The Dissemination of the African American Spiritual in America and Europe: Jubilee Hall (Continued)
It is also worth noting that "whereas the folk spirituals could be repeated for indefinite periods of time, the length of the arranged spiritual has become bound by the dictates of the printed score" (Maultsby 2015, 63). In other words, performers sang arranged spirituals in a non-improvised form. This short video clip summarizes the extent to which the Fisk Jubilee Singers rose from obscurity to prominence in the twenty-first century.
Watch the video below on The Fisk Jubilee Singers: Perform the Spirituals and Save Their University.
The Fisk Jubilee Singers: Perform the Spirituals and Save Their University [ 00:00-00:00 ]
In the video following, the narrator connects the original Jubilee Singers to present-day Jubilee Singers, centering the information in Nashville's music history and beyond.
Fisk Jubilee Singers
The American Missionary Association not only charted Fisk University but within three years had also chartered seven other institutions of higher learning, including:
- Berea College, in Kentucky
- Atlanta University, in Georgia
- Hampton Institute, in Virginia
- Talladega College, in Alabama
- Tougaloo University, in Mississippi
- Straight University, now known as Dillard in Louisiana
- Howard University" (Sullivan, n.d.)
The American Missionary Association
These institutions, now classified as Historically Black Colleges and Universities , (HBCUs) recognized the artistic value of the spirituals that African Americans had been singing and were instrumental in the genre's preservation.
Another notable HBCU that started as a church-affiliated institution in 1896 and is known today for being an authoritative exponent of the African American Spirituals and Work Songs is Oakwood University , situated in Huntsville, Alabama. With its prestigious choir known as the Aeolians, this privately owned institution has risen to its superstar status and is known as the "2017 Choir of the World" (Gooding n.d.). They earned this title after winning the gold medal in the spiritual category at the Choir of the World competition held at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod in Wales (Gooding n.d.). To learn more about this achievement, watch the The Aeolians singing "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" at the Choir of the World competition in Wales.
OAKWOOD UNIVERSITY AEOLIANS - JOSHUA [ 00:00-00:00 ]