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There's a kind of music that resonates | 0:00:07 | 0:00:10 | |
with a story of exploitation and suffering. | 0:00:10 | 0:00:13 | |
But also of courage and salvation. | 0:00:15 | 0:00:18 | |
This week I look back at one of the principle roots of popular music | 0:00:25 | 0:00:29 | |
and introduce some of the most inspiring of all songs of praise. | 0:00:29 | 0:00:33 | |
'African-American spirituals | 0:00:36 | 0:00:37 | |
'are sublimely sung for us | 0:00:37 | 0:00:40 | |
'by the Adventist Vocal Ensemble, | 0:00:40 | 0:00:42 | |
'Tessera | 0:00:42 | 0:00:44 | |
'and new talent Jeharna South, | 0:00:44 | 0:00:45 | |
'and I meet experts | 0:00:45 | 0:00:47 | |
'who regard these wonderful songs as having lasting significance.' | 0:00:47 | 0:00:50 | |
It's the music of being an African-American, | 0:01:01 | 0:01:06 | |
being a black American, being a descendant of enslaved peoples, | 0:01:06 | 0:01:09 | |
it is the music. | 0:01:09 | 0:01:10 | |
Spirituals were born in slavery but they transcended slavery, | 0:01:12 | 0:01:17 | |
they came out of slavery and they rose above it, | 0:01:17 | 0:01:20 | |
and they created hope out of hopeless circumstances. | 0:01:20 | 0:01:24 | |
They are beautifully crafted and they take you on a journey | 0:01:25 | 0:01:30 | |
and that enables you to transcend this world. | 0:01:30 | 0:01:33 | |
We're going to hear some of the finest spirituals | 0:01:36 | 0:01:38 | |
sung in the splendid surroundings of St John at Hackney Church | 0:01:38 | 0:01:42 | |
and we begin with an all-time favourite. | 0:01:42 | 0:01:45 | |
The story of spirituals begins in the 16th century | 0:03:33 | 0:03:36 | |
when millions of Africans were forcibly shipped across the Atlantic | 0:03:36 | 0:03:41 | |
to the Americas. | 0:03:41 | 0:03:42 | |
And these people were transported on ships, | 0:03:42 | 0:03:46 | |
stacked up like pieces of wood at the bottom of the ship | 0:03:46 | 0:03:51 | |
and brought over to the United States, | 0:03:51 | 0:03:54 | |
to the Caribbean. | 0:03:54 | 0:03:56 | |
These people were counted as assets, the way you would count | 0:03:57 | 0:04:01 | |
a house or a car, or an animal. | 0:04:01 | 0:04:05 | |
Your slaves were your wealth. | 0:04:05 | 0:04:09 | |
So you're thrown into this hole | 0:04:10 | 0:04:12 | |
and you have to figure out how to dialogue with one another | 0:04:12 | 0:04:16 | |
and one of the ways that you do is through music. | 0:04:16 | 0:04:19 | |
You use music as a way of being able to communicate, | 0:04:19 | 0:04:23 | |
as a way of soothing each other | 0:04:23 | 0:04:26 | |
and as a way of saying, "We're going to survive." | 0:04:26 | 0:04:30 | |
And like any human being, | 0:04:30 | 0:04:32 | |
these people had to find some way of healing themselves inside | 0:04:32 | 0:04:38 | |
so they could keep going. | 0:04:38 | 0:04:40 | |
# Nobody knows... # | 0:07:53 | 0:07:56 | |
'Spirituals have always been an important part of the repertoire | 0:07:56 | 0:08:00 | |
'of the Adventist Vocal Ensemble.' | 0:08:00 | 0:08:03 | |
# Nobody knows the trouble... # | 0:08:03 | 0:08:07 | |
Could you tell us the distinctive qualities | 0:08:07 | 0:08:10 | |
that spirituals have that make them identifiably different | 0:08:10 | 0:08:13 | |
to any other music. | 0:08:13 | 0:08:14 | |
It's very much this element of call and response | 0:08:14 | 0:08:17 | |
that is very, very central to spirituals. | 0:08:17 | 0:08:19 | |
What's the meaning of that? What is call and response? | 0:08:19 | 0:08:21 | |
"Swing low, sweet chariot" is a call phrase. | 0:08:21 | 0:08:24 | |
-For example, if we have... -KEN PLAYS PIANO CHORDS | 0:08:24 | 0:08:26 | |
# Swing low, sweet chariot... # | 0:08:26 | 0:08:28 | |
-That's the call? -That's a call. | 0:08:28 | 0:08:30 | |
# Coming for to carry me home | 0:08:30 | 0:08:32 | |
# Swing low, sweet chariot | 0:08:32 | 0:08:34 | |
# Coming for to carry me home. # | 0:08:34 | 0:08:35 | |
You have these different lyrics... | 0:08:35 | 0:08:37 | |
# I looked over Jordan and what did I see...? # | 0:08:37 | 0:08:39 | |
Response. | 0:08:39 | 0:08:40 | |
# Coming for to carry me home | 0:08:40 | 0:08:43 | |
# There's a band of angels coming after me | 0:08:43 | 0:08:46 | |
# Coming for to carry me home. # | 0:08:46 | 0:08:50 | |
-And what's...? -I want to be on your next single. | 0:08:50 | 0:08:52 | |
-THEY LAUGH -Done! So was this the first form of music | 0:08:52 | 0:08:56 | |
to feature call and response extensively? | 0:08:56 | 0:08:59 | |
Well, music is a universal language, | 0:08:59 | 0:09:01 | |
so call and response you will find if you look at the Psalms - | 0:09:01 | 0:09:04 | |
"O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercies endure for ever", | 0:09:04 | 0:09:08 | |
and you see practices right across the world of call and response | 0:09:08 | 0:09:13 | |
and of different types of scales being used. | 0:09:13 | 0:09:16 | |
One of the central elements of spirituals is a pentatonic scale. | 0:09:16 | 0:09:20 | |
-What is that? -Pentatonic scale - "pent" meaning "five"... -Yes. | 0:09:20 | 0:09:23 | |
If we use as our reference point the Sound Of Music - | 0:09:23 | 0:09:27 | |
# Do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do. # | 0:09:27 | 0:09:29 | |
-Yes. -If we take... | 0:09:29 | 0:09:31 | |
# Do-re-mi... | 0:09:31 | 0:09:32 | |
# Sol-fa... # | 0:09:32 | 0:09:34 | |
KEN PLAYS MATCHING SCALE ON PIANO | 0:09:34 | 0:09:36 | |
Pentatonic scale is a universal scale | 0:09:37 | 0:09:39 | |
used a lot in folk music, such as... | 0:09:39 | 0:09:41 | |
HE PLAYS A SPRIGHTLY MELODY | 0:09:41 | 0:09:45 | |
OK. | 0:09:45 | 0:09:46 | |
Oriental music. | 0:09:46 | 0:09:48 | |
HE PLAYS A SLOW AND GENTLE MELODY | 0:09:48 | 0:09:51 | |
Spirituals. | 0:09:51 | 0:09:53 | |
HE PLAYS NEW CHORDS | 0:09:53 | 0:09:56 | |
Somebody once joked that actually, | 0:09:56 | 0:09:58 | |
-if you find... -HE PLAYS CHORDS | 0:09:58 | 0:10:00 | |
the pentatonic scale on the piano, | 0:10:00 | 0:10:01 | |
they are found exclusively on the black keys. | 0:10:01 | 0:10:04 | |
Ah! | 0:10:04 | 0:10:06 | |
We're going to hear a song by four gentlemen called Tessera of whom you're a member. | 0:10:06 | 0:10:09 | |
Tell me about it. | 0:10:09 | 0:10:10 | |
The message of the song is a deep faith and trust in Jesus. | 0:10:10 | 0:10:14 | |
It says you can have all this world, your silver, your gold, | 0:10:14 | 0:10:18 | |
but give me Jesus. | 0:10:18 | 0:10:21 | |
# In the morning | 0:10:22 | 0:10:32 | |
# When I rise | 0:10:32 | 0:10:37 | |
# In the morning | 0:10:37 | 0:10:41 | |
# When I rise | 0:10:41 | 0:10:44 | |
# In the morning | 0:10:46 | 0:10:50 | |
# When I rise | 0:10:50 | 0:10:55 | |
# Give me Jesus | 0:10:55 | 0:11:04 | |
# Give me Jesus | 0:11:05 | 0:11:15 | |
# Give me Jesus | 0:11:15 | 0:11:25 | |
# You may have all this world | 0:11:25 | 0:11:33 | |
# Give me Jesus | 0:11:33 | 0:11:46 | |
# Just about the break of day | 0:11:46 | 0:11:50 | |
# Just about the break of day | 0:11:50 | 0:11:54 | |
# Just about the break of day | 0:11:54 | 0:11:59 | |
# Give me Jesus | 0:11:59 | 0:12:03 | |
# Give me Jesus | 0:12:03 | 0:12:08 | |
# Give me Jesus | 0:12:08 | 0:12:12 | |
# You may have all this world | 0:12:12 | 0:12:16 | |
# Give me Jesus | 0:12:16 | 0:12:22 | |
# You may have silver | 0:12:22 | 0:12:24 | |
# You may have gold | 0:12:24 | 0:12:26 | |
# Give me Jesus | 0:12:26 | 0:12:30 | |
# You may have riches | 0:12:30 | 0:12:33 | |
# And wealth untold | 0:12:33 | 0:12:35 | |
# Give me Jesus | 0:12:35 | 0:12:38 | |
# You may have this whole wide world | 0:12:38 | 0:12:43 | |
# Give me Jesus | 0:12:43 | 0:12:47 | |
# Nothing compares to you | 0:12:47 | 0:12:50 | |
# Oh, Jesus | 0:12:50 | 0:12:52 | |
# Give me Jesus. # | 0:12:52 | 0:13:02 | |
I suppose the term spiritual really originates with Isaac Watts | 0:13:08 | 0:13:14 | |
who published a book called Hymns And Spiritual Songs | 0:13:14 | 0:13:17 | |
in, round about 1700. | 0:13:17 | 0:13:19 | |
This book of songs went to America | 0:13:19 | 0:13:23 | |
and was really taken up and adopted | 0:13:23 | 0:13:25 | |
by what were then the slaves on the plantations, | 0:13:25 | 0:13:28 | |
who took the songs and adapted them to their own circumstances | 0:13:28 | 0:13:33 | |
and read into it something that spoke to their condition | 0:13:33 | 0:13:37 | |
and appealed to them as melodies as well, | 0:13:37 | 0:13:41 | |
so that's really where the term spiritual comes from. | 0:13:41 | 0:13:44 | |
Slave Christianity | 0:13:46 | 0:13:48 | |
and the spirituals born within slave Christianity | 0:13:48 | 0:13:51 | |
are really protest songs. | 0:13:51 | 0:13:53 | |
They're songs by slaves | 0:13:53 | 0:13:54 | |
attempting to resist the tyranny of slavery | 0:13:54 | 0:13:57 | |
and calling on God to deliver them. | 0:13:57 | 0:14:00 | |
We shouldn't just interpret them as nice music, | 0:14:00 | 0:14:03 | |
they go beyond nice music, | 0:14:03 | 0:14:05 | |
they are songs of resistance | 0:14:05 | 0:14:07 | |
and that's how we should sing them and celebrate them. | 0:14:07 | 0:14:11 | |
It was very important to them that they held onto stories | 0:14:12 | 0:14:16 | |
that gave them a sense of hope. | 0:14:16 | 0:14:19 | |
We know from the spirituals that songs about Moses | 0:14:19 | 0:14:22 | |
and God's deliverance of the Hebrew people, songs about Joshua, | 0:14:22 | 0:14:25 | |
the battle of Jericho, these images of God as a warrior, | 0:14:25 | 0:14:29 | |
defeating oppressive regimes were songs that they could hold onto | 0:14:29 | 0:14:33 | |
because they gave them a sense of hope. | 0:14:33 | 0:14:35 | |
# Joshua fit the battle of Jericho... # | 0:14:38 | 0:14:48 | |
In the 1870s, concert performances by the Fisk Jubilee Singers | 0:17:42 | 0:17:47 | |
brought spirituals | 0:17:47 | 0:17:48 | |
to international prominence. | 0:17:48 | 0:17:50 | |
Queen Victoria was reportedly | 0:17:50 | 0:17:52 | |
so moved that she wept | 0:17:52 | 0:17:54 | |
when she heard them and commissioned their portrait. | 0:17:54 | 0:17:57 | |
Later, spirituals were to provide the basis of gospel music. | 0:17:57 | 0:18:02 | |
Now, the word "gospel" means "good news" | 0:18:04 | 0:18:06 | |
and next up we have a quartet called Resurrection | 0:18:06 | 0:18:09 | |
singing a song appropriately named Good News. | 0:18:09 | 0:18:12 | |
# I've got a home up in that kingdom Ain't that good news? | 0:18:17 | 0:18:22 | |
# I've got a home up in that kingdom Ain't that good news? | 0:18:22 | 0:18:29 | |
# I'm gonna lay down this world | 0:18:29 | 0:18:32 | |
# I'm gonna shoulder up my cross | 0:18:32 | 0:18:35 | |
# I'm gonna take it home to my Jesus | 0:18:35 | 0:18:37 | |
# Ain't that good news? | 0:18:37 | 0:18:40 | |
# Good news | 0:18:40 | 0:18:41 | |
# Good news | 0:18:41 | 0:18:42 | |
# I've got a saviour | 0:18:42 | 0:18:47 | |
# In that kingdom | 0:18:47 | 0:18:51 | |
# Ain't that good news? | 0:18:51 | 0:18:58 | |
# I've got a saviour In that kingdom | 0:18:58 | 0:19:04 | |
# Ain't that good news? | 0:19:04 | 0:19:12 | |
# I'm gonna lay down this world | 0:19:12 | 0:19:17 | |
# I'm gonna shoulder up my cross | 0:19:17 | 0:19:20 | |
# I'm gonna take it home to my Jesus | 0:19:20 | 0:19:23 | |
# Ain't that good news? | 0:19:23 | 0:19:26 | |
# I'm gonna take it home to my Jesus | 0:19:26 | 0:19:29 | |
# Ain't that good news? | 0:19:29 | 0:19:32 | |
# I'm gonna take it home to my Jesus | 0:19:32 | 0:19:36 | |
# Take it home to my Jesus | 0:19:36 | 0:19:39 | |
# Take it home to my Jesus | 0:19:39 | 0:19:45 | |
# Ain't that...? | 0:19:45 | 0:19:49 | |
# Good news | 0:19:49 | 0:19:51 | |
# Good news | 0:19:51 | 0:19:52 | |
# Good news | 0:19:52 | 0:19:53 | |
# Good news | 0:19:53 | 0:19:54 | |
# Good news | 0:19:54 | 0:19:56 | |
# Good news | 0:19:56 | 0:19:58 | |
# Good news. # | 0:19:59 | 0:20:03 | |
Spirituals have a double meaning. | 0:20:08 | 0:20:11 | |
On one level, they're concerned with the Bible | 0:20:11 | 0:20:15 | |
and stories or themes within the Bible | 0:20:15 | 0:20:17 | |
or images that they have conjured up from hearing Bible stories. | 0:20:17 | 0:20:21 | |
On another level, they are political songs, | 0:20:21 | 0:20:25 | |
they tell the slaves about how to resist slavery | 0:20:25 | 0:20:28 | |
and how to escape the plantation. | 0:20:28 | 0:20:30 | |
We know for example, that songs like Wade In The Water | 0:20:32 | 0:20:35 | |
were not just nice songs about God | 0:20:35 | 0:20:37 | |
but also coded directions of how to get off the plantation, | 0:20:37 | 0:20:42 | |
to cross the water to make sure the dogs could not follow you | 0:20:42 | 0:20:45 | |
and to make sure that you gave yourself the best chance of freedom. | 0:20:45 | 0:20:50 | |
# Wade in the water | 0:20:56 | 0:21:01 | |
# Wade in the water, children | 0:21:01 | 0:21:06 | |
# Wade in the water | 0:21:06 | 0:21:11 | |
# God's gonna trouble the water | 0:21:11 | 0:21:17 | |
# Wade in the water | 0:21:19 | 0:21:24 | |
# Wade in the water, children | 0:21:24 | 0:21:29 | |
# Wade in the water | 0:21:29 | 0:21:33 | |
# God's gonna trouble the water | 0:21:33 | 0:21:40 | |
# I stepped in the water | 0:21:42 | 0:21:44 | |
# And the water was cold | 0:21:44 | 0:21:47 | |
# God's gonna trouble the water | 0:21:47 | 0:21:52 | |
# It chilled my body but not my soul | 0:21:52 | 0:21:56 | |
# God's gonna trouble the water | 0:21:56 | 0:22:01 | |
# Ooh | 0:22:01 | 0:22:03 | |
# Wade in the water | 0:22:03 | 0:22:07 | |
# Wade in the water, children | 0:22:07 | 0:22:12 | |
# Wade in the water | 0:22:12 | 0:22:16 | |
# God's gonna trouble the water | 0:22:16 | 0:22:24 | |
# If you don't believe I've been redeemed | 0:22:25 | 0:22:30 | |
# God's gonna trouble the water | 0:22:30 | 0:22:34 | |
# Then follow me down to the Jordan stream | 0:22:34 | 0:22:40 | |
# God's gonna trouble the water | 0:22:40 | 0:22:44 | |
# Oh-oh-oh-ooh-oh | 0:22:44 | 0:22:46 | |
# Wade in the water | 0:22:46 | 0:22:50 | |
# Wade in the water, children | 0:22:50 | 0:22:55 | |
# Wade in the water | 0:22:55 | 0:22:59 | |
# God's gonna trouble | 0:22:59 | 0:23:01 | |
# God's gonna trouble | 0:23:01 | 0:23:04 | |
# God's gonna trouble | 0:23:04 | 0:23:05 | |
# God's gonna trouble | 0:23:05 | 0:23:08 | |
# God's gonna trouble | 0:23:08 | 0:23:09 | |
# God's gonna trouble the water | 0:23:09 | 0:23:16 | |
# Ooh | 0:23:16 | 0:23:18 | |
# Ooh-oh. # | 0:23:18 | 0:23:22 | |
# Joshua fit the battle of Jericho... # | 0:23:26 | 0:23:28 | |
'Spirituals continue to have a meaning for people today. | 0:23:28 | 0:23:31 | |
'This is certainly true for the members of our choir, | 0:23:31 | 0:23:35 | |
'the Adventist Vocal Ensemble.' | 0:23:35 | 0:23:36 | |
# And the walls come a... # | 0:23:36 | 0:23:43 | |
Nice! | 0:23:43 | 0:23:44 | |
# Tumbling | 0:23:44 | 0:23:48 | |
# Down. # | 0:23:48 | 0:23:53 | |
When you think of the background of spirituals, | 0:23:53 | 0:23:55 | |
they tell the whole gospel story. | 0:23:55 | 0:23:58 | |
They speak of people's problems that they've had | 0:23:58 | 0:24:00 | |
and how they've overcome them | 0:24:00 | 0:24:02 | |
and with the help of God, how we can get through things. | 0:24:02 | 0:24:05 | |
Since I am not a preacher, | 0:24:05 | 0:24:07 | |
I like to use singing in the choir as a way of preaching, | 0:24:07 | 0:24:12 | |
reaching other people and letting them know what God means to me. | 0:24:12 | 0:24:16 | |
There's still slavery in the 21st century, | 0:24:16 | 0:24:19 | |
it may not be the way it was a few centuries ago, | 0:24:19 | 0:24:22 | |
but in individual lives, | 0:24:22 | 0:24:24 | |
I think we can all identify with things that we feel enslaved to. | 0:24:24 | 0:24:27 | |
Bad habits, bad traits of character, bad circumstances. | 0:24:27 | 0:24:32 | |
I work with drug addicts and alcoholics | 0:24:32 | 0:24:35 | |
and I see it day in, day out. | 0:24:35 | 0:24:37 | |
The sense of hope and encouragement that spirituals gives me, | 0:24:37 | 0:24:40 | |
gives me the courage to think that these plans that they work with | 0:24:40 | 0:24:44 | |
can also turn their lives around. | 0:24:44 | 0:24:46 | |
There is hope. One's life can change. Freedom is there, available. | 0:24:46 | 0:24:49 | |
The Beckford name is a slave-holding name. | 0:27:11 | 0:27:13 | |
The Beckford's were the second-largest slave owners | 0:27:13 | 0:27:16 | |
in Jamaica, | 0:27:16 | 0:27:18 | |
in the west of the island, in Westmoreland in particular. | 0:27:18 | 0:27:20 | |
So this name isn't a name that was bequeathed to me, | 0:27:20 | 0:27:24 | |
it is instead a stamp of ownership. | 0:27:24 | 0:27:26 | |
I really wrestled with whether or not I should keep this name, | 0:27:28 | 0:27:31 | |
after all it is a brand of ownership and I'm no slave, | 0:27:31 | 0:27:35 | |
I don't want anything to do with that slave past. | 0:27:35 | 0:27:38 | |
But when I was researching at the national records office - | 0:27:38 | 0:27:42 | |
the history of slavery, | 0:27:42 | 0:27:43 | |
I came across a slave by the name of Robert Beckford | 0:27:43 | 0:27:46 | |
and this guy just happened to be a Christian, | 0:27:46 | 0:27:49 | |
and he fought in the 1831 slave rebellion in Jamaica. | 0:27:49 | 0:27:55 | |
But I decided to keep the name to retain his memory and his struggle. | 0:27:56 | 0:28:02 | |
As we've heard, spirituals were inspired | 0:31:15 | 0:31:18 | |
by the understanding enslaved Africans had of the Bible | 0:31:18 | 0:31:21 | |
and I'm sure these verses from Psalm 95 | 0:31:21 | 0:31:23 | |
would have resonated with many of them. | 0:31:23 | 0:31:26 | |
"Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord. | 0:31:26 | 0:31:29 | |
"Let us shout aloud to the rock of our salvation. | 0:31:29 | 0:31:32 | |
"Let us come before him with thanksgiving | 0:31:32 | 0:31:35 | |
"and extol him with music and song." | 0:31:35 | 0:31:39 | |
'Next week, join me again | 0:33:31 | 0:33:34 | |
'to celebrate Pentecost Sunday with | 0:33:34 | 0:33:36 | |
'spirit-filled, house-shaking gospel music | 0:33:36 | 0:33:38 | |
'from our congregation at St John at Hackney, | 0:33:38 | 0:33:41 | |
'plus special guests Kym Mazelle | 0:33:41 | 0:33:44 | |
'and Avery Sunshine.' | 0:33:44 | 0:33:45 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:34:03 | 0:34:06 |