The Colored Sacred Harp

Wiregrass Sacred Harp Singers

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 1, 1995)
• Original Release Date: 1993
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: New World Records
• ASIN: B0000030HO
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #263,180 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

African American singers have long participated in Sacred Harp singings, but their involvement remained largely undocumented until this clear, fabulous-sounding recording of the Wiregrass Sacred Harp Singers of Ozark, Alabama, was issued in 1993. A chief part of the black harp-singing tradition is the Colored Sacred Harp hymnal, composed and arranged by African Americans in Alabama and first published in 1934. Like the Denson and White hymnals, these songs are sung in four-part shape-note style but sound different from other forms of harp singing. The notes are allowed to waver more, giving them a unique resonance, particularly during those points of a particular song when voices overlap. A unique part of African American history, this recording includes direct descendants of the hymnal's composers, notably the children of Judge Jackson and his wife, Lillie, who wrote most of these celestial and uplifting tunes. --Mike McGonigal

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My great-grandfather wrote the Colored Sacred Harp, October 25, 2005

By	T. Jackson - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

My great-grandfather wrote the Colored Sacred Harp and several members of my family are heard on this recording including myself (the Welcome Address). This album was recorded at the annual Colored Sacred Harp singings held at Union Grove Baptist Church in Ozark, AL every third Sunday in April. It's a family tradition that my great-grandfather passed down to his sons and daughters who passed it on to their sons and daughters and so on. Every time I hear this album, it's home to me because I grew up listening and going to these singings all my life. For some one to criticize it is hard for me to hear because I know how dedicated every one was on this album. For all those who buy it, I want to say thanks, and I truly hope you enjoy the view into our family gathering.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good example of an extraordinary form of sacred music., October 11, 1999

By A Customer

My grandmother, mother, and aunts sing from the B. F. White Sacred Harp. I sing occasionally. The intensity of this type singing, along with its almost exotic harmonies, gives it an enduring place in American Music...

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Moving music, accurate notes- a scholar's perspective, October 5, 2003

By	Alston E. Lambert, II (New Haven, Connecticut) - See all my reviews

The music and the liner notes for this CD struck a positive emotional tone with me. My great grandparents participated in this tradition and because they were proud of their ability to read, write, and compose music and song lyrics, they would have been especially pleased with the quality of Dr. Hampton's liner notes and the care she took to cite the most current research (e.g., the "academic study published in 1987") as well as statements from her interviews with the performers. One of the reviewers clearly is unaware of the history of this music and appears unwilling to grasp it. The pioneers of this music WERE Africans. I would call it accuracy that the author does not refer to African Americans as such until accounts after 1868, when the United States Constitution confers citizenship that would apply to the Africans who were emancipated by its thirteenth amendment. The reader will note that the author refers to the Colored Sacred Harp performers after that year, including the Wiregrass Sacred Harp Singers of today, as African Americans. Similarly, the roots of this music in the white communities predate 1776. By the eighteenth century, this music had taken hold in southern Alabama; yet this territory was under the French (1710-1719 so that the Mardi Gras actually began in Mobile), the British (1763-1780) and the Spanish (1780-1813) during much of the 18th century. The last time I looked these were European nations! One reviewer objects to the people there being called Europeans. Moreover, the wiregrass region, specifically, sits on the border with Florida and even today The Wiregrass Singers co-participate in Sings with Floridians. I appreciate the author's recognition of the fact that Florida did not become a state until 1845, halfway through the century during which The Colored Sacred Harp was composed. This is not political correctness. It is historical correctness!! Some of us appreciate precision and accuracy in our liner notes and that is what we get with this CD. It is unfortunate that fans don't take the time to study before they write these reviews.