Black American spirituals provide one source for
much of the textual content of today’s gospel music. For more than a
century, these Afro-American religious songs served as a dominant medium
through which the black American expressed his dissatisfaction with his
station in life, vented his longing desire to live as a free man, and
humbly sought peace and salvation from God:
The songs of the slave represent the sorrows,
rather than the joys, of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an
aching is relieved by its tears. Sorrow and desolation have their songs,
as well as joy and peace. Slaves sing more to make themselves happy, than
to express their happiness.(1)
As another observer wrote:
They sang so that it was a pleasure to hear;
with all their souls and with all their bodies in unison, for their bodies
wagged, their heads nodded, their feet stomped, their knees shook, their
feet stomped, their knees shook, their elbows and their hands beat time to
the tune and the words which they sang with evident delight. One must see
these people singing if one is rightly to understand their life.
I have seen their imitators….who travel about the
country painted up as negroes, and singing negro songs in the negro
manner, and with gestures, as it is said; but nothing can be more
radically unlike, for the most essential part of the resemblance
fails—namely, the life. (2)
The method of compsosition, style of performance,
and sociological significance of black spirituals are vital parts of black
life and are easily recognizable through the texts of spirituals. Strong
evidence of dissatisfaction with this life can be observed in the
spiritual “Nobody Knows the Trouble I See”. Additional examples of this
discontent are expressed in such spirituals as “Didn’t My Lord Deliver
Daniel” in which blacks communicated directly with a God whom they
believed would deliver them from the evils of slavery, and “I’m Going to
Live with Jesus” where they tried to assuage their hardships and grasp
some hope for a better future.
Concentrated on texts that gave attention to such
important concerns of Black Christians as worldly sorrows, blessings, and
woes, as well as the joys of the after-life…He also allowed space for the
inevitable improvisation of text, melody, harmony, and rhythm so
characteristic of Black American Folk and popular music.(3)
Thomas A. Dorsey (1899- ) was greatly
influenced by C. A. Tindley. In defense of his “bluesy” songs, composed
in a style similar to that of Tindley, he stated:
The message is not in the music but in the words
of the song. It matters not what kind of music or what kind of movement
it has, if the words are Jesus, Heaven, Faith and Life then you have a
song with which God is pleased regardless of what critics and some church
folk say.(4)
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