The Jubilee Singers of Fisk University :: American History Essays

The Jubilee Singers of Fisk UniversityFrom the mid-1800s, or so black institutions of higher education fielded a throng of jubilee singers and/or a vocal quartet to sing spirituals. These multitudes toured the nation and represented the institution exterior the local community. One of the earliest and most famous of these groups were the Jubilee Singers from Fisk University. According to glow Funk, in his essay accompanying the Document compilation EARLY lightlessness VOCAL QUARTETS, there is only one recording from the 1890s living of an African-American vocal group, the Standard Quartette. While this Fisk group was active in the l890s, it continued on throughout the grades, of course with some different members each year and a complete turnover of members within each quaternity years. For the most part, the singers were students at Fisk. I dont think you are going to recollect anything recorded origin onlyy before 1900, but for some modern recordings of the Fisk Jubilee S ingers you should cheek for a 1994 Smithsonian/Folkways recording called African American Spirituals The Concert Tradition SF40072 At a sequence when most black music was being performed by white minstrel musicians in blackface and vulgar caricature, a small group of exceptionally well-trained and talented black singers at Fisk University in Nashville achieved world-wide famous person for their stirring and very professional performance of traditional black spirituals.Originally, the group was composed of two quartets and a pianist, a woman named Wells, under the educational activity of the University musical director, George L. White. In 1871 this small group set out to mug up money for the struggling little university (founded in 1866). Over the next ten-spot they had toured most of the northern states, had performed at the White House, toured England and much of Europe and had vie for Queen Victoria.The group was given its name by director White. In Old Testament history, each fiftieth Pentecost was followed by a year of jubilee - a year in which Hebrew law required that all slaves be set free. Organized in 1871, in the dark buns of slavery, the Jubilee Singers seemed a most appropriate name. Most of the students at Fisk had been former slaves.In terms of musical history, the primary significance of the Jubilee Singers is that they introduced to the world for the first time a magnificent body of folk music -- slave songs, spirituals -- which observe life, survival, victory.