(Leammle's Royal, Los Angeles, CA)
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The story of how gospel performers helped usher in a
musical revolution that changed the world forever
Featured in dozens of festivals, How They Got Over tells the story of how Black gospel quartet music became a
primary source of what would be known as rock and roll, and in the
process helped to break down racial walls in mid-twentieth century
America.
How They Got Over features
classic performance footage of the Soul Stirrers, Dixie Hummingbirds,
Blind Boys of Alabama and Mississippi, Sensational Nightingales, Mighty
Clouds of Joy, Highway QCs, Davis Sisters, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and
many more.
Some of the greatest names in quartet music are
interviewed in the film, giving vivid accounts of how they “got over” in
their performances: shouting, bending over backwards, dancing, jumping
off the stage – what came to be known as “gospel drama.”
Their music was infectious, wrecking many a house on the
chittlin’ circuit, then graduating in the 40s and 50s to the Apollo and
other major auditoriums across the country. The success of gospel
quartets inspired record labels to form “doo-wop” groups that enticed
gospel singers like Sam Cooke, Lou Rawls and Wilson Pickett to
cross over to greater fame.
Beginning
in the 1920s, Black singers across the country took to the highways as
the new technology of radio and records made it possible to reach a
wider audience. Intense competition brought new ways to entertain, first
with guitars, later with full bands, then with a performance style that
would inspire Mick Jagger and a host of other rock and rollers.
How They Got Over celebrates the spirit of gospel performers and how they helped usher in a musical revolution that changed the world forever.
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