MELODEON: 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

Marti Newland

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL-xkZZ6O80

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