Marti Newland
Fisk Jubilee African American Spirituals with pump organ (8:32)
Artis Wodehouse
Published on Mar 23, 2015
Soprano
Marti Newland performs "From the Depth of the Spirit: A Tribute to the
Fisk Jubilee Singers", Dr. Paul T. Kwami's arrangement of Spirituals
taken from the core repertoire of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, of which Dr.
Kwami is the current director. Newland is accompanied by Artis
Wodehouse who performs on her 1887 Mason & Hamlin Liszt reed pump
Organ. The video was taken at a performance on February 27th, 2015 of
the chamber group MELODEON that specializes in 19th and early 20th C.
American music with an emphasis on Wodehouse's 19th C. American reed
pump organs and mid-19th C. pianos.
The spirituals covered in the arrangement are:
My Lord What a Morning
Steal Away
Ain't-a That Good News
Kwami's
arrangement of African American Spirituals was commissioned by Artis
Wodehouse for MELODEON. The idea for commissioning a work related to the
Fisk Jubilee Singers arose from MELODEON performer, soprano Marti
Newland's scholarship regarding the Fisk Jubilee Singers, and
Wodehouse's 19th C. reed organs. The earliest photos of the Fisk
Jubilee Singers (dating from the 1870s, one of which is depicted in the
thumbnail of this video) show the group surrounding their original
director, Ella Sheppard, who is in turn seated in front of a reed pump
organ.
The Fisk Jubilee Singers were the first African American
choral groups to popularize African American Spirituals. They toured
throughout the US and Europe.
Comment by email:
Bill - thanks once again! Best, Artis Wodehouse
Comment by email:
Bill - thanks once again! Best, Artis Wodehouse
No comments:
Post a Comment