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Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups
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Subject: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 17 Aug 08 - 09:43 PM The purpose of this thread is to share examples of songs from African American, African, Caribbean cultures and other Black cultures. I consider this thread as a companion to thread.cfm?threadid=8776&messages=122 Fifty Songs Everyone Should Know. While reading that thread, I realized how many of those songs I didn't know, and how few songs from Black cultures were included in those list. I then got to thinking about which songs that were sung by African American singers and other singers from Africa and the African Diaspora I would list as my favorites. And so I started listing some songs, and then went searching for them on YouTube. I'm sharing these examples not as a means of segregating Black singers from non-Black singers, but hopefully as a means of increasing awareness about these songs for those who may not have been aware of them. I'm also starting this thread as a way for those who are already aware of these songs to enjoy listening to them once again. I hope that other Mudcat members, and Mudcat guests will join me in adding your favorites to this thread. Thanks, in advance, for your participating in this thread. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Jayto Date: 17 Aug 08 - 09:50 PM OMG The Fairfeild Four make me melt. I think if somehow I manage to make it through the pearly gates the Fairfield Four will be singing right by God's throne. They are incredile. A ton of blues singers come to mind but for the time being I will not mention them because I am sure they will be talked about. Jeffery Gaines man what a writer and singer. I did some gigs with him about a year ago super nice guy I mean a real down to earth cool guy. Ladysmith Black Mambazo are incredible too. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 17 Aug 08 - 09:53 PM These songs are listed in no particular order: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUULrCJvwBQ&feature=related Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDI1UvSv7pk&feature=related Nina Simone - To be young gifted & black ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9H2vbQnAK0 Patti LaBelle- "Walk Around Heaven All Day" ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edBGuudFeu8 Patti LaBelle- "Then My Living Will Not Be In Vain" ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvV6JH0WZ3k Bob Marley – Buffalo Soldier ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_YVRnX5gIw&feature=related bob marley-no woman, no cry ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7pAvbjChQM Bob Marley - Redemption Song ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtwGyxzxBDg&feature=related Bob Marley - Three Little Birds ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmXvy0X0lGw miriam makeba-click song ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpl8rPQBASU&feature=related Miriam Makeba - Malaika (Audio) |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Jayto Date: 17 Aug 08 - 09:53 PM oh I do have to give props to Sonny Terry and Brownie Mcgee, John Cephas and Phil Wiggins, Leadbelly, Sonhouse, Mississippi John Hurt, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Charles Brown, man I could keep going and going. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Jayto Date: 17 Aug 08 - 09:55 PM Redemption Song is like a standard around here (western Kentucky) It is played by almost every band around. I love that song. The Rivers of Babylon is another song I just totally love. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 17 Aug 08 - 09:57 PM Jayto, thanks for posting to this thread. I just recently learned about the Fairfield Four from a Mudcat thread. I've got to find one or more YouTube videos of them. Ditto Ladysmith Black Mambazo-finding a Youtube video, I mean... I did know about them before Mudcat :o} |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 17 Aug 08 - 10:03 PM Oj, Jayto, I'll never be able to keep up with finding YouTube videos for all the great artists you've mentioned. I'm glad you've added their names to this list. I admit that my list will have more African American artists and more R&B & gospel artists than artists from other genres, because that is what I know the best. So, I hope that you and others will help a sistah out by adding examples from Blues, jazz, and other musical genres. :o) |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 17 Aug 08 - 10:09 PM In No Particular order, my favorites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqKxXkU57CY&feature=related Aretha Franklin - Someday We'll All Be Free ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbYOKKyz3Qg Aretha Franklin - Natural Woman 1967 ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DZ3_obMXwU&feature=related Aretha Franklin - Respect (1990) ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgKSdyNJ-TM Shiloh Baptist Church-"Peace Be Still" ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_7yBFovdtE&mode=related&search= Take 6 Live - "Mary" ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ZyuULy9zs Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yKgAEkCKxY&feature=related Summertime - Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong ** Mahalia Jackson - "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gta4B1MBU0 ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Xl-jq08AGU&feature=related Celia Cruz - Guantanamera con la Fania ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmZdvVnMXCc&feature=related Sam Cooke "Chain Gang" |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Jayto Date: 17 Aug 08 - 10:35 PM Lena Horne and Ella Fitzgerald OMG they are angelic I swear their voices just hit me like a brick wall. The Carolina Chocolate Drops you have to check them out I love thier music. You have to check them out they are a modern bad but a must hea thing. Oops gotta run my son is wanting a ham sandwich lol but you have to check them out Carolina Chocolate Drops. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 17 Aug 08 - 11:00 PM In no particular order, my favorites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imsB543zqSM Stevie Wonder-For Once In My Life ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2XUiVwAuas&feature=related Stevie Wonder-you are the sunshine of my life ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfWPDGWP568&feature=related Al Green- Love and Happiness ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIdIqbv7SPo&feature=related Bill Withers - Ain't No Sunshine ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STKkWj2WpWM&feature=related Aretha Franklin - I Say A Little Prayer; 1970 ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hajBdDM2qdg&feature=related Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through The Grapevine ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbxxkwBQk_o&feature=related The Shirelles-Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGbnua2kSa8&feature=related Dionne Warwick & Friends {Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder}-That's What Friends Are For ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7r7ylML-bI&feature=related Luther Vandross & Gregory Hines - There's Nothing Better Than Love ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzrXc68gNjQ Otis Redding: (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 17 Aug 08 - 11:18 PM Jayto, I do know the Chocolate Drops. Well, I don't know them but I do know of them. Here are two links to two of their YouTube videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKTXJUYiAT4 Carolina Chocolate Drops performing "Hit' Em Up Style" ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xOxHyTP91c Carolina Chocolate Drops- "Cornbread and Butterbeans" |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 17 Aug 08 - 11:31 PM Here's a link to my favorite Farfield Four video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3lxCuJa8JA Fairfield Four-Po Lazarus |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 17 Aug 08 - 11:48 PM Hey, Jayto-Here ya go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbuCiBPB9Q4 Jimmy Cliff Live @ The Marquee, London - By The Rivers Of Babylon ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm1g8FFRArc Boney M : Rivers of Babylon ** And, here's another song that is one of my all time favorites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkMzuXlKQv8&feature=related Jimmy Cliff-Many Rivers To Cross |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 18 Aug 08 - 12:11 AM Here are two links to YouTube videos of Ladysmith Black Mambazo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5tngHfemWc&feature=related Ladysmith Black Mambazo-Homeless ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA2Qw3j2bxw&feature=related Ladysmith Black Mambazo - The Lion Sleeps Tonight |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Janie Date: 18 Aug 08 - 12:38 AM "Squeeze Me" by Fats Waller Joe Thompson "Oil in My Vessel" GuideMe Oh Thou Great Jehovah - Sweet Honey in the Rock |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Acorn4 Date: 18 Aug 08 - 06:01 AM "So Strong" Labi Siffre |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Will Fly Date: 18 Aug 08 - 06:26 AM I'm not a religious guy, but "Early in the morning" (the original single) by the Dixie Hummingbirds is a heart-stopping masterpiece. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 18 Aug 08 - 07:44 AM Acorn4, thanks so much for reminding me of this song. How in the world could I have forgotten it? Here's a link to an excellent photo/pictoral collage with the recorded version of this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3uPuiQOn9w&feature=related Labi Siffre - something inside so strong ** And here is Labi Siffre in concert without other voices & added instrumentation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otuwNwsqHmQ&feature=related Labi Siffre - something inside so strong {in concert} |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 18 Aug 08 - 07:57 AM Will Fly, I couldn't find that song in YouTube by the Dixie Hummingbirds, but here's a link to another song by that gospel group: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WASq4p8NW74&feature=related Dixie Hummingbirds - Maybe It's You |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 18 Aug 08 - 08:00 AM I want to take this opportunity to thank Jayto, and Janie, and Acorn4 and Will Fly for posting on this thread. I hope other people understand the reason why I started this thread was not to segregate Black singers from non-Black singers as an end goal. Instead, I started this thread as one Mudcat resource for examples of songs from Black singers so that other Mudcat favorite songs threads hopefully would be more integrated in the future. Of course, people posting to this thread have their own reasons for adding names and/or video links to songs here. It may be just that they like a particular song and want to share it with others. And that's okay with me-there doesn't have to any other motive but that. I intend to add other songs to this thread and I hope that other people will continue to add songs to this thread. And if some people don't understand why I started this thread, then so be it. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 18 Aug 08 - 08:27 AM Jayto, here's a link to a classic YouTube video of Lena Horne and Stormy Weather {1943}: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCG3kJtQBKo&feature=related ** And here are several more links to videos of some additional songs by Black singers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvYG7FLL5gU Barrett Sisters- I Don't Feel No Ways Tired ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSHvUvlzznc Mahalia Jackson - "Precious Lord Take My Hand" ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL9bW6YRoEg Hector Lavoe con Willie Colon - Che Che Colé Live ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_XcsRhkfgM Mighty Sparrow - Dancing Shoes |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: kendall Date: 18 Aug 08 - 08:30 AM Paul Robeson. Old Man River. Head and shoulders above all others. (In my not so humble opinion) |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: bankley Date: 18 Aug 08 - 08:31 AM okay, just about anything by the Neville Brothers ..and Irma Thomas Ray Charles The Staples Tina Turner Ranee Lee Bobby Lee Silcott Robert Cray Otis, Wilson, James, Sam&Dave, Fats, Chuck, Lil Richard, Marvin, Stevie, Jimi , Satchmo, Muddy, Josh White, Gatemouth Brown, Buddy Guy, and sometimes Tupac... to name a few...and then there's the instrumental guitarists... can't imagine a world without all these folks.... dead or alive |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Will Fly Date: 18 Aug 08 - 08:46 AM Azizi Hey, thanks for the Dixie Hummingbirds link on the Tube - absolutely stunning! The sheer power and emotion is just masterful. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 18 Aug 08 - 08:50 AM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csoMt1CiP04 Etta James-At Last ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs_CxmMMpW4 Miriam Makeba- When I've Passed On ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcIi80diGVY Miriam Makeba-West Wind ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLh73RPvfgI Nina Simone-House Of The Rising Song ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1n8uTgBcyc&feature=related Nancy Wilson-The Days Of Wine And Roses ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkqyLsDqgv0&feature=related Aretha Franklin - Bridge Over Troubled Water - Early 90s ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJg5Op5W7yw Mahalia Jackson - Amazing Grace |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 18 Aug 08 - 09:20 AM Here are some more songs by artists that were given above and some additional examples of songs are my favorites: {Thank goodness for unemployment compensation! But can you tell that I'm procrastinating doing what I'm supposed to be doing today?} http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgQD3p6NyzM Paul Robeson - Ol' Man River (1928) ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Thls_tMuFkc Georgia on my Mind- Ray Charles ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=depfUO1fmVI&feature=related Neville Brothers - Yellow Moon: Relaid Audio ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP2ecwIc2xk&feature=related The Neville Brothers- In The Still Of The Night ** ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXvKRZRofDE The Staple Singers - I'll Take You There ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzitOsxKJNY Al Green "How do you mend a broken heart" ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AezyNohMiRI&feature=related Al Green - Everything's Gonna Be Alright ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yKgAEkCKxY&feature=related Summertime - Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnRqYMTpXHc&feature=related What a Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 18 Aug 08 - 09:31 AM I see I put Summertime on here two times. I guess that means thzt I really like it...I better remember that song when the snow starts falling. :o) |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Jayto Date: 18 Aug 08 - 09:37 AM Azizi you have dome wonderful songs on here. I am glad you put this thread up. I haven't had time to go through all of them yet but I am working on it. Memphis Minnie is another ragtime/blues/jugband type singer I really enjoy. Man there are just so many. Ladysmith Black Mambazo was on Woodsongs old time radio hour last week and man it was a great show. Steve Earle recorded a song with the Fairfield Four the name of it wa Ellis Unit One. Does anyone else on here remember that. He recorded it for the movie Dead Man Walking. It was a great song and having the Fairfield Four on there with him made it even better. Thanks again Azizi for this wonderful thread. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: kendall Date: 18 Aug 08 - 10:01 AM Azizi, thanks for that link. It's great to hear that marvelous voice again. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Stewie Date: 18 Aug 08 - 10:03 AM Arizona Dranes I shall wear a crown Geeshie Wiley and Elvie Thomas (prob) Pick poor robin clean Geeshie Wiley Last kind words blues Henry Thomas Fishing blues Little Hat Jones Kentucky blues Lightnin' Hopkins Mojo hand Robert Nighthawk Maggie Campbell Johnny Shines Sweet home Chicago Mississippi Sheiks Sitting on top of the world Tommie Bradley Nobody's business if I do Big Maceo Worried life blues --Stewie. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: GUEST,HiLo Date: 18 Aug 08 - 10:14 AM ELLA...John Lee Hooker, Bukka White, Furry Lewis, Louis Armstrong, Leontyne Price, Mississippi Fred MacDowell...oh , too many to name. Loads of fifties groups. I Love the Coasters, The Mills Brothers, The Inkspots...Yep..too many to name. Great thread. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: fat B****rd Date: 18 Aug 08 - 10:31 AM HI, AZZIZI, Charlie here, this could run and run. Here are the winners (in no particular order) Marvin Gaye - Aint that peculiar, Baby, Don't you do it Leadbelly - most things Ray Charles - Tell the truth and virtually all the Atlantic tracks " " - Sticks and stones, Let's go get stoned, In the heat of the night Howlin' Wolf - most things especially No place to go Richie Barrett - Some other guy Bobby Bland - just about anything on Duke Chuck Berry - " " " " Chess Muddy Waters - just about anything Bo Diddley - Road runner, Diddley daddy, I can tell Many singers/groups/songs already mentioned and many more to come. Lovely thread, Azzizi PS I got a B for psychology X |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: bankley Date: 18 Aug 08 - 10:39 AM Jayto, I heard Earle sing 'Ellis Unit One' last week, solo... one of the strongest tunes of the night... of course the story behind it is gripping as well... I'll keep an ear out for the version you mentioned.... thanx... R. good work Azzizi... too bad you ain't gettin' paid for it ! |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: pdq Date: 18 Aug 08 - 10:41 AM Mills Bros |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: fat B****rd Date: 18 Aug 08 - 10:49 AM Then there are loads on Tamla Motown, Stax and Atlantic. Black Nativity The Impressions - Talkin 'bout my baby I'll stop now, there are still too many to mention. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Newport Boy Date: 18 Aug 08 - 12:46 PM Janie mentioned Sweet Honey in the Rock - one of my favourite a capella groups. I prefer some of their own originals, particularly On Children Phil |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Barry Finn Date: 18 Aug 08 - 01:08 PM Anything done by the Manhaden Chanteymen or the Northern Neck Chanteymen Anything done by the Birmingham Lining Bar Gang Any thing in the Lomax collection on Prison Worksongs Bruce Jackson's CD/collection of prison worksongs "Wake Up Dead Man" Both Jackson & Lomax are out on Rounder "Afro-American Spirituals, Work Songs & Ballads" various groups also out on Rounder "Negro Work Songs & Calls" again out on Rounder, various groups Virginia Traditions/Virginia Work Songs out on Global Village CD1007. Various groups "Deep River of Song/Black Texans-Balladeers & Songsters of the Texas Frontier", out on Rounder, various Black cowboys & work groups & cowboy songs (Lomax collection) Deep River of Song/Bahamas 1935-Chanteys & Anthems from Andros & Cat Island" (Lomax Collection "Peter Was A Fisherman" 1939 Trinidad Field Recordings of Melville & Francis Herskovits out on Rounder CD 1114 Barry |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Jayto Date: 18 Aug 08 - 01:16 PM Ah man yeah the Lomax Prison worksongs. Man that was some great stuff. I haven't heard it for years but man it was POWERFUL. I had forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me. Bankley, Steve released a version on the soundtrack of Dead Man Walking but I can't remember if that one had the Fairfield Four on it or not. I have heard about 3 or 4 versions of Ellis Unit One. That is such a great song. The whole soundtrack for Dead Man Walking is great. If you haven't heard it I would strongly recommend it. Steve Earle, Tom Waits, Lyle Lovett, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (omg amazing he is one I never hear mentioned on here he was unreal), Eddie Vedder,Bruce Springsteen, Michelle Shocked, Mary Chapin Carpenter,... that's all that pops to mind right now but it is a great soundtrack. All the songs were written about or inspired by the movie and it is great. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: GUEST,Marymac90 Date: 18 Aug 08 - 01:25 PM From the Carribean, not sure exactly where, came Joseph Spence. Also from off the shore, but not so far, were the Georgia Sea Island Singers. Didn't Bessie Smith come from them? GREAT thread, Azizi! Marymac |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: bankley Date: 18 Aug 08 - 01:26 PM yeah , I really liked that film.. it's been awhile so I'll have to give it another look and listen... I believe Sarandon got the Award for it and Penn in the pen... what can you say ??? |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: GUEST,Marymac 90 Date: 18 Aug 08 - 01:28 PM Oh, I forgot to mention Kim and Reggie Harris. Marymac |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: topical tom Date: 18 Aug 08 - 02:05 PM As a female black singer I would pick Odetta and as a male singer Taj Mahal.As for a group ,I like the Carolina Chocolate Drops. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 18 Aug 08 - 02:15 PM Thanks to all who have posted to this thread. There are a number of vocalists, groups, and recordings that are unfamiliar to me, but given time, I'll give all of them a listen to. There's no way I can keep up with finding video links for all the artists mentioned, but I'll be adding some links along with links to other artists/groups/songs that may not have been mentioned yet. It's great that we are sharing and learning from each other. ** Charlie {fat B****rd} that's good news about your "B". I'm glad the class was receptive to the information that I shared with you. As the song says "That's what friends are for". |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: PoppaGator Date: 18 Aug 08 - 02:22 PM Henry Roeland "Professor Longhair" Byrd. No one song, the entire recorded works... |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 18 Aug 08 - 02:54 PM Here are some more video links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miXQ265dMZM&feature=related {a young Odetta playing at Newport festival} ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34HEGq3joC4&NR=1 Odetta-Joshua Fought The Battle of Jericho ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aaya8jYZBO8&feature=related Odetta Live in concert 2005, "House of the Rising Sun" I've never met Odetta, nor have I ever seen her perform, but Odetta has been an important, positive influence on my life since the mid 1960s when I saw an album cover of her with her hair in a natural {an afro}. I credit her as being the first Black folk singer I ever knew about-except for children, youth, and adults who sang playground rhymes, and vocalists & choirs who sang gospels & spirituals. Unfortunately, I grew up without any familiarity with Blues, and Jazz and didn't start learning about these musical genres of African American origin until my mid thirties and older. I still remember with great appreciation how supportive Mudcatters were when I started a thread about learning the Blues in Feb 2005 thread.cfm?threadid=78209#1402357 "Feelin The Blues". Thanks!!! |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: John Hardly Date: 18 Aug 08 - 02:57 PM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmjULeODgqc Donnie Hathaway http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7t_AD_rbsI Mavis Staples http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX8fZ-lWhFA Gladys Knight http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwfrvNNoIGU&feature=related Brook Benton http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my36wsyfH-0&feature=related David Ruffin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD4O0KBCPHw Stevie Wonder http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAO7XFjXzYo Tower Of Power http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ew3BtOb_u8 Veronica Nunn http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oJ8ZuvVSwA Marvin Gaye http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCbdpG1WJYA Major Harris http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q3a1rH_fAI Ray Charles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEke7QrtVLs&feature=related Johnny Hartman |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: GUEST,Jack the Sailor Date: 18 Aug 08 - 03:02 PM Azizi you had me at 17 Aug 08 - 09:53 PM Marley's songs are better than mere music. Sam Cooke, Nina Simone!! B.B. King, Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry are some of my favorites, though I liked Chuck a lot more when I was young. Smokey Robinson - The tracks of my tears Blind boys of Alabama that dude from Oh Brother Where art Thou, the young guy who played guitar in the movie. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 18 Aug 08 - 04:18 PM John Hardly, here are the hyperlinks to the artists you posted: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmjULeODgqc Donnie Hathaway Donnie Hathaway ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7t_AD Mavis Staples ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX8fZ-lWhFA Gladys Knight ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwfrvNNoIGU&feature=related Brook Benton ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my36wsyfH-0&feature=related David Ruffin ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD4O0KBCPHw Stevie Wonder ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAO7XFjXzYo Tower Of Power ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ew3BtOb_u8 Veronica Nunn ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oJ8ZuvVSwA Marvin Gaye ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCbdpG1WJYA Major Harris ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q3a1rH_fAI Ray Charles ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEke7QrtVLs&feature=related Johnny Hartman I haven't tested these links to see if they work. Hopefully, they will, 'cause I'm feeling like it's Christmas and I have some good musical treats to look forward to seeing & hearing. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Michael S Date: 18 Aug 08 - 04:29 PM To me, this is hugely unanswerable but fun, so I'm writing the first thing that pops into my head. A pop song from my youth that I NEVER switch away from on the car radio--What Becomes of the Broken Hearted by Jimmy Ruffin. Not folk or blues, but great. Michael Scully Austin, Texas |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Jayto Date: 18 Aug 08 - 04:30 PM Oh yeah man!! The Blind Boys of Alabama are tremendous. Have any of you checked out Cephas and Wiggins? I mentioned them earlier in the thread but there have been so many great artists mentioned that I wanted to make sure they didn't get lost in the mix. For Piedmont style blues man they are top notch. I love hearing them play. Charles Brown has a voice that takes me away to a distant land. I melt and warm feeling inside. My thoughts are anything but blue while my ears swim in a tasteful ocean of jazz inpired runs hammered out on the piano by Charles Brown. Well I'm drifting I'm drifting Like a ship out on a stormy sea piano starts it's blee blee blee blee blee blee a higher 7th note run that just seals the deal between the listner and Mr.Browns elegant and tasteful jazz inspired blues. I love Charles Brown his earlier stuff is by far his best in my opinion. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Michael S Date: 18 Aug 08 - 04:33 PM Oh-- and in addition to Jimmy Ruffin (see above) just about anything by Johnny Adams, the late R&B singer from New Orleans. Michael Scully Austin, TX |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Jayto Date: 18 Aug 08 - 04:33 PM Oh man I can't leave out Louis Armstrong Josephine Baker |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Jayto Date: 18 Aug 08 - 04:34 PM |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Barry Finn Date: 18 Aug 08 - 04:35 PM Odetta performed at The Mystic Soeaport Maritime Music Festival back 10 or so yrs ago. I was performing at that same festival as well. Well Odetta has been one of my folk hero's since the 60's & I was thrilled that I was on the same performers list as she was, quite exciting for me. What a let down when I heard her, I left the stage area in the middle of her performance after waiting for it to get better, I was nearly in tears. I had seen her a number of times but only way back in the 60's, her stage preformence was so much the same that I could almost finish her lines as she spoke. I have no idea why she was at a sea music fest ot begin with, that not being her aerea of speciality but I'm hoping that was the reason she may have relied upon such an old & familiar showing. Sorry Azizi, but though I've loved Odetta going but to my teens I said what I felt needing saying. Saying that I should also say that I seen & heard most of the others I've mentioned, The Georgia Sea Island Singers in their various line ups, the Manhanden Chanteymen (I've heard recently that they are mostly dying off) the Buckinham Lining Bar Gang (they may be dying off to, I don't know)< Kim & Reggie Harris (who I didn't mention but someone lese did), got to hear a prison gang perform at one of the last of the early Newport Folk Festivals & I don't think that I can say how moving these groups were. I grew up with a lot of the other R&B & older Blues folks mentioned but when it comes to those that are singing "from the field" as it were, there is no greater human emotion felt, musically, than when in the mists of the singers & songs that helped a group, any group with the survival & the lifting of their human condition. I don't know why folks don't go more often tpo the field recording or the source singers when they're looking for the core of a music that their trying on for a fit. Another group I neglected that some one mentioned is the Georgia Sea Island Singers . There are a few CD's featuring them one is on the Lomax collecion; "Southern Journey/Earliest Times"-Georgia Sea Island Songs for Everyday Living again on Rounder 1998 & out on New World Records "Georgia Sea Island Songs" Another from the prison work gangs that I missed above is "Prison Worksongs" recorded at Angola State Prions, Lousiana, this is on Arhoolie CD#448 & was recorded by Dr Harry Oster 1959. This is a classic. Barry |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Jayto Date: 18 Aug 08 - 04:41 PM Sorry computer troubles as I was saying you can't leave out Count Basie George Clinton ( I know ya'll may hate me for that one but...) Cab Calloway John Coltrane Lester Young Howlin' Wolf Sarah Vaughn Fats Waller Ma Rainey Theolonius Monk Theolonius Monk Theo...oops sorry got carried away Jelly Roll Morton Charles Mingus Quincy Jones Ben Harper Man I could keep going and going Wes Montgomery and I said Wes Montgomery Ah man |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: topical tom Date: 18 Aug 08 - 04:44 PM Here are a couple of other links: Taj Mahal with "The Bourgeios Blues" The Carolina Chocolate Drops with "Cornbread and Butterbeans" |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: GUEST Date: 18 Aug 08 - 04:56 PM I met Odetta at the Folk Fest. in Calgary 9 yrs. ago... folks were saying that she had some health problems..mild stroke or something to that effect... I remember she walked into that crowded staff and performers room like royalty... walked straight up to me, offered her hand and introduced herself... I had never met her before or since... but will always remember that moment.. talk about regal bearing...
Thanks. -Joe Offer- |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: John Hardly Date: 18 Aug 08 - 05:09 PM This link didn't work. It's too good to leave off... Donny Hathaway |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 18 Aug 08 - 05:09 PM Barry, my comments about Odetta were in reference to her image and her spirit. From that album cover, and from the few times that I chanced to see her on television or written up in some magazine {probably Ebony or some other Black magazine}, Odetta appeared to me to be not just proud but naturally engaging. Whether this was or is real or was just something that I projected on to her, it worked for me at a time when I needed all the positive self-esteem reinforcement that I could get. Therefore, regardless of how her voice is or is not now, Odetta is still a queen to me. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: John Hardly Date: 18 Aug 08 - 05:11 PM Mavis Staples |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: John Hardly Date: 18 Aug 08 - 05:12 PM The other links all worked. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Desert Dancer Date: 18 Aug 08 - 05:18 PM Bessie Jones and the Georgia Sea Island Singers singing "Daniel in the Lion's Den" can be heard via this site ("African-American Sacred Music from the Florida Folklife Collection"). YouTube has several videos of Bessie Jones in a classroom setting. ~ Becky in Tucson |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: kendall Date: 18 Aug 08 - 05:22 PM Barry, don't be too hard on Odetta, so many of the greats don't know when it's time to leave the stage for the last time. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: GUEST,Joseph de Culver City Date: 18 Aug 08 - 06:04 PM Billie Holiday- Strange Fruit Joe&Eddie- Children Go Where I Send Thee/There's A Meetin' Here Tonight (Medley) Marvin Gaye-What's Goin' On Smokey Robinson and the Miracles-Tears of a Clown Jimi Hendrix-Castles Made of Sand Rahsaan Roland Kirk-Bright Moments Stevie Wonder-Living for the City Howlin' Wolf-Little Red Rooster I could go on... |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: PoppaGator Date: 18 Aug 08 - 06:11 PM "that dude from Oh Brother Where art Thou, the young guy who played guitar in the movie." That's Chris Thomas King, son of Tabby Thomas, the pride of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Tabby was not only a great blues artist himself, he was also an important club owner for many years. Tabby's Blues Box provided many a showcase for new and established performers. I'm glad to see mention of the "Tan Canary," Johnny Adams, perhaps the single greatest pure vocalist ever, hands down. Imagine Marvin Gaye, Tony Bennett and Ray Charles all rolled into one. His first-time-around career, like those of so many others, was restricted to the worlds of Race Records and the Chitlin Circuit; white folks, northerners, Europeans, and the world at large didn't get a chance to hear him. In his later years, the good folks ar Rounder Records recorded him with several excellent studio bands and brought his work into wider circulation. Definitely worth checking out. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: John Hardly Date: 18 Aug 08 - 06:30 PM wow. blast from the past. I haven't heard "Joe&Eddie" anywhere for a long time, and yet I was playing a cassette of them just a couple of weeks ago. Has that medley on it too. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: bankley Date: 18 Aug 08 - 06:37 PM Champion Jack Dupree "Junker's Blues" and "Drunk Again" |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Bee Date: 18 Aug 08 - 07:16 PM Well, this is the strangest thing. I wanted to add a fine Black group I heard fifty years ago to this interesting list, as a way of pushing back the history some more. I've been searching online, twice now, for information about a Black Gospel Quartet (Quintet?) who were popular in the 1950s and performed in Florida, for sure, but search as I may, I cannot find them. They were called, I was sure, The Rebels, but the only gospel group by that name and that period and that state who I can find is a bunch of white guys - who appear to be good singers as well, but they ain't the guys I heard and saw. I'm still sure they were called the Rebels. When I was six years old, living on the outskirts of Orlando for a year, I got taken to a gospel concert. I remember it well; it was in a big theatre, in Orlando or Tampa (I never did sort out those two towns as a six year old) and the singers wore red jackets, and sang so beautifully I didn't utter a peep the whole time. Their bass singer had a warm, room-vibrating deep voice. My parents bought one of their records (a rare luxury expenditure that year), we brought it back to Cape Breton with us, and they wore the same jackets on the album cover. That record was around for years before disappearing. Anybody older'n dirt like me, and possibly living in the Southern States remember these great singers? I'm feeling like I got moved to an alternate dimension around 1965 or thereabouts. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: GUEST,Mike B. Date: 18 Aug 08 - 07:23 PM Donal Leace - "The Water is Wide" (Got to see him perform it at the Washington Folk Festival two months ago). |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Barry Finn Date: 18 Aug 08 - 07:29 PM "Barry, my comments about Odetta were in reference to her image and her spirit." "Barry, don't be too hard on Odetta, so many of the greats don't know when it's time to leave the stage for the last time." Azizi & Kendall, her image & spirit & voice where intact & as fine as ever, if not better & as as a guest mentioned above when meeting her she's Regal is probably an understatement. It was her mirror performance of her 60's act that if found less than refreshing, maybe she thinks that, that's what's expected of her, I don't know. To me she's still a hero, it's just dissapointing when a hero fails you. Maybe she shouldn't have been on at a sea music festival where she was a fish out of water. I apologize, perhaps I should've cut her a bit more slack. Barry |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 18 Aug 08 - 08:33 PM Moving right along, here are some additional links to Black singers, and groups from Africa and the African Diaspora: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwMr3foanNk Ali Farka Toure -Soukora {Mali, West Africa} ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjwkJgMO_yg&feature=user Nation Beat @ Drom: "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" Brazil {and USA?} Nation Beat covers this classic American tune by the great Hank Williams -- with a very Brazilian spin [Note: for the purposes of this thread, racially integrated music groups are presented here under "Black groups"] ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMMSv2WpYKw&feature=related {Clifton} CJ Chenier- Bow Legged Woman - {Zydeco} USA ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVCn2WQ-cNk&feature=related Clifton Chenier - I'm a Hog for You {Zydeco} USA ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a_0BAW71E8 Rockin' Dopsie + Zydeco Twisters - Two Numbers (1984) {USA} ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55Onz-USmso Raram No Limit-Kanaval 2003 {Haitian Music} ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG_rfDfrAK0&feature=related Thomas Mapfumo - Kukuvarira Mukati {Zimbabwe, South Africa} ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ljv1P_bN3QU Kanda Bongo Man & Malage Soukous Clip {Congo {Zaire}, Central Africa} ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbBSDE-Dywo Youssou N'Dour & Neneh Cherry "7 Seconds" {Senegal, West Africa & USA} "It's not a second Seven seconds away Just as long as I stay I'll be waiting It's not a second Seven seconds away Just as long as I stay I'll be waiting" |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Stewie Date: 19 Aug 08 - 01:21 AM Here are links to some more personal favourite songs/performances: Richard 'Rabbit' Brown James Alley blues Washington Phillips Denomination blues Furry Lewis Goin' to Brownsville Charley Patton Mississippi boll weevil blues Memphis Jug Band On the road again Scrapper Blackwell Kokomo blues Lonnie Johnson It's too late to cry, baby Sister Rosetta Tharpe Up above my head Swan Silvertones Mary don't you weep John Jackson One black cat & Ain't she sweet Whistler's Jug Band Foldin' bed Skip James Devil got my woman Mississippi John Hurt Make me a pallet on your floor WARNING: This next link is to a SERIOUSLY XXX rated performance - Lucille Bogan's infamous 1935 recording that was not released until relatively recently. Not for the faint-hearted. Lucille Bogan Shave 'em dry --Stewie. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: GUEST,Marymac90 Date: 19 Aug 08 - 03:27 AM Some more thoughts for this thread have invaded my head, and I hafta let 'em out! Some more contemporary singers include Shirley Bassey (theme from the movie Goldfinger", Jovetta Steele (I Am Calling You, the theme from the movie Baghdad Cafe) and Jubiliant Sykes. Then there's Queen Ida and her Bon Temps Roulez Band, doing Zydeco, and the Queen of the blues, Koko Taylor. And don't forget Ma Rainey! For groups, I will never forget The Platters, whether with Clyde McPhatter or Ben E. King on the lead. There'a someone else rolling around in my head, but I haven't quite got her name yet. Hopefully tomorrow... |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Lizzie Cornish 1 Date: 19 Aug 08 - 04:59 AM Ayub Ogada |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Barry Finn Date: 19 Aug 08 - 12:47 PM Here's a real treat. I met & heard these old Afro-Caribbean/West Indian former whalers at the 23rd Mystic Seaport Music Festival (so I'm guessing that's about 6 or so yrs ago along with writer & collector Roger Abrahams (see "Deep the Water, Shallow the Shore", the Barrouallie Whalers feature heavily in his collection). This was/is a group of Island whalers that fished for whales/blackfish from open rowing boats & they sang to their work. Here's a link to a clip of 3 of their songs; The Barrouallie Whalers Barry |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 19 Aug 08 - 01:15 PM MaryMac90, did you say Queen Ida?!! Oh! I just love Zydeco music! Here's a link to a videoclip of Queen Ida that shows zydeco singing, instruments, dancing and also provides some information about the roots of this American music genre: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gHIscVQB84 Queen Ida and The Bon Temps Zydeco Band - Rosa Majeur ** And, MaryMac90, I see you used the word "rolling" in your latest post to this thread. Guess what that made me think of? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T7TgNdN8k8&feature=related Temptations - Ol' Man River [Melvin Franklin show his skills on the lead vocals]. ** And there really shouldn't be a list about Black singers and Black groups with just one Temptations song. So here are three more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltRwmgYEUr8 Temptations-My Girl ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNn361umypM The Temptations-just my imagination http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O75qOTCHOIs The Temptations - Get Ready (rare 1966 clip) |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 19 Aug 08 - 01:23 PM And then how could we possibly have a list of Black singers and Black music groups without having selections from the only group, in my opinion, that gave The Temptations any real competition in the late 1960s-The Four Tops: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_1QwoFZWpc The Four Tops-Reach Out I'll Be There-1966 ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJXIjme6BOo&feature=related The Four Tops -Standing In The Shadows Of Love(1967) ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HQEhuylZmg&feature=related The Four Tops- Baby I Need Your Lovin' {1965} ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StwKWpMI9R8&feature=related Four Tops- "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: pdq Date: 19 Aug 08 - 01:26 PM Add R&B greats: Louis Jordan "Slim" Gaillard" "Slam" Stewart (the latter worked for a while as as "Slim & Slam") |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 19 Aug 08 - 01:30 PM And though this isn't my favorite song, "Say It Loud {I'm Black and I;m Proud} deserves a place on this list because of the positive influence it has had on so many Black children, youth, and adults. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VRSAVDlpDI james brown,say it loud i'm black and i'm proud ** And here are two other topical songs that imo, definitely also deserve to be on this list: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9KC7uhMY9s&feature=related Marvin Gaye- "What's Going On / What's Happening Brother" |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 19 Aug 08 - 01:48 PM And how 'bout a shout out to the sistahs? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9uLbTkqaxc Patti LaBelle - Lady Marmalade ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9puW5ThSGw Gladys Knight & The Pips - Midnight Train To Georgia ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp5f8dEnmHY Gladys Knight and the pips - Neither one of us ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ryh5hVC1iE Pointer Sisters - Wang Dang Doodle ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R-ZE-gFcBA Dionne Warwick - Walk On By ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXGz8i0I2L0 Diana Ross & The Supremes - Someday We'll Be Together |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: RangerSteve Date: 19 Aug 08 - 01:59 PM Ethel Waters, Big Mama Thornton (her "Hound Dog" is proof that God likes blues music), Taj Mahal, the Golden Gate Quartet, The Coasters, Mississippi John Hurt, Stoney Edwards (an unjustly forgotten C&W singer). |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 19 Aug 08 - 02:23 PM This song was very popular in the late 1960s among the Afrocentric folks I hung out with: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZK80Mesqq0&feature=related Leon Thomas-The Creator Has A Master Plan. ** This is another Leon Thomas song that reminds me of those times when we'd get together at house parties where people would recite their poetry, play instruments, talk about saving the world, and listen to jazz: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqnsMwWAwxY&feature=related Léon thomas : "Song for my father" |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Jay777 Date: 20 Aug 08 - 05:20 AM Johnny Silvo has been around the English folk scene for over 40 years. Amazing voice, great entertainer, lovely bloke. My personal favourite of his is the Mingulay Boat Song. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 20 Aug 08 - 07:31 AM Jay777, here's the only link to a YouTube of Johnny Silvo that I could find: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O40J0vHjUms Johnny Silvo (NW/UK) - I'll fly away ** Btw, what does "NW" mean? |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 20 Aug 08 - 07:56 AM Here's a link to a Sade video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7OlA_Vjwz4 Sade - The Sweetest Taboo ** I'd love it if some British Mudcatters or others would add to the list of Black British singers/groups. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Bobert Date: 20 Aug 08 - 09:13 AM Well, yeah, I got into the Motown sound purdy heavy when it came along but before they hit the scenes there were alot of black singers who laid the groundwork for things to come and are still comin'... Born 'round 1894 was one of the earliest recorded bluesmen in Blind Lemon Jefferson... Not far behind, Eddie "Son" House, who really is my favorite bluesman who started recordin' in the late 20's and was recording well into the 60's after coming out of a 15 year retirement... Then the dam broke and all kinds of black musicans hit like a tidal wave... Some of my favorits: Johnny Shines Robert Johnson McKinley "Muddy Waters" Morganfield Bukka White Joe Turner Tampa Red Blind Boy Fuller Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup Big Bill Bronzy Leroy Carr Magic Slim Brownie McGhee Furey Lewis Then the Post-War sounds of: Elmore James Little Walter Pintop Perkins Honeyboy Edwards Guitar Slim Chuck Berry Then the Motowners: The Four Tops The Supremes Temptations Smokey Robinson Chubby Checker Ray Charles Aretha Franklin (not technially motown) Wilson Picket (not technically motown) The Big O (not technically motown) Then the Post-Motowners: Jimi Hendrix Sly Issac Hayes Marvin Gaye Stevie Wonder Roberta Flack Ike and Tina Turner Now I don't listen to much of the current passed pop black artists today but I do keep up with alot of blues performers who are still at it or recently passed and here's a few who I most enjoy: Corey Harris, who once tried to kill me (lol) Sparky Rucker, who will be visitin' us for 4 day next week Alvin Youngblood Hart Willie King Terry "Harmonica" bean R.L. Burnside, R.I.P. John Jackson, R.I.P. Jessie Maw Hemphill, R. I. P. Blind Mississippi Morris Keb Mo John Cephis and Phil Wiggons Of course, mah main man, N.J. Warren Mike Baytop Yeah, I'm sure that as the day goes on other "favorite" will jump into my head but that's a few off the top of my head... Bobert |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: dwditty Date: 20 Aug 08 - 09:40 AM So many in this thread that I love. When my high school friends tuned into pop radio, I was tuned into Rhythm & Blues on WILD in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Since I was about 13, one of my top two all-time singers is Oscar Brown, Jr. (closing in on 50 years) Maybe it is because he was a poet that supported his talent as a lyricist. Maybe it is because he was an actor that contributed to the emotion in his songs. Maybe it is because he lived the social conditions his songs describe so well that allowed others to understand. A friend remembers Oscar Brown Jr. Link to donnie l betts' documentary on OBJ dw |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 20 Aug 08 - 10:20 AM dwditty, Oscar Brown Jr. was one of the few singers on this list that I have seen in person. This was sometime around 1967 or 1968 in Newark, New Jersey. The song that I have the most vivid memory of his performing was "Brother, Where Are You?" Outstanding!!! Here's a link to a YouTube video of this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRyptFPs3wM Oscar Brown Jr.-Brother Where Are You- Matthew Herbert remix ** "Brother, Where Are You" lyrics |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 20 Aug 08 - 10:31 AM And speaking about outstanding, check out this brother from Mali, West Africa: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUCIPLCXS5o Salif Keita - "Sina" ** Here are two other links to YouTube videos of Salif Keita: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkUUaxjQCfI&feature=rec-fresh Salif Keita & Cesária Évora - Yamore. ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eGAa-rfR_g&feature=related Salif Keita - Tekere [an uptempo dance song] |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 20 Aug 08 - 10:47 AM I was a church going, bookworm when I was growing up. The first time that I went to a nightclub was when I was a sophomore in college in 1966 or 1967. I went to the club with a fellow student who was a senior at the college I attended and her mother. Miriam Makeba was supposed to perform that evening. However, she was ill, and her husband {at that time}took her place. And that is how I got to see a great performance by musician/vocalist Hugh Masekela. Here are two links to YouTube videos of Hugh Masekela: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKCk8o5xzaM&feature=related Hugh Masekela - Mandela (Bring Him Back Home) [South Africa] ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgYhTTZXP4g&feature=related Hugh Masekela- Coal Train ** And here is a link to a video of Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJiqvPMQXAc&feature=related Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela-Soweto Blues |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: GUEST,Marymac90 Date: 20 Aug 08 - 10:48 AM So far nobody's mentioned Patty of Tuck and Patty. Thanks whoever posted Big Mama Thornton, the one I couldn't remember last time. One great voice that sings on the folk circuit, Vance Gilbert. Also one immortalized in a song of Vance's, Charlie Pride. That's all for now--gotta go to work! Marymac |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: GUEST,Neil D Date: 20 Aug 08 - 11:03 AM The Mississippi Sheiks Hi Azizi |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: PoppaGator Date: 20 Aug 08 - 11:43 AM I hadn't know that Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masakela were husband-and-wife. I was privileged to see/hear Hugh at a recent N.O. Jazz Festival (April/May of last year or the year before). He brought the house down (if there's such as thing as a "house" outdoors!) with that old favorite "Grazin' n the Grass (It's a Gas)," among others. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 20 Aug 08 - 05:28 PM To change the pace a bit, here's a link to a compilation of soca hits from the 2008 Jamaican Carnival: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k11pqCazxM Byron Lee - "Dollar Wine", Soca's Greatest Hits - "Nanny Wine" & Mighty Sparrow - "Tiny Winy". |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 04 Sep 08 - 02:10 PM My first time posting to Mudcat as a member was on September 5, 2004.* Since I'll be preparing for a weekend trip and then traveling later that day, I probably won't have time to mark my "annivesary date" by posting to this forum. And so I've decided to do so today by adding additional song titles/YouTube links to this thread. * Fwiw, between 7/25/2004 and that 9/4/2004 date, I posted four other comments on Mudcat. For anyone who might be interested, here's my {rather feisty for me} comment about the song "Kumbaya" that was written on September 4, 2004: thread.cfm?threadid=65010#1264364 That comment led to several posters on that thread inviting me to join Mudcat. I'm glad that I did. I have "met" a number of interesting, talented, a good hearted people as a result of my participation in Mudcat. And, although sometimes "the road has been rocky", I'm grateful for the opportunities that Mudcat has provided to learn about genres of music and other cultures that I wasn't familiar with. I'm also grateful that Mudcat has provided me with opportunities to share examples of my culture as well as to share, information and learn more about my culture. And I do so with the full recognition that-in point of fact-my culture belongs to all Americans as well as to other people who embrace it throughout the world. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 04 Sep 08 - 02:17 PM Although, hip-hop {rap} music is not my favorite musical genre, there are some old school songs that I like. Here's one of them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3kRuJhIVIo Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message ** There are times-like now-when I can really identify with the chorus of that song: "Don't push me, cause I'm close to the edge I'm trying not to loose my head It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder How I keep from going under ** I haven't looked for a YouTube video, but it just occurred to me that that chorus of that rap song is very similar in spirit to the African American spiritual "How I Got Over". The main words of that spiritual are: How I got o-o-o-o-ver How I got o-o-o-o-ver {Don't you know} My soul sits back and wonder My soul sits back and wonder How I got o-o-o-o-ver. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 04 Sep 08 - 02:20 PM Here's three classics that are guaranteed to raise a person's energy. And raising your energy helps to raise your spirit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXSUEjTp_IM Little Richard - Lucille - 1957 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pklsifwryp0&feature=related Little Richard - Bama Lama Bama Loo (VERY RARE!!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlkMc0ZaJmY Little Richard - Tutti Frutti (classic rock & roll video) |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 04 Sep 08 - 02:33 PM How can I have a thread about my favorite songs by Black singers and not include any songs by Roberta Flack? Impossible!! In no particular order, here are YouTube links to some of my favorite Roberta Flack recordings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI7gzXz1cHo Roberta Flack - The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face 1972 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52n4K9g2hcw&feature=related, 1983 Peabo Bryson & Roberta Flack - Tonight I Celebrate My Love http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mpqXu0z3wU&feature=related Roberta Flack - Killing Me Softly with his song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Sl-MHhEJxI&feature=related Where Is The Love - Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw8zKfd8BcM&feature=related Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway - The Closer I Get To You |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 04 Sep 08 - 03:05 PM I didn't grow up hearing the Blues. As a matter of fact I didn't start listening to hardly any Blues at all until shortly before I joined Mudcat. In 2003, I purchased an inexpensive Blues tape from a discount store and loved what I heard. That tape featured Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf and Bo Diddley. Here's one of the songs that is on that tape: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z-OG7yEP8I&feature=related super super blues band muddy waters howlin' wolf bo diddley little red rooster ** Here are some other Blues songs that I love: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TwEYuues6Y&NR=1 Howlin' Wolf- Spoonful {1960} ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LNt5J0Cesc Howlin' Wolf -Smokestack Lightning ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oQ9OCQdnCY&feature=related Wang Dang Doodle by Willie Dixon live at Montreal Jazz Festival |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 05 Sep 08 - 07:36 AM Here are four more songs for the road {or the river}: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8Tiz6INF7I Ray Charles-Hit the road Jack! ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0891fMsvBy4 Keb Mo' - Folsom Prison Blues ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtTmcZzR6kI Keb' Mo' Angelina ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54XRNQ2C2x0 Tina & Ike Turner - Proud Mary |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Paul Burke Date: 05 Sep 08 - 07:47 AM Anything from the Bhundu Boys first record, Shabini. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 05 Sep 08 - 08:40 AM Paul Burke, I didn't know this group nor did I know anything about Zimbabwean music before reading your post. I still know very little about the music of that nation in Southern Africa, but from the YouTube videos I learned that The Bhundu Boys play Zimbabwean jit music. For others who also may not know about this music, here's some information that I found through Google: "Jit (jiti, jit-jive) Sometimes known as the Harare beat, jit is the highly danceable music Zimbabwe is best known for. Jit gained international exposure during the 1980s through the Bhundu Boys and The Four Brothers, and is characterized by fast guitar riffs and rapid-fire drumming. A true melting pot, the popular sound is influenced by Tanzanian guitar, said to be brought back by returning soldiers, the bass of Congolese rhumba, and the mbira-guitar of chimurenga. Others, such as the Chazezesa Challengers, mix a blend of jit and sungura. Artists include the Bhundu Boys, The Four Brothers, and the Chazezesa Challengers." http://www.embargo.ca/zim/info/genres.htm -snip- That page also includes a brief description of other types of Zimbabwean music, including Sungura. "Sungara An offshoot of Zimbabwean rhumba and jit, sungura is an exptremely popular genre in Zimbabwe. Still heavily guitar-based, songs generally feature a reaggae feel, as well as more prominent vocal lines as the rapid-fire guitar of other styles takes a backseat. The genre hit its peak in the mid-1990s and is still going strong today despite the prominent rise of R&B in Africa. Artists include John Chibadura, Leonard Dembo, Alick Macheso, and the Sungura Boys." -snip- Here are links to two Bhundu Boys songs. I don't know if these songs come from their record or if they are representative of that record. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBmRqiAMsBA&feature=related Bhundu Boys-Hatisi Tose ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sbaEv73n08&feature=related Bhundu Boys-Kuroja Chete -snip- And here are links to two Alick Macheso YouTube video clips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioWbpRci8Ek&feature=related Alick Macheso-Monalisa-Zvakanaka Zvakadaro ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8i2Q9PwNTw&feature=related Aleck Macheso [Cheso]-Chengetayi |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Mr Happy Date: 05 Sep 08 - 08:56 AM http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7zPHgvhor5E |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Mr Happy Date: 05 Sep 08 - 08:59 AM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhundu_Boys |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Barry Finn Date: 06 Sep 08 - 03:20 AM Why can't we get more examples of more 'roots' music. The 'rock', 'hip-hop', 'rap', 'R&B', 'Soul' & etc are all well representive of Black singers & musicians & groups,,,,,BUT,,,,,this is a "folk site". Now I didn't mention "blues', 'Gospel' & 'Spirituals' cause I see blues & such as a folk genre. So where are all the examples of the folk side of the Black music scene (I know, we have seen some of these but where's the rest?)? "The purpose of this thread is to share examples of songs from African American, African, Caribbean cultures and other Black cultures." Well the African part has done well in this thread & so has the non folk genres, can we get a bit more folky here? I'd like to see more color in what I'd call a white folk scene & maybe this thread could shine a bit of light why that's not so. There's certinally enough of it in the past, why not now in the present & will there be no Black roots/folk music in the future? It's been documented by a few that up to 25% of the cowboys were of color, Where's their music (1 CD from the Lomax collection, titled "Black Texans")? The same figure has been said of sailors of color (that's about the highest I've seen though & that was for the NorthEast US during a very fine timeline) so where's their music? I did give a few examples above. What about songs from railway workers of color, all the track lining gangs. Where the songs of the gandy dancers & the levee workers, the convicts, the songs & music of the slaves, mule skinners & drivers (did Lomax write to only box on this subject?)? Is that all there is, tell me it ain't so, where did it all go & why is no one of color doing this music today? Why is the Carolina Chocolate Drops the only Black group (string band) that anybody can name (in this thread) that's doing the folk circut today (aside from Sparky, but he's not a group)? Is there not enough interest on our (White folkies) part, is there not enough interest on their (Black Folkies) part? It is strange because the worksongs from the Black culture where the last to survive (for the most part, in the white world). The Eastern seaboard's watermen singing up until the mid 1960's & the same with the convict gangs, the mid 1960's. Cowboys died out way back, lumberjacks, railtroad gangs & the canal workers not too long ago but still a good ways before the mid 60's. So did the type of music leave a bad taste in the mouths of the singers that they felt that they needed to remove this type of music from their folk memory? Did the folk collectors neglect something in their search? No, there are collections. Still you've got the bluse so maybe that's not the case. So what gives, is it just Mudcat? Anyway, I'd be tickled to see some more examples of Black Folk music given on this thread. For myself I don't care about the blues, there's plenty here already & I spent my teen years heavily in the blues so I'm not gonna learn much there but I'd like to learn about more of what ever anyone else can provide on the folk side of things here. Ok, I held off & was gonna pass on this, it's been a pet peeve of mine for quite awhile, then the thread came back & I deceided it's time to put this out there. Why aren't there more Black people interested in & playing & singing folk music? What did we do so wrong that I hardly see any festivals of color? Maybe this should be a thread all it's own, sorry if I side-swiped this. Barry |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: GUEST,machree01 Date: 06 Sep 08 - 06:42 AM http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=57tK6aQS_H0 The Platters - Smoke Gets In a Your Eyes. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: John Minear Date: 06 Sep 08 - 07:10 AM In a rather quick run through of this thread, I only found one reference to the Carolina Chocolate Drops. So I will add my vote for them! Check out their links here and Google them on You Tube. Look at where they have been in the last year and where they will be in the future. They are amazing musicians, artists and people. http://www.carolinachocolatedrops.com/ http://www.myspace.com/carolinachocolatedrops |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: GUEST,Marymac90 Date: 06 Sep 08 - 01:49 PM Hello Azizi, Barry, et al! Thanks again for starting this thread, Azizi! Barry's post calls for some reflection and response. Barry, you make many good points, and I am not trying to disagree with the majority of what you said in your post. Hopefully, this will build on your post. Barry, the "old" folk music, that which was passed down strictly through the oral tradition, was done so because there WERE no alternatives (except writing them down, and many folkies didn't read or write music, and some were illiterate). After recording technology was developed, of course, Lomax et al started recording people, and some went on from there to get careers as recording artists. I wish there had been more "Lomaxes" and they had recorded the other groups that you mentioned. I fear that there are few who remember the songs that those groups must have sung as they worked and entertained themselves. In more recent times there is little need for another "Lomax" to record people--people who sing and play know that there is a way to record themselves, and market those recordings. The other side of that coin is that people no longer sing while they work, unless they are singing along with recordings, radio, etc. Most people don't sing with others for the fun of it, except for those who sing in church. I don't think that you can say that "folk music" is either the music that was passed down by oral tradition from before there was recording technology, or the music that is labeled "folk music" and marketed to "folkies". IMHO, folk SONGS are those that are singable, and those that people who sing for their own pleasure like to sing. The Philly FSS has two annual weekends rather like the Getaway, with somewhat less emphasis on the "trad" part of folk music. At these weekends, in addition to workshops focussed on Irish and bluegrass music, there are also workshops on doo wop, the Beatles and the British Invasion, the Grateful Dead, etc. Certainly many songs that were once considered "country music" or "blues" have now been "adopted" into the "folk music" category. I think that many songs that were first categorized as "R&B", "soul" and "rock" deserve to be officially "adopted" into the folk genre as well. On another thread there was discussion of how in some areas or organizations, folk music is synonomous with singer-songwritiers. I like a whole bunch of S/S'ers, but there are others whose tunes don't catch my ear, whose lyrics don't speak to my heart. At the same time, there are songs in the doo wop, soul, and rock categories that I could take to a song circle, and know the whole place would be singing with me in a heartbeat. As far as why more African-Americans are not singing and playing older A-A music, I recall there was some discussion of that earlier in this thread. I do believe there is a sentiment in the A-A community that favors more modern music, movies, etc. My guess is that people feel uncomfortable being reminded of slavery and segregation times. I also think that A-A culture, like American culture in general, favors stars, top 40 hits, etc. There are festivals that do draw many A-A attenders, but they tend to be in urban areas, and don't involve camping, etc. Both Philly and Wilmington DE have reggae festivals in their riverfront recreation areas, for instance. Anyway, I don't think you side-swiped the thread, Barry. I may have committed a bigger sin myself--resurrecting the "What is folk music?" issue again! Please forgive me, and let the discussion continue! Marymac |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Helen Date: 06 Sep 08 - 06:03 PM Hi Azizi, I'm going to read all of this thread but it would take me all day to list my favourites, and without counting, I think that the majority of my popular/blues/swing etc CD & vinyl collection would be African, African-American or Black singers or groups or musicians. Stand-out favourite: Billie Holiday. I recently bought a 10 CD set of her songs. I listen to the CD's almost every day at work. I don't get all the way through the 10 CD's in one day's work, but I pick up where I left off the next day. The more I hear her the more impressed with her skill I become, and the more enchanted. I've been learning piano this year and the first 3 piano books I bought have lots of Billie Holiday songs in them. A partial list: I have a 3 CD set of music from all over Africa, which I bought at least 12 years ago. Love it. When I was driving long hours in one job I played it in the car, just about non-stop for a year and a half. Africa: Never Stand Still Other artists I love: Louis Armstrong (since I first heard him when I was little) Special A.K.A. Fats Domino Chuck Berry Nina Simone Miriam Makeba Kanda Bongo Man Youssou N'Dour, including the duet he did with Neneh Cherry Cab Calloway Ladysmith Black Mambazo Lots of blues and 1940's musicians Michael Franti Zap Mama Also Australian Aboriginal singers/musicians: Yothu Yindi The Warumpi Band Archie Roach Jimmy Little Christine Anu Troy Cassar-Daley Kev Carmody & Ruby Hunter I'll have to look through my collection for a more complete list. I realised the other day that most of the music I play at work is African or African-American. Helen |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 07 Sep 08 - 06:46 PM Barry Finn, in your 06 Sep 08 - 03:20 AM you listed various types of songs and asked {among other questions} where were examples of those songs in this thread and "why aren't there more Black people interested in & playing & singing folk music"., and "what did we do so wrong that [you] hardly see any festivals of color?" I'm not sure that your questions are pertinent to this particular thread. However, if people wish to respond to your questions here or on another Mudcat thread, I'd be interested in reading their comments. But as for me, I just feel like listing my favorite songs by Black singers and Black groups, regardless of their genre. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 07 Sep 08 - 06:49 PM Merrymac, thanks for your comments. ** Helen, I was lucky enough to find that Africa Stand Still CD set at a used music store. I agree it is very good. Thanks, in particular, for providing a listing of Australian Aboriginal singers/musicians! |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Arkie Date: 07 Sep 08 - 10:44 PM Got to this a little late, and now I have a lot of listening to do. Some artists that I usually keep in my listening mix are Nina Simone, Fats Domino, the Platters, Taj Mahal and Richie Havens. I like just about everything I have heard from Nina Simone but have really enjoyed her versions of Dylan's songs. And I would not miss a chance to hear Richie Havens. He is one of my all-time favorite singers of any type. Also particularly like Joe and Eddies' version of There's A Meetin' Here Tonight. Len Chandler had recorded several songs "Lovin' People" and "My Father's Grave" that have haunted me for years. His LP was one of the first I digitally recorded when I finally got everything set up. Also like Rivers of Babylon by Boney M as well as Little Drummer Boy and When A Child Is Born. Will also mention Spoonful by Willie Dixon. And have to add Eric Bibb, son of Leon. Eric has a great recording with Rory Block and Maria Muldaur. Lightning Hopkins was one of the first blues singers I discovered many years ago, and I still enjoy his music. Two favorites by him are Lonesome Dog Blues and One Kind Favor. And finally another vote for Carolina Chocolate Drops and Odetta. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Art Thieme Date: 08 Sep 08 - 12:50 AM Bosie Sturdevant singing "Ain't No Grave Can Hold My Body Down" with members of his congregation vocally vamping in the background. It is an absolutely superlative performance. I haven't read this thread, but off the top, that is my absolute favorite. Art Thieme |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: GUEST,Bart Date: 09 Sep 08 - 09:02 AM Hi I'd like to ask for some help. Few years ago I've hard a black singer with the most thrilling voice ever, the bass was so low that it almost blew my speakers. I think I had an album of his called Yello/Yellow, or maybe it was a part of a band name, I've been trying to find it for a long time with no luck. Can anyone help? |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: GUEST,OneWorld Date: 09 Sep 08 - 11:04 PM I'm looking for 3 and 4-part African songs I can teach to my community choir. I've found lots of South African Freedom songs, and lots of Christian music, but very little else. I'm interested in Afro-Cuban and West African and Caribbean music. Any ideas? Thanks. OneWorldCommunityChoir |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 10 Sep 08 - 11:16 AM Guest One World, your community choir sounds very interesting. I wish you much success! With regard to your request, I don't have access to lyrics and musical scores of African songs. But I'd like to point you in the direction of one CD that I think might be of interest to you. That CD is Baba Olatunji's Drums Of Passion Here's a write up about that CD: Way before King Sunny Ade or Fela & Afrika 70 brought African music to American ears, there was Babatunde Olantunji's DRUMS OF PASSION. Produced by John Hammond and Teo Macero in 1959 for Columbia Records, it has never been out of print. This is quite a feat considering that this music consists strictly of traditional African drumming and accompanying chants. DRUMS OF PASSION is not a "field" recording however. Each of its eight substantial tracks is a spaciously recorded exhibition of crack African musicianship. Still, the mainly dignified tenor of the proceedings isn't quite as wild as the samba-mad BLACK ORPHEUS soundtrack, another 1959 recording that introduced real world rhythms to an intrigued Europe and United States. Still, it remains to this day a perfect introduction to authentic African roots music, a necessary reality check against the exotica of the late '50s" -snip- Here are several links to YouTube videos of Babatunde Olatunji: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYhFyF8dvU4&feature=related Babatunde Olatunji Jin-Go-Lo-Ba (Drums of Passion) ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMuA-E--aWU&feature=related Baba Olatunji & his Drums of Passion- Odunde ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wp1PKuqwPk&feature=related Baba Olatunji & his Drums of Passion- Akiwowo -snip- Additional Olatunji [oh-la-TOON-jee] videos are available on YouTube. And here's another group performing the song Akiwowo [ah-kee-WOH-woh]. Imo, this clip shows the choral possibilities of that song better than the Olatunji video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y21xynbjlqg&feature=related Akiwowo by Voices Of Africa Choral & Percussion Ensemble "Akiwowo - The trainman, is a traditional song from Nigeria, West Africa about the trainman whose name is Akiwowo. This song was taught to us by Baba Tunde Olutunji. Also recorded by Santana in the 1970's." -snip- Btw, GuestOneWorld, I'm glad you asked your question about African songs because Olatunji's "Drums of Passion" was my introduction to traditional African music and the song "Jin go lo ba" in particular would be on my long list of songs that have had a tremendous positive influence on me. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Paul Burke Date: 10 Sep 08 - 11:27 AM I thought this had sunk out of sight- but it got me listening again to old African tapes- what about this voice of grace and authority- Nelly Uchendu! |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: GUEST,hg Date: 10 Sep 08 - 01:41 PM "You Don't Know My Mind", "Rag Man" "Ballad of Harriet Tubman" are some of my favoirte songs by my pal Veronika Jackson |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 10 Sep 08 - 02:55 PM GUEST,hg, your hyperlink didn't work for me. I'm not sure which site you wanted us to visit, but I found this link for Veronika Jackson: http://cdbaby.com/cd/vjackson Here are excerpts of the overview that is provided on that page for Veronika Jackson: "Genuine, gutsy, blues voice accompanied by a soft Piedmont blues-style picking tells stories through each word sung, giving the listener a sound that is rare and sung from deep within. Inspired by Odetta, Maya Angelou, Sweet Honey In The Rock, Bonnie Raitt, Alisha Keys, Gladys Knight, James Taylor, Huddie Leadbelly, Bessie Smith and Elizabeth Cotton, and Personal Coach John Di Lemme, Veronika says "They in their own way, through their lives and or music gave me the inspiration to Believe in Myself and My Music."... For more than twenty years Veronika has performed for many venues and festivals, opening for various community radio stations, putting on concerts for community libraries, doing workshops, educating and performing on traditional and folk blues in her community and schools through her performances. Veronika has also performed on numerous occasions for The Awareness of Breast Cancer. Giving of her time to help build homes for others and also dedicating homes for Habitat Humanity. She enjoys sharing her music and storytelling with her audiences. Veronika keeps it real exposing many people to a new experience. Veronika has traveled as far as France entertaining music lovers. Educating many on the history of folk blues, sharing on songs and stories to the audiences, through her life experiences. It is important to Miss Jackson to keep the history of her culture, folk music alive. She enjoys every moment as she entertains and educates her audiences through her music and storytelling. Veronika Jackson's music will create a towering inferno within your soul" -snip- And she sounds great too! |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Helen Date: 10 Sep 08 - 04:01 PM Darn it, Azizi. You're making me late for work, posting links to Babatunde Olantunji's YouTube videos. How can I just stop at watching one? I'll have to rush home from work and watch all of the others this afternoon. A few years ago I did an African drumming course two years in a row at an art camp. I loved the polyrhythms. I'll never be a drummer but the course makes me appreciate the complexity of drumming and percussion, especially African and African-heritage drumming, e.g. Afro-Cuban, etc. The two courses provide some of the best and most memorable experiences in my life. Helen |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: GUEST,Tunesmith Date: 19 Sep 09 - 03:02 AM I absolutely love this song by Jive Five. To me, it is the greatest example of the art of doo-wop. Originally a big hit in the States in the early 60s, but unknown in the UK at that time. This is a modernish clip of the group, but they still capture the beauty of the original recording. The Jive Five - My True Story |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 19 Sep 09 - 12:20 PM Tunesmith, thanks for refreshing this thread. Your doing so gave me an opportunity to re-read it. And as a result of reading this thread again, I realize that I owe a long overdue apology to Barry Finn for my curt response to the questions he asked in his 06 Sep 08 - 03:20 AM. Among the questions Barry asked were these: "Why can't we get more examples of more 'roots' music....There's certinally enough of it in the past, why not now in the present...? What about songs from railway workers of color, all the track lining gangs. Where the songs of the gandy dancers & the levee workers, the convicts, the songs & music of the slaves, mule skinners & drivers... where did it all go & why is no one of color doing this music today? . Why aren't there more Black people interested in & playing & singing folk music?" -snip- When I started this thread I was in a "don't want to think heavy thoughts-mood. But that's no excuse for my brushing Barry's questions off, although admittedly he did not direct his questions to me. However, as the thread starter and the only self-identified Black person posting to this thread, I now believe that I should have at least briefly addressed Barry's questions. I believe that those questions are legitimate, and I believe that that subject is certainly worthy of discussion. And that discussion may be better suited for its own thread. However, more people may read those kinds of posts if they're located within a "feel good" thread such as this one. I'll send a private message to Barry regarding this, and also say in this public thread "Barry, "I'm sorry for my response to your questions". Let me also belatedly say "Marymac90, I appreciate your responses to Barry's questions". ** In my next post to this thread, I'll briefly share my opinion regarding what I think is the essence of the questions that Barry raised. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 19 Sep 09 - 01:10 PM I'd like to put aside any debate about "what is folk music", and share my opinions as to why I think that there so little interest among African Americans in listening to and playing examples of 19th century & early work songs (including chain gang songs, levee songs, and shanties) and 19th century "plantation" dance songs and other non-religious songs from slavery? (Which I think is what Barry meant by "slave songs"). I'm putting aside the HUGH role the music industry/mass media plays in this equation except to say that 1. Musicians/vocalists who might have been interested in playing/singing this music (if they knew about it) would likely reject doing so because IMO music making is mostly a business nowadays and those performers would likely come to the conclusion (I think the accurate conclusion) that there is no money to be made in these types of music. Which of course begs the question why is there no money to be made with these types of music, which goes back to the music industry but also I think is a reflection on the following points: 2. Few African Americans (or other Americans) know that this music exist. It's not taught in schools, and it certainly isn't heard over the radio or television etc etc But why don't we (African Americans) embrace these types of music and play it for ourselves and demand that it get on air play? 3. (As Marymac90 shared in her 06 Sep 08 - 01:49 PM post to this thread), most African Americans do not want to be reminded of the bad ole days of slavery. But I think it's more to it than us not wanting to think about slavery and the difficult times of the past. I think that African Americans are much more an innovative people than a conservative people. What I mean by that is that we (African Americans) don't value and treasure our past nearly as much as we should. Instead, we put the past aside and move on to our next innovation-in music, dance, language (slang), fashion etc. Old things-or parts of old things-have value if they can be repackaged into something new. Something old (like an "old school" dance) might even be reintroduced with little or no changes, but if it doesn't fit the mood and tempo of the times (which I think has speeded up considerably from the olden days of the 1960s even), it probably won't be embraced by that generation. (Which is another point-music in the USA-not just Black music- is packaged for the young (teens and young adults) and the middle aged, and not the old.) 4. Related to point #3, I believe that music, song, and dance are still intricately tied together for African Americans (and I think most Africans and other people of the African Diaspora). If you can't dance to the music, then it's not going to have a wide audience of African Americans. I think that's a major reason why African Americans aren't "in to" Blues and/or Jazz music (two music forms that we created). Once dance became separated from Blues and from Jazz, and they primarily became "listening music" only, most Black folks moved on to other forms of music that we created as dance music. (See my point #3 as to why Jazz "swing" dancing isn't that big of a deal among Black Americans as it is among White Americans). ** So that's a short version of my response to the questions Barry raised. I'm one year late, but I guess better late than never. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 19 Sep 09 - 02:33 PM Here's a link to a contemporary Kenyan gospel song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxb_gy8cYEc&feature=related Ruth Wamuya-Pili Pili eloow April 29, 2007 "Swahili african gospel" ** Here's a viewer's comment that explains what the song is about: "pilipili MEANS Pepper" she sings how can Pepper NOT in ur mouth hurt youß & if you see that someone is blessed, how does it concern you, when she was in temptations you took on ur heels, & left her to suffer,& now she`s blessed,she`s suffered all alone & why do u wanna be her friend now that she`s blessed, juz u r false friends & so on...it`s juz a real gud everyday`s life song that teaches us to be good 2 others in GUD & BAD TIMES! NOT ONLY IN GUD TIMES!God bless U RUTH! -baibegee ** I like this video not just because I liked the singer's voice, and the tune is catchy (although the only word I understood was "Hallelujah"), but also because it shows scenes of urban Kenya. I was interested to see that the singer and others danced to the music (which speaks the point I made in my previous post about how instrumental music, singing, and dancing are intricably connected for most Black Africans and people from the African Diaspora. From watching videos of African choirs, it appears that those choirs dance while singing more than African American choirs do. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 19 Sep 09 - 02:58 PM Here's link to a Ghanaian song that men sung while beating a huge rock with smaller rocks (as substitutes for drums) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoUNk0kb1x0&feature=related Old African Slave Song rorhan November 14, 2008 "This is in northern Ghana. I went on a tour of one of the oldest slave sights. They were not allowed to play their drums, so they took rocks." |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 19 Sep 09 - 03:12 PM Here are some YouTube links to (very short) videos of African American work songs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ch5IWTavUc&NR=1 Negro Prison Songs / "Rosie"1947 [RARE] monQsurlaKomod August 08, 2008 ..recorded at Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman in 1947.. ..taken from italian version'wax L.P. from 1977 ALBATROS Records.. ..recorded at Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman in 1947.. ..taken from italian version'wax L.P. from 1977 ALBATROS Records.. ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=025QQwTwzdU&feature=related Gandy Dancers folkstreamer June 23, 2008 "Musical traditions and recollections of eight retired African-American railroad track laborers whose occupational folk songs were once heard on railroads that crisscross the South." ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oms6o8m4axg&feature=channel Work Songs in a Texas Prison folkstreamer July 08, 2006 "Pete and Toshi Seeger, their son Daniel, and folklorist bruce jackson visited a Texas prison in huntsville in March of 1966 and produced this rare document of worksongs by inmates of the Ellis Unit." |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 19 Sep 09 - 03:21 PM Here's a link to the African American folk song "Black Betty": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwxxXt--PQo&feature=related James Baker and gang - "Black Betty" blindboyblue January 22, 2009 "This is the first known recording of this song. Done in 1933 by John Lomax at Central State Farm in Texas. Performed by James Baker and a gang of fellow convicts. Leadbelly recorded his version of this song, again for John Lomax about 3 years later. Taken from Library Of Congress lp. What is Black Betty? After reading numerous books and scouring sleeve notes and booklets I can say there is no diffinative answer. Popular meanings are a prison transfer wagon, a bull whip (or guard carrying one), a woman, a whiskey bottle and a gun. A song recorded by Lomax "Let Your Hammer Ring" also refers to Black Betty. Being interviewed by Lomax about the song a prisoner stated it refered to the transfer wagon. It is of course possible prisoners being interviewed wouldn't want to give away the meaning as being a guard or guard with whip for obvious reasons. [Thanks to jamesdv54 for additional info]. Prison songs, spirituals and hollers could be used to convey messages to fellow workers and prisoners etc. Say about a revival meeting or whereabouts of guards and such. It's important to remember though the circumstance of the singers. Their workdays were long, hard, unfulfilling and often against their will. As such, for the most part, the songs served as a cadence to get the work done or a means to lift the spirit. Here's the lyrics as we hear them: Remember every sentence is followed by a "bam-a-lam"/"bam-ba-lam". The "x2" in brackets indicates the sentence is sung twice. The words in brackets indicate the change for the second repition. Oh black betty (x2) Black Betty where you come from (x2) Well I come from.....?... Well I'm going to Texacana Black betty what's your number (x2) 750 (x2) Oh lord (lordy) black betty (x2) Black betty had a baby (x2) and the damn thing crazy ah, she dipped it's head in gravy (x2) Oh lord black betty (x2) Black betty where she (you) come from (x4) Oh lord (lordy) black betty (x2) Now (oh) the baby had blue eyes (x2) Well it must have been the captains (x2) Oh lordy black betty (x2) |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 19 Sep 09 - 03:28 PM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYrK464nIeY&feature=related 'Black Betty' LEADBELLY, Blues Legend ** Leadbelly's version reminds me of a number of African American girls' playground rhymes, especially the rhyme "Pizza Pizza Daddy-O" that is one of the rhymes featured in this "1967 film by Bob Eberein and Bess Lomax Hawes that looks at continuity and change in [African American]girls' playground games at a Los Angeles school": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2YodFqZ7nQ |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Stringsinger Date: 19 Sep 09 - 04:27 PM Azizi, in jazz I think of most influential people are Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker. For me they define the evolution of jazz. The Gospel Quartet is a high-water mark of musical achievement. "The Golden Gate Quartet", "The Pilgrim Travelers" and the "Dixie Hummingbirds". Mahalia Jackson is one of the most potent vocalists of all. Louis made every song his own. Parker changed the tunes and made them his own. Notably, "Lover Come Back To Me" by Romberg became "Bird Gets The Worm", one of the most incredible displays of technical artistry and imagination ever done on a horn. (Check the album, "The Genius of Charlie Parker") BB King's blues. Josh White, a remarkable folk stylist for his time. Count Basie swung the swing in the hotel bands in Chicago. Ella, Sassy, Billie, (legendary vocalists, so much so that we know them by their first names.) Coltrane may emerge as being an important figure in his association with Miles Davis. The genre of Traditional New Orleans jazz reached a pinnacle in the early Twenties. Bunk Johnson, George Lewis, Jelly Roll Morton and the Red Hot Peppers, The Hot Five and the Hot Seven,Sam Morgan's N.O. Orchestra, Clarence Williams Four, and many others. Bessie Smith, "Chippie" Hill, Ma Rainey, and later Victoria Spivey and Alberta Hunter were notable female blues shouters. Memphis Minnie, Sister Rosetta Thorpe were guitarist/singers, blues and gospel. Black people lead the innovations and set the standards for jazz. Everyone else followed. Don't forget Art Tatum, the piano virtuoso. Fats Waller would not play when Tatum came into his club. He would say, "god is in the room". The songs? Billy Strayhorn who wrote "Lush Life" when he was a teenager. "Take the A Train". "Caravan". Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle, "I'm Just Wild About Harry" and "Memories of You". "Georgia Tom" who wrote "Tight Like That" became converted by Mahalia Jackson and then as Thomas A. Dorsey (Mahalia's accompanist) wrote "Precious Lord, Lead Me On", "Peace in the Valley" and other notable gospel songs. The spirituals which were code for escape routes during the Underground Railroad are some of the finest songs ever made. Favorite songs? There are so many. We are so fortunate in our cultural life to have the contribution of Black Artists. They inspire us all. Frank Hamilton |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 19 Sep 09 - 05:25 PM Thanks for your post, Frank. The only thing that I would disagree with you about is the portion of your post in which you write ... "The spirituals which were code for escape routes during the Underground Railroad". I don't believe that all spirituals (or even most spirituals) always contained coded references about escaping from slavery. ** "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot", "Wade In The Water" or "Steal Away" are the three spirituals that are most often named when people are referring to this "spirituals as code" theory. While these spirituals might have been used to convey the message that someone (or more than one person) would be trying to escape from slavery, I'm not convinced that these songs (and/or other songs) conveyed that message every time they were sung. I doubt this spirituals as code to escaping slavery" theory is accurate because: Trying to flee slavery was a dangerous undertaking. People were beated and mutilated or worse for unsuccessfully attempting to flee slavery. It seems to me that secrecy would be vitally important to the success of such dangerous plans. The "spirituals as code" theory presupposes that only certain slaves knew the true meaning of the words and phrases within these songs, or the true meaning of the act of singing the songs themselves. That theory also presupposes that every Black person was in on the secret of the songs, and could be trusted not to "tell on" a fellow slave and warn the overseer/driver (who might have been Black). And that theory presupposes that there were no loyal Black stool pigeons who would tell the White massa that an escape from slavery was imminent. Furthermore, the "spirituals as code" theory presupposes that White people on the plantation rarely or never heard these songs. Or if they did hear those songs, this theory presupposes that White people were so clueless that they couldn't connect the fact that a particular song was always sung right before the successful escape of an enslaved person. I'm sorry. I can't buy any of these theories. Were there coded spirituals? Yes, I'm sure there were. But it seems more likely to me that some renditions of these spirituas might mean that a person would be fleeing slavery, and some renditions of the same song would mean nothing more than the people were singing a religious song. Of course, this is just my opinion. I wasn't there-unless I was a slave or a slave master/mistress in one of my former lives. But if I was, I don't remember it. Consequently, I'm left with just my opinion. And now you also know what my opinion is of the "spirituals as code" theory. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: sing4peace Date: 19 Sep 09 - 06:32 PM A partial list of songs in my repertoire that I learned from the singing of Black Singers/Groups: Billie Holiday: Them There Eyes, God Bless the Child, All of Me, It's a Sin To Tell A Lie, Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone Bessie Smith: Oh Daddy Ray Charles: Funny, But I Still Love You, Georgia on My Mind Sam Cooke - You Send Me, Since I Fell For You The Ink Spots - I Don't Want To Set the World On Fire, Java Jive The Freedom Singers - This Little Light of Mine, Hold On, Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round, I'm On My Way, Wade in the Water Betty Fikes especially on - Up Over My Head Mississippi John Hurt - My Creole Belle Huddie Ledbetter- Midnight Special, Good Night Irene Sweet Honey In The Rock - More Than A Paycheck, We Who Believe in Freedom Louis Armstrong - A Kiss To Build A Dream On Tracy Chapman - Behind the Wall Rev. Frederick Douglas Kirkpatrick - Ain't I A Woman Too? Dinah Washington - I'll Never Be Free, Salty Papa Blues, Ain't Misbehavin', Please Send Me Someone To Love, Stormy Weather William Handy - St. Louis Blues Of course there are a kazillion more that I love, but those are some of the ones I play. Great thread. Looking forward to a rainy afternoon when I can check out all of the links you put up. Thanks for all that work. Joyce |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 19 Sep 09 - 07:23 PM Hi, Joyce! Thanks for adding to the lists of favorite songs by Black singers/groups. Your list makes for some great listening! ** I'm not sure if Nina Simone has been mentioned on this thread yet. If so, I may be duplicating some of her songs that I really like. Here a few hyperlinks to Nina Simone YouTube videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAYVaHEMK0I&feature=related Nina Simone 'Mississippi goddam' (Live in the Sixties) ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCwME6Jpn3s&feature=related Nina Simone: Four Women (Festival Jazz di Antibes del 1965). ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6_BWNzThJY&feature=related sinnerman nina simone |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: oldhippie Date: 20 Sep 09 - 07:33 PM Anthem Of The Rainbow - Odetta |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Stringsinger Date: 20 Sep 09 - 08:26 PM Azizi, Many of the references are explicit. There were also quilts made as road maps. Religious syncretism exists throughout the world. There is no reason to think that it isn't part of the African American experience. Dual meanings are a pattern for survival. The white plantation owners did know the songs but not as code songs. For example, a white owner or overseer would not know necesarily that he was the Pharoah of "Pharoah's Army Got Drownded". "Follow The Drinking Gourd" is explicit. "Steal Away". "Down By the Riverside". Too many references here. I think that many of the slaveowners were clueless. They ignored the songs or read into them their meanings of conventional religious expression. Certainly there was betrayal but I don't think it was widespread. The issue of religion and it's role in the Black Community needs to be studied in depth, however. There is a lot of misconceptions about how it functions here. Frank |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 20 Sep 09 - 09:06 PM Thanks for your response, Frank. But I'm not convinced. I think there's a lot of fakelore about African American "slave culture" including the use of code in spirituals. With all due respect to you Frank,(and you know how much I admire your musicianship and experiences), I believe that there are so many references about spirituals as code beceaus people keep repeating what other people have written about that. In particular, I'm not convinced that "Follow The Drinking Gourd" was really a song that was used by runaway Black slaves. See this quote from one of the posts that Mudcatter Q wrote about this on a thread about that particular song: "In the over 75 years since Parks published his story and song in 1928, no one has found any evidence of the pegleg conductor. There are no citations other than those based on Parks article. The story is dubious, since the underground railway operated by word of mouth in getting the escapee to the 'first station,' a safe location or house. A 'conductor' would supervise from then on. Also, as noted in this thread, 13 Apr 05, going north solo was almost a sure way to get caught, since the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 applied in ALL states; if found anywhere, the slave by law was returned to his owners. The story has been embroidered by singers like Campbell and Seeger (the one in the DT, for example) and in a book for children that I have seen"... thread.cfm?threadid=17760#1487775 |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Barry Finn Date: 21 Sep 09 - 12:32 AM I'd have to give Frank more than just mere agreement. Singing is a language & slaves used it to the max. In the song Ol Riley, I asked the Georgia Sea Island singers who was Riley thinking it may be a possible connection to "Riley" of found in sea shanties. I was told that Riley was a slave driver, kinder than most others & that's why they would rather leave with Riley rather than face a new slave driver that they didn't know & would alomst assuredly be much harded on them. Riley was his nickname & so his real name couldn't be used but everyone knew he was going & who he was. Go to the prison work songs the language was used there to & againg their white oppressors didn't care to listen to the songs never mind the content as long as the work got done & they (the oppressors) knew the work would not get done as well or as effeciently without the singing. Like shanties you could sing whatever the hell you wanted without fear or reprisal. The slave communication network was quite vast but simple. Their communities knew more of the world boarding the Alantic Rim than probably most of their white "betters". They were constantly being shipped or worked in ports where they had all the lastest news, this was their mail route & their telephone line, they would know who made it safely to the north, they not only worked the waterfront & ships they worked their own form of infomation pipeline too & they worked it very well. For more on this see "Black Hands, White Sails" by P & F McKissack pub. by Scholastic Press 1999 & "Black Jacks-African American Seamen in the Age of Sail" b W Jeffrey Bolster pub. by Harvard University Press 1997 As Frank mentions there are plenty of examples where slave songs sing of how to carry oneself, how to behave, how to survive, how to cook, how to hunt & how to find one's way to freedom & how to dance. Another good resource, although from a slighted view is "Slave Songs of the Georgia Sea Islands" by Lydia Parrish, pub. by the University of Georgia Press 1942 Barry |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 21 Sep 09 - 02:45 AM Barry and Frank, I have never said that there were no coded spirituals during slavery time. Of course there were. I have read that some coded words and phrases meant other things besides a fellow slave or more than one perrsons' imminent departure to freedom. For instance, I read that one word (which escapes me now-no pun intended), meant that a "social" dance was on in the area where the slaves usually go to worship. My point was-and remains-that all of the spirituals didn't contain coded messages, and for those spirituals that did include such codes, those coded words likely didn't mean the code each time that they were sung. Furthermore, I continue to remain unconvinced that the specific song (which is not a spiritual, by the way) "Follow The Drinking Gourd" was actually a song that enslaved Black people used to as a code that would help them find their way safely from bondage. And wih regard to your statement, Barry, that "Like shanties you could sing whatever the hell you wanted without fear or reprisal", I would like to offer my opinion that shanties were not the same as coded spirituals in that there could indeed be severe reprisals for enslaved persons planning to flee slavery if those plans were revealed. Frank wrote "Certainly there was betrayal but I don't think it was widespread." I'm not convinced that "betrayal of Black people by another Black person or persons" (be they "house slaves" or "field slaves) was not widespread. And I think that one of the major points that differentiates shanties from coded slave songs was that if that coded song was decoded -meaning: if a slave alerted the master/mistress/slave driver to the imminent departure of a fellow slave, he or she would likely receive some reward, even if that reward was a little bit more rations that week. If I were making secret plans to undertake the highly dangerous effort of fleeing slavery, I certainly wouldn't tell my entire community because I know that some people I live with and work with might be snitches, and sometimes the snitches are the people you least likely expect would betray you. And that's all I have to say-in this thread-about the subject of coded slave songs, although I thank you Frank and Barry for your posts as I believe that they add value to this thread. If you or others want to continue this discussion-in this thread-of course you are free to do so. But I'm free to return to more light hearted listing of my favorite songs by Black singers or Black groups. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 21 Sep 09 - 02:59 AM A lot of discussion in several Mudcat threads like this one are about the meanings of various words that weren't written in code in this particular song from another Black tradition: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP77Saty1cE. Dixie Cups - Iko Iko (oldies show). |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 21 Sep 09 - 09:50 AM FYI, I just found this website of "Classic and rare R&B/Soul Sisters ('50s to '70s)" http://rateyourmusic.com/list/nosialmenara/classic_and_rare_randb_soul_sisters__50s_to_70s_ This list was compiled by nosialmenara, who also has a blog on this subject at http://supersoulsisters.blogspot.com/ |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Mr Happy Date: 21 Sep 09 - 10:31 AM ........when you say 'by' - do you mean written by or sung by? |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Barry Finn Date: 21 Sep 09 - 11:02 AM Azizi "My point was-and remains-that all of the spirituals didn't contain coded messages, and for those spirituals that did include such codes, those coded words likely didn't mean the code each time that they were sung." I'm in full agreement with you Barry |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 21 Sep 09 - 12:22 PM Barry. Alright. :o) ** Mr Happy ?? If you mean the post that is right before yours, nosialmenara selected information/photos etc about "Classic and rare R&B/Soul Sisters from the (1950s to the '1970s)" and presents that information on that webpage. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 21 Sep 09 - 01:46 PM The myths about code words seems to be mostly the inventions of white singers since 1950. Of course slaves had sly ways of referring to their overseers, but these were not escape codes. Slaves were moved north mostly through the work of the underground railway, which had many unsung workers. As Azizi quoted from an old post of mine, word of mouth was the main means of getting a slave to the first 'safe house'. The efforts of these workers, and of the successfully transported slaves, make interesting reading. The Fugitive Slave Act passed by Congress would insure capture of almost all slaves who tried to escape without help. Bounty hunters abounded. This has been discussed in thread 17760: Drinking Gourd (That 'gourd' song seems to have been an invention of the 'collector'. It cannot be verified, as pointed out in that thread. A slave would have had to be an idiot to think the north star would guide him to freedom.) |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Mr Happy Date: 22 Sep 09 - 10:55 AM Azizi, No I meant as in the thread title: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 22 Sep 09 - 01:51 PM Hello, Mr. Happy. Thanks for your clarification of your question. What I meant by the title is Favorite songs [that have been recorded] by Black Singers/Groups". |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 22 Sep 09 - 03:28 PM I found this old African American gospel song on another blog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avR5FJtnFow&feature=PlayList&p=9FBBC0FDFE0DB024&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=42 The Meditation Singers - Jesus, Be A Fence ** Hearing this song and seeing the title, I realized that the title I had always given to that song wasn't its real name. I've always called it "Jesus Guard The Events" ("always" meaning "since I heard it sung, maybe on a Gospel radio program because for what ever reason I don't connect this song to my childhood church. Or if one of the church choirs did sing this song, they couldn't have sung it often since my family and I were always in our Baptist church (on Sundays and usually at least one other day of the week) and if this song was sung there more than once, I believe that I would have remembered it and knew its "real" words. The first two lines of this gospel song are: "I want Jesus to be a fence all around me every day. I want Jesus to protect me as I travel on my way." -snip- The way I've sung it (to myself) is: "I want Jesus to guard the events all around me every day. I want Jesus to protect me as I travel on my way." -snip- I suppose this is an example of "folk etymology" before I even knew what that folk etymology was. I changed the phrase "be a fence" to "guard the events" since the latter made more sense to me. Actually, Jesus guarding the events still makes more sense to me than Jesus "being a fence" all around me (though I understand now that a fence is a means of protection). When I was growing up I didn't live in a neighborhood that had fences around houses. Maybe that's why I didn't understand that analogy. But now that I do know the real words to this song, I feel that I have a choice to make regarding which words to sing. And my choice is to keep singing this song (to myself) my way. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: VirginiaTam Date: 22 Sep 09 - 04:10 PM God too numerous to count. My prized possession in my teens was my Motown Collection on 8 track, that I picked up at a 711 store with chore money and saved allowance. 3 tapes cost me $6.99. My mom was not happy about me spending that kind of money on something so frivolous. But then she went a little mad, when I paid $17.00 for a pair of Thom McCann pseudo Earth shoes a couple of years later. Back to the music. I had many happy hours spent bopping around with friends and siblings to the music on those tapes. Siblings not to touch on pain of making their lives miserable when I was babysitting. Marvin Gaye almost any and every thing. Mel and Tim - Backfield in Motion (why does that one stick with me?) My man Otis Redding. How can you not love him? Stevie Wonder of course. Yes to early Di Ross and Supremes. Did not like the 5the Dimension at all. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: wysiwyg Date: 22 Sep 09 - 11:31 PM Re: Codes in spirituals. Of COURSE spirituals were codes. Many-layered, most probably. I would bet most of us are not smart enough to understand all the layers. It simply requires too great a leap of culture for us, nowadays. (What, we want to be re-creators???) OK, if we can agree there were codes "of some sort," ya know-- that might be all we need to agree upon about it. Why not just be satisfied with that degree of agreement? I think it's silly to think that we, here, in this time period, can crack the code. It's not our business! It was as clear as it needed to be, to people who needed it to be clear, at the time it was needed. Now, it's mystery. That does not mean it's lost. We can celebrate mystery, but not if we try TOO hard to pin it down-- IMO the genre was always meant to be so much looser than that. When you try to pin it down. I've learned that's a sure sign you've missed the main point of it all. Contemplate, reflect, wonder-- but don't try to resolve it, folks-- that's not what it was FOR. ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 22 Sep 09 - 11:58 PM Susan and all other folks, I've said what I wanted to say about codes and African American spirituals/"plantation"* secular songs on this thread. If you or anyone else wants to continue that conversation on another thread, I may join you if the spirit moves me to do so. However, hencefort, I'll limit my posts to sharing more examples of my favorite songs by Black singers/groups, and commenting on the examples of songs that other folks have posted. * I put the word "plantation" in quotes because not all African American secular songs (or spirituals, for that matter) from the 19th century or earlier came from the Bladk folks living on large or small plantations. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: Azizi Date: 23 Sep 09 - 12:25 AM In skimming through this thread, I realized that the only Reggae songs I had posted were a few by Bob Marley. Here are some additional links to Reggae songs that I like*: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOhBOdxO6Hg&feature=related Burning Spear-Slavery days ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKtURqCt-JQ&feature=related Peter Tosh - Johnny Be Goode ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQnyunGnvwY Gregory Isaacs House of the rising sun * It also occurs to me that the real title of this thread is Songs you like that is recorded by Black singsers/groups :o) I should also mention that watching the videos and seeing the photo collages adds to my enjoyment of these songs. And watching these videos also can be learning experiences. |
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Subject: RE: Favorite Songs by Black Singers/Groups From: GUEST,pasweetie777 Date: 16 Mar 10 - 04:32 AM I have a vinyl album never released of Olatunji. How much do you think something like that is worth? pasweetie777@aol.com |
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