Justin Time /

No
Title
Duration
Excerpts
01
Lord I Know I've Been Changed
00:02:30
ogg      mp3      
02
There Is A Balm In Gilead
00:03:06
03
Ezekiel Saw The Wheel
00:02:37
04
Deep River
00:02:20
05
In That Great Getting Up Morning
00:01:40
06
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
00:01:44
07
Soon Ah Will Be Done
00:03:27
08
Every Time I Feel The Spirit
00:01:59
09
Steal Away
00:04:10
10
In That Morning When The Lord Says Hurry
00:01:50
ogg      mp3      
11
The Storm Is Passing Over
00:02:24
ogg      mp3      
12
Ain't Got Time To Die
00:02:30
13
Joshua Fit The Battle Of Jericho
00:02:30

Liner Notes

The Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir is proud to present "Jubilation IV", a moving tribute to the Negro Spiritual. This rare collection of a cappella songs is the first to appear since the recordings of the Fisk Jubilee Singers and other gospel music pioneers. With powerful renditions of such classics as "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (probably one of the oldest Negro Spirituals), "Steal Away" and "Deep River", the Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir hopes to further preserve the rich heritage of the black people in America.

It's the 1800s and deep in the South of the United States, a truly unique genre of music is developing -- the Negro Spiritual.

On plantations everywhere, slavery abounds. Blacks struggle, toil and suffer. Their hopes, aspirations and propensity for music, however, remain unquelled. They dream of freedom, of a better tomorrow. And the Negro Spirituals, rich and soulful, reflect these dreams.

On a hot, sticky Sunday morning, the white plantation owner and his family don their best outfits for church. The slaves are chained together and dragged along so that they can be supervised. In the back of the church, they sit still in the slave gallery. Or, if the church can afford a second storey, the slaves sit chained in the balcony.

It is here in this church that the seeds of Negro Spirituals are being sown. The slaves listen carefully to Isaac Watts' hymns and all the other traditional hymns of the English church sung by the plantation owner, his family and the rest of the white congregation. (The house slaves also hear classical music in the slave owner's home.)

The listening soon turns to singing. Aware of the importance of music in the black culture, the slave owner and his family want to see the slaves perform, but they also want to maintain control over them. So, they have the slaves sing the most suitable music -- the church hymns. (Since the slaves cannot read, the hymns are taught by rote by a member of the planter's family or by a slave with a keen memory.) The result? An African-American imitation of the European sound.
Soon, contests are being held on plantations throughout the South. The winner, of course, is the group that can best imitate the controlled, formal sound of the European hymns.

The Negro Spiritual soon goes beyond the African-Americans' conscious attempt to imitate what they hear in church. The major turning point m the evolution of the Negro Spiritual occurs with the abolition of slavery in 1865. Emancipation opens the doors for new black churches and schools. Not surprisingly, the music of the Negro Spirituals becomes notated and, as blacks begin to read music, the element of surprise and improvisation is virtually eliminated.
Lyrics, on the other hand, evolve. The church hymns are replaced by songs such as "Ezekiel Saw de Wheel" and "Ev'ry Time I Feel the Spirit" -- songs that more accurately reflect the African-American tribulations and dreams.

It's 1871, six years after the end of the Civil War, and the Negro Spiritual begins to reach new heights. Wide interest in this genre of music is generated as 11 black students from Nashville, Tennessee, head out on their first musical tour. Directed by George L. White, a schoolteacher who inherited the love of music from his father, a village blacksmith in New York State, the Fisk Jubilee Singers become an international sensation, with performances for the United States president and the British Royal family.

It is this small group of individuals that sparks the first widespread interest in
gospel song. Other performers follow, including the Tuskeegee Institute Singers, Paul Robeson, Marian Anderson and ... the Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir.

Trevor W. Payne