Jazz, a uniquely American form of music, which I happen to love. Any musicologist who has studied Jazz will tell you it is a highly developed, intellectual form, which employs sophisticated melodic and harmonic elements, in addition to rhythm.
Let me add also that I do not automatically hate music that has a driving beat. I like a variety of musical styles and forms, including music with a strong beat. My comment that song has become less melodically derived than beat-driven doesn’t mean I am opposed to music with a beat. Apparently, some readers have little use for critical thought. They simply jump to their own conclusions, without regard to what a writer has actually written.
I happen to love the musical influences that came from Africa. The contribution of many timeless “Africanized” melodies, particularly in the pentatonic scale, have deeply enriched popular secular music of the mid twentieth century. And the “Negro Spiritual” has greatly influenced sacred choral literature. Though I am not black, I have sung in a black gospel choir, and frankly found that musical and spiritual experience to be as profound as any classical choral music I’ve ever sung.
Mike, you’re the music meister! You are very knowledgeable! :-)
That was a long-running, very successful ministry, blessed by the Lord.
In his book The Soul of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches (Chicago: McClung, 1903), W. E. B. Du Bois wrote that the Negro spiritual was the only art form that originated in America. Of course, it's a safe bet that he never saw a Navajo sand painting, and jazz and blues were a few years in the future.
It was, indeed. Around 1950, the Rev. Charles E. Fuller stated that the Old Fashioned Revival Hour broadcast would end with his retirement or death and that nothing would remain of it except a few phonograph records. Little did he know that it would continue in cyberspace long after his death in 1968.
Right! How could Dr. Fuller have imagined the Internet? :-)
Black and Tan Fantasie--Duke Ellington & His Orchestra, 1928
What a great example! I love it. The music is telling a story. Thanks so much.
If you like Shirley Bassey, take a look at this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ouI5KcyHfE
The kicker? In spite of the intentionally retro video, this is from 2007.
I love it! There’s a classic R & B formula—works every time it’s tried! :-)
It’s good to see some people still playing the “older” sounds today.
Thanks for posting this, Rastus!
You may have noticed the statement about the video that it was shot with two old TV cameras from the fifties (that cost $50 on ebay), which gave it an authentic vintage look. Really amazing... and timeless.
There’s some good music being made today, but you have to look far and wide for it. I’ve actually pretty much stopped trying, but I sometimes stumble upon a gem.
I missed that part, but it surely worked well! I just assumed they filmed it and added the modern "effects" to make it look old. But the old cameras--that's neat-o!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.