Lift Every Voice and Sing

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and the ford foundation hello i'm me shall norris welcome to every voice and sing our look at the coral legacy of the age beasts he used historically black colleges and universities of the united states of america on arrow here's the pitch hurricane katrina slammed across louisiana coasts ten minutes after six am on monday august twenty nine two thousand five it was one of the deadliest hurricanes ever hit the north american continent leading some sixteen hundred people dead billions of dollars in destruction across florida alabama

mississippi and louisiana same type and witnessed the storm's immediate aftermath on the city governments and in humans dillard university one of the most highly regarded in all that each piece he used suffered minute mental damage know trying to know dillard university president dr martin hugh hewitt's it would have been easy to give up but not once did we consider that an option dillard did not show a day at

baton rouge with classrooms empty so it continued dillard and other hurricane ravaged black new orleans schools like the savior and southern the devastation of katrina was just another in a long line of trials and tribulations and they've had to conquer in order to survive and to prevail oh it is last area and he is from the ten days and enslavement into the present the single most goal of

all these black institutions has been to educate people often that well served by society from the very beginning there acquires had been pressed into service to reach back all those wires have been the ambassadors at large the very embodiment of the black colleges raising visibility raising money to keep the doors open and attracting new students he can't work as can be at once katrina struck for diller it was no longer a matter of attracting students once again it became a question of survival pollster to this radical hundred to

five hundred billion dollars asked carter davenport has been choir director of dillard for over thirty one years we spoke with him and senior renee miller and she and thirty two thousand six one day before tiller its first commencement exercises after katrina struck with such force we took on a great deal of water and coupled with that we've had several fires on campus it was a devastating time i myself personally am from nora was born and raised and my mother and my family have lost everything renee miller was a two thousand six graduating senior when we spoke with one of my friends that is in the concert choir i talk to you for an entire week following the storm and we didn't know where he was and we just realized how important pillar is person in our lives and how much our friendships mean and how much religious teachers are dillard university seems have experienced that kind of loyalty since its founding in eighteen fifty nine to somewhat related

entities straight college and lawrence university actually merged in nineteen thirty performed dillard professor davenport but the actual site university here in gentilly boulevard all happened in september of nineteen thirty five among the students who attended dillard that it's relocated campus or sheryl dixon's parents they both work in the choir at dillard a father was a member of the male quartet and he was also the president of the choir and my mother was a music major professor dixon is a nineteen sixty six dillard graduate now retired she served until its faculty in the art department or twenty years she is literally a dealer musical baby her parents' love of music was strongly nurtured it dillard by frederick the hall as carter davenport dr frederick douglass hall was chairperson music

department so we were very very privileged to have him as the first dillard university choir director and he remained choir director from nineteen thirty five until nineteen seventy four hall's influenced as far reaching from classical to spirituals and composer conducting an arrangement the musical tradition established dealer touched many professor dixon so many people gone on to teach other people to our local luminaries who also educators rather dickerson and also peril that he's a classical composer roger dickerson is a prime example of hall's classical legacy which he championed as much as he did spirituals thank you and also the

seminal student group the thread recall quintet became the delta rhythm boys they spread spirituals to an international audience from that group to composer roger dickerson harold ickes a musical director for the pop icon sonny and cher also influenced the long shows how the original music born on southern plantations spread nationally and internationally it also reflects that hsbc you extended family and those personal connections we spoke of before for people especially frederick douglass whole as carter davenport on his musical mentors and influences roland carter i'm very proud to say that when roland carter was arranging tours and say i was his work study and then we have of course james arthur williams it was my first voice to sure and then there is of course about the window will say i had a very very rich upbringing of

spirituals of individuals who are just second all eminent choir directors and educators in their own right two of the four james arthur williams and rowan carter are still alive they continue to educate and advise dr linda kershaw directs the bandit college concert choir i would like to talk about the wall and harder because i've had the pleasure for several opportunity to witness him at work with collegiate acquires as well as high school wires and to be able to be in the presence of someone who had led him to university's choral program for so many years to set success and to find him so receptive accessible energetic passionate and connected to young people just fills me with joy i've certainly feel very much the same about the late moses hogan both brolin carter and

moses hogan are among the african american composers and rangers honored by the forest university of alabama cathedral in queens new york in november two thousand sites that he adolphus they'll start receiving go before says ray charles' voice outstanding it to classical compositions classical compositions that deal with african american maelstrom african american culture does not have to stop abortions symphony hall nu vu for folks who lived seventeen they go to church and sunday morning he's been at it for over twenty five years despite the perpetual struggled to get wider exposure for his work he does not intend to stop an no officially chosen to visit the first president lady and writer director jeremy winston

churchill's own steam contribution development in the arts both nationally internationally it was so much reinforcement that his classical dream is to move on once again it's that hp c u extended family support system there is there is snow not only jokes i describe morsi's as died too moses was a ranger experience

moles is never had to and arranging questions like you know raise a selection called greeted a wonderful selection oh oh oh oh oh yeah said last day of a class a born in new orleans in nineteen fifty seven moses hogan was a stigma julia and graduate conservatory of music in the new orleans center for creative arts a formidable concert pianist conductor and arranger hogan organize the new world ensemble

aiming to this vocal group was the beginning of his exploration into spirituals i was into his very first corn and all the years of ours came out and saw his music had so much talent in cement seal you never know where it's going to go which me it's so wonderful to sing only forty six years old and died at his colorful arrangements and re energize the spirituals became staples of the most feared requires repertoire oh

oh what if it fell into the government rather than the life of a lot of it is that that is because of its aging mold is open all these people they've done great things with the spirituals music dr william henry caldwell is director of vocal and choral activities at central state university in wilberforce ohio he's been there since nineteen seventy nine nineteen forty seven is when you actually get civil state university or less a rebel force state college so during that time you have a revival music program oh

geez nineteen forty seven was a significant milestone in june of that year president harry s truman a southerner told the thirtieth annual conference at the end of a lacy it was time for all americans to be treated woolley says bauer chairman back up his words by sending congress if ten points civil rights programs the following february in its plans

for an anti lynching law and anti poll tax law and desegregation of the services congress was not perceptive truman took the initiative on july twenty six nineteen forty eight truman told legally segregated the armed forces with executive order number nine nine three one in latin america celebrate especially in the scenes that schools airman racked up a rolodex in the skies over italy and germany in the second world war which had recently ended central state also celebrate even as it said about carving out a separate identity from wilberforce university it was a major concern of the school's new president dr charles was a lot of normal people falling into bucket caldwell

it's interesting and only women so that's a strong poll that was conducted a resident presidents have fallen leaving feist so there was this appreciation and this very strong human centric approach to sing la la there is

choir has a repertoire that second assets abroad even passed a genre many college choir directors have now begun to include in their programs that something in action in scripture gospel music and as a former student of james arthur williams is where is record time actually has the full complement of spirituality join us those loans

oh oh on the black struggle against the president ever constant racial discrimination rose to a crescendo in the nineteen sixties student demonstrations freedom riders and marches track of message music and protest songs became known as the civil rights movement oh cool he

can be yeah yeah and he that oh la vie oh eight this is every voice and saying i'm michele norris it's been

at the time black and white howard university would have its share of student activism and rebellion a howard graduate dr james weldon norris is director of the howard university concert choir there's a panic usually graduates like sad

sad sad day our panel we'll see traditionally conservative tradition which would soon cause howard some problems in the growing civil rights activism sweeping the country with the rebellious attitude of certain things in school at princeton so there is that in the book or performing how are performed with the national symphony when they covered that one member of the so called white man's be like beethoven ninth white man's music the more against that the revolt has triggered

by the euro centric music programs and it's been banned and gospel music a day or a day and played the reverend richard smallwood has been a major influence in gospel music for over twenty five years in the late nineteen sixties he was one of the youngest playing with the wildest wildest me music was a vital part of these protest demonstrations on campus and off and they would see you know we still common but this one room as they want freedom and all these songs so what's an easy pill for cities in the whole nine yards we

shall overcome a song sung by striking tobacco workers in the carolinas was adopted by the movement and soon became its narrow oh geez oh yeah the spirituals that had been used by the early in slave population as a signal songs for alerts and possible escapes were adapted to serve the protest movement keep your hands on the plow goelz

bill olive oil easley became keep your eyes on the prize it was nothing new folk singing this land is your land is reportedly based on the melody of an era possibly the fires these are you know quickly tied separate individuals and groups into one unified yeah moyle there was the music teacher and sympathetic singers and songwriters on race has gone totally in sync with this movement into the schools not monitor hearing bob dylan's blowing in the

sand was in the studio recording this newly redeveloped says the changes others are as well we can't ignore how that movement music and made it necessary for people to lose revenue to homeowners program director for the arts and women's ministries and marble collegiate church in new york city previously he was worshiped from riverside church and someone else we shall not be moved and some bikers preached

that if somebody gets a quarter earnings recently reset recently moved something else happens they grabbed attention and people say ok what are they talking about and then they see the connection although speaking about the civil rights movement but the musical barriers and musical genres are being crossed even earlier pristine spencer a center for most of her life saw it up close we were although you know as we called them reading musicians people who gets it we would be called in for sessions finally got to that session this day and then this extraordinary woman janet jackson was oblivious of us because everyone in the room and at one point she sang something that we had nothing before so we had to sort of go at it you know exactly doing just what it was he was doing that's what we

did and it was a very long session but timmy of great friction and it was nice to have a gospel recording session i remember one session when we got there we heard all of these beautiful music these voices coming out of the studio and it was a little white singers they were doing the very mellow solo songs we'll always called in to do the rhythm so anyway we went in with frankie lyman and the rock n roll station yes and then we had to go in you may be seeing the top arms and face its

pristine and i said i'd like to use and another session so important for the session which was the first time they had to like sing it in white so when i got the job we have a nickname for if you had a session i'm exceptionally smart of snap and analysts say it with me i started having them quaint carmen mcrae merv griffin donald byrd harry belafonte between the early nineteen fifties in the nineteen seventies she and her colleagues continue to most of musical genres coming from large and small studios in the new york area all of the kids who grew up in the church and who had been singing in the choir as wanda singing behind some the greatest artists of the day

we brought to it i call it did use we got to have that extra something that wasn't even though sanctions no matter what you did there was always that underlying feeling of the specials that come through that people could do that and the whole audience and while those spiritual roots were making their influence felt the earlier gospels already had already begun to pull it spawned another musical style horace boyer is the author of how sweet the sound of the golden age of gospel he provides an informative summer we have both mail is right it

is ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding and they're calling it a little bit but we also have the ravens and the coasters orioles all the game listen to these this is over time the name which a rhythm and blues or

r is the two souls and then before christine spencer had been a part of some of that too she had also done the classical side on broadway in the early nineteen fifties revival of porgy and bess with her juilliard classmate leon team price as bess and under the legendary eva jesse's musical direction and no matter what the genre even jeff sessions conducted by color gene taylor perkinson underlying it all was that ever present sense of the old spirituals that was in itself because so beautifully every state and as usual he still

sixteen specials we get something of that land bases or something it's the kind of musical experience and exposure only a fortunate few can it at work our unique the law and

judy over the years on the college level members of the morgan state choir have had that good fortune ms silsby regime dr erik conway succeeded the renowned dr nathan carter as director of the morgan state concert choir he has absorbed his former mentors passion for the choir and its music school was a fellow who has a level in the mid eighties sixties always had a choir of the years i was not really instilled in me think hurricane and three four years ago that fire began to make their reputation

himself oh tara al carter's article directions and varied repertoire native acquire international recruit pack concert halls in prague saint petersburg russia still sinking in paris are just a small part of the nathan carter vegas and especially in that he was rather lack of the group to actually win the last hill smith because in the past generation brings a tradition for it the lawyer erik conway is now building on that

tradition with dr inflexibility of his mentor his selections range from broadway to box ninth symphony and everything in between including you his ultimate goal is to use the music and his suppliers musical performances to make his students and they're listening audiences better better citizens better people sally were incidental we gave a televised concert in new orleans for the victims have been true prior to that concert that evening that morning school st bernard parish ninth ward and as we went through there is no talk about a life changing experience

there and you can imagine in a concert hall that because everything about what we actually saw really that they can look at this is every voice and sing music itself is the music itself has a prim often do in choir

director asked carter davenport on the dude where's resolve to recover and rising above a katrina damaged music in itself is one that sort of pain and agony to all of us going through this forest katrina is concerned when we sing when we do anything with music it takes our minds completely off of what has taken place i think they it is as one more appreciated than they had ever been before graduating senior renee miller after knowing the trials tribulations of this year especially for a lot of our seniors are teachers were so much more appreciative and they came up to us and some of the medieval heart is that everything is gonna be okay you're gonna make it through this year renee already has a choir director's position at her church even as she plans for graduate school we asked her how she sees the future of this black choral tradition the messages still remain the same in bed i feel just as strongly about spiritual as i do about gospel

music it touches my heart it touches muscle as we all know the music is a universal language and add a pill touch anyone no matter what they say it's the answer we get most often from young and seasoned choir director's spirituals and gospel music are here to stay is it is i am the narrow from houston tillotson to carrying and now others too numerous to name as long as they're a black colleges choirs spirituals were being nurtured and again in the spring of two thousand sixty there was a choral convocation at lincoln

university in pennsylvania among the participating schools' were buoy state now jeannie university oh baby delaware state has been university of maryland's eastern shore

in the piano part and of course lincoln oh oh oh oh all of our law is the rotary s we spoke with cheney

interesting he seemed cautiously optimistic one thing about it they may do a spiritual program or gasoline give you a quote unquote classical pieces that may give you a show to neither side really see it evolve and what i see is embracing gospel a little more and then a vision everything you've lost and i think that's what we are going to remember professor dan is also an active member of the national association of it's one of the oldest musical organizations in the country continues to nurture the spirituals and african american classical under its current president carter it now targets younger musicians links to all forms of african american musical expression everyone agrees that costs will continue to

rise and those different forms seem to expand but as reverend richard smallwood says might try to categorize whatever your favorite style of music is there's a gospel music style for you oh ow ow ow political division certainly does a look reverend stephen pope is a former pastor of the greater hood memorial amy zion church and west one hundred forty sixth street in harlem new york he and rap pioneer kurtis blow dried forces in two thousand for to try to reach a hip hop generation of christians kurtis blow it captures is a format the poor design the

patients the young people have taken ownership over ownership experience among the young people in the hip hop why it is the group that calls itself each and dumb for short anonymous donovan bryant aka gone money with my concerns at a massive agent posed as well's most wanted families never chosen their nose most wanted cosmos one a by helpful given awards much resistance who we disagree is going to prison and it is an old says the usual way is a movement right right mccain's traditional love lifted me up to it and some people in the country don't know that it came out of a hindu but it's something that grabbed the

attention that choir we have on the club show sixty five and although they come pick up driven everything in between her as close ended up in truth that jesus was around today probably wouldn't be a rapper one does want to see jesus and jay z lime or less one by one and in jesus and start speaking in tongues in its or a solo oh ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ouch reverend code is transferred to another at church and he's open to the possibility of a few when he based service well is still

involved with the greater hood memorial church in harlem whether it's performed by curtis says many of the singers in gospel music ministers we spoke with all seen them to the latest after emily it's mr baptist church in newark new jersey is a gospel feel to what he does he could because he was quote whenever they thought that you know it does a little bit of everything but his pet miscible to mostly because underneath that the republican horace boyer today we are in the height of rap and hip hop which combines everything that we've ever thought of doing an area of music but the negro spirituals these cells actually sell

still tend to be called greatest creation to this day because ivins singer christina spencer has lived performance created this music most of her life she shared some insights on the music and how the past and next to today's choral groups even international ones like south africa's louise smith black mombasa on a dozen will all this season he says is this a fillet start thinking about latin music it's all one thing no matter what the heritage it's all one thing lady's smith they don't have insurance

and they do it again this is what these people on the plantations down with emotions so on you cannot get away from places where you have and they put the whole thing when you stop to think of the people on the plantations again i said it was a lot of humming because you had people from different languages and they would harmonize make this beautiful sound just coming in and yeah usually coming from the inside

and that's why take six when they simply because they not only get that if they've always been there in the future well i'll be going horace boyer but the time of the twentieth century fashions and go over into south africa and they say to the south africans negro spirituals the progressive religious and the rebels and they like it enough to pick it up now i can't help but smile to think that the africans like something that their children

thousands of bottles a way had produced on those days and as he is so so davis i'll add half and eighties at school the

title these days ms bee gees the piece be i mean shall norris thank you so much for joining us

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting for a foundation and in part by support from jazz at eight point three bbc or radio or new jersey every voice and sing is a production of the beauty educational productions host and narrator the shell morris writer producers and as they were american be taken what your design and engineering duke marcos technical producer jonathan blakely chieftains always david's alex and then steven a wife's researchers jackie former and when james production associates marcos alvarado elizabeth jarvis then will be whether additional musical underscoring composed arranged and performed by a non jay allen films recorded mastered a juggernaut

these studios if isis thought the role and carter didn't move as goldberg professor of american music at the university of tennessee at chattanooga and dr james martin williams choral conductor an educator now retired audio consultant services jersey performing arts center our thanks to the falling vocal groups the police state university concert choir the central state university concert choir at cheyney university concert choir at delaware state university concert choir at dillard university concert choir the dixie hummingbirds the fisk jubilee singers of kentucky state university lee smith black mom was ill lincoln university circular morgan state university cancer killer morehouse we will take six the tuskegee university concert the university of maryland's eastern

shore a concert and wilberforce university concert tour special thanks to seek his goals first in bristol and cheryl takes the executive producer of every voice and sing is there the late june for more information about the series and the choral music legacy of historically black colleges and universities visit us at w w w dot ep t ed died o r g