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