Details

Field of Interest

American Music

Description

This double-CD reissue documents a central aspect of the cultural environment of the Civil Rights Movement, acknowledging songs as the language that focused people's energy. These 43 tracks are a series of musical images, of a people in coversation about their determination to be free. Many of the songs were recorded live in mass meetings held in churches, where people from different life experiences, predominantly black, with a few white supporters, came together in a common struggle. These freedom songs draw from spirituals, gospel, rhythm and blues, football chants, blues and calypso forms. The enclosed booklet written by Bernice Johnson Reagon provides rare historic photographs along with the powerful story of African American musical culture and its role in the Civil Rights Movement. "The music of the spirit with the history of the flesh." — New York Daily News

Content Type

Music recording

Duration

2 hours 18 mins

Format

Audio

Sub Genre

Southern Gospel, Struggle and Protest, Negro Spiritual, A Cappella, Gospel Hymns, Rhythm & Blues

Label

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

Producer

Bernice Johnson Reagon, 1942-

Release Date

1997

Subject

American Music, World Music, Music & Performing Arts, American Studies, Vocal + Choral Music, United States and Canada, U.S. Civil Rights Movement, 1954-, Música Vocal y Coral, Música Coral + Vocal, Estados Unidos y Canadá, Estados Unidos e Canadá, United States

Keywords and Translated Subjects

Música Vocal y Coral, Música Coral + Vocal, Estados Unidos y Canadá, Estados Unidos e Canadá