BMC BLACK VOICES PROGRAMME BOOK - Book - Page 28
It is a fabulously rich musical heritage, and its
inûluence is found even today. Several so-called
Freedom Songs, such as Bob Marley’s
Redemption Song, share their musical roots
with those of the great spirituals, and several
songs by the great John Holt can also be traced
to this tradition. The deep, wide-ranging male
Negro voice, reûined through a dignity of
natural musical expression, produces a
profound depth of utterance—ûinely reûlected in
the range and concert arrangements of Leon
Bosch.
In these arrangements it is the powerful
melodies and simple but telling harmonies that
produce deep emotional impact, a remarkably
original and memorable series of haunting
musical expressions that, at the distance of
several centuries, speak to all with a directness
of utterance that remains immortal. Such
signiûicant, concert spiritual arrangements
assert an unstated sense of genuine racial pride
—understood and shared by all sympathetic
listeners.
Examples of sorrow songs within this collection
include: Nobody knows de trouble I’ve seen; Go
down Moses; and Were you there.f Additionally,
jubilee songs include Ev’ry time I feel the spirit
and I’m goin’ to lay down my heavy load.
The most signiûicant original composer of
Spirituals was Henry Thacker (H.T.) Burleigh
(1866-1949) who learned many original
Spirituals from his grandfather, a former slave.
It was Burleigh who introduced Dvo ák to the
