Help: Composer search

Subject: Composer search
From:
Date: 10 Jan 02 - 12:47 PM

Can anyone tell me the name of the composer of Kumbaya, aka He's Got The Whole World In His Hands? What is the copyright date is another piece of information that I need. Thanks a lot. MM

Subject: RE: Help: Composer search
From: Sorcha
Date: 10 Jan 02 - 12:50 PM

I'm a little confused here. Those are two different songs, not aka..........

Subject: RE: Help: Composer search
From: Sorcha
Date: 10 Jan 02 - 12:52 PM

Oh, sorry, as far as I know, both are Traditional, by Anonnymouse.

Subject: RE: Help: Composer search
From: katlaughing
Date: 10 Jan 02 - 01:57 PM

Here's info on one of them:

"The composer Hamilton Forrest (1901-1963) is best known for his settings of American folksongs, among them "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands." Bearing a dedication to Marian Anderson, Forrest's arrangement was published in 1951 and clearly was a favorite of the contralto. Ms. Anderson once commented, in fact, that Forrest "provided a piano part that fits the words like a glove," and she often concluded her recitals with this spiritual, inviting the audience to join in with her."

As Sorcha said, they are both Traditional with various arrangements by different composers. Also, two separate songs.

Hope this helps.

kat

Subject: RE: Help: Composer search
From: Willa
Date: 10 Jan 02 - 05:10 PM

mglga I found this interesting; don't know how true it is, though I had been told before that Kumbaya was 'Pidgin English'
A Straight Dope Classic from Cecil's storehouse of human knowledge Oh Lord, kumbaya. Also spelled kum ba yah, cumbayah, kumbayah, and probably a few other ways. If you look in a good songbook you'll find the word helpfully translated as "come by here," with the note that the song is "from Angola, Africa." The "come by here" part I'll buy. But Angola? Someone's doubtin', Lord, for the obvious reason that kumbaya is way too close to English to have a strictly African origin. More likely, I told my assistant Jane, it comes from some African-English pidgin or creole--that is, a combination of languages. (A pidgin is a linguistic makeshift that enables two cultures to communicate for purposes of trade, etc.; a creole is a pidgin that has become a culture's primary language.) Sure enough, when we look into the matter, we find this conjecture is on the money. Someone's grinnin', Lord, kumbaya. Kumbaya apparently originated with the Gullah, an African-American people living on the Sea Islands and adjacent coastal regions of South Carolina and Georgia. (The best known Sea Island is Hilton Head, the resort area.) Having lived in isolation for hundreds of years, the Gullah speak a dialect that most native speakers of English find unintelligible on first hearing but that turns out to be heavily accented English with other stuff mixed in. The dialect appears in Joel Chandler Harris's "Uncle Remus" stories, to give you an idea what it sounds like. In the 1940s the pioneering linguist Lorenzo Turner showed that the Gullah language was actually a creole consisting of English plus a lot of words and constructions from the languages of west Africa, the Gullahs' homeland. Although long scorned as an ignorant caricature of English, Gullah is actually a language of considerable charm, with expressions like (forgive my poor attempt at expressing these phonetically) deh clin, dawn (literally "day clean"); troot mout, truthful person ("truth mouth"), and tebble tappuh, preacher ("table tapper"). And of course there's kumbayah. According to ethnomusicologist Thomas Miller, the song we know began as a Gullah spiritual. Some recordings of it were made in the 1920s, but no doubt it goes back earlier. Published versions began appearing in the 1930s. It's believed an American missionary couple taught the song to the locals in Angola, where its origins were forgotten. The song was then rediscovered in Angola and brought back here in time for the folksinging revival of the 50s and 60s. People might have thought the Gullahs talked funny, but we owe them a vote of thanks. Can you imagine sitting around the campfire singing, "Oh, Lord, come by here"? --CECIL ADAMS

Subject: RE: Help: Composer search
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Jan 02 - 05:18 PM

Here's a quote from Straightdope.com. No, I won't vouch for it. I don't know without doing a lot of checking.
"According to the ethnomusicologist Thomas Miller, the song we know (as Kumbaya) began as a Gullah spiritual. Some recordings were made of it in the 1920s, but no doubt it goes back earlier. Published versions began appearing in the 1930s. It's believed an American missionary taught the song to the locals in Angola, where its origins were forgotten. The song was then re-discovered in Angola and brought back here in time for the folksinging revival of the 50s and 60s."
Whoever wrote this did make some mistakes in the article. He says that the Uncle Remus of Joel Chandler Harris is written in Gullah dialect, but that is not true; the stories are written in the normal Negro speech of GA-AL-MS of the period 1890-1930, familiar to everyone who has lived in the rural or small town South.
I think "He's got the whole world.." is a late remake of a spiritual. I will try and check it out.

Subject: RE: Help: Composer search
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Jan 02 - 05:27 PM

I guess I was writing when you posted, Willa, a longer extract from Straightdope. As I noted, however, Harris's tales were not in Gullah dialect but in the common SE Negro dialect.

Subject: RE: Help: Composer search
From: masato sakurai
Date: 10 Jan 02 - 05:32 PM

For "He's Got the Whole World" info, CLICK HERE.
~Masato

Subject: RE: Help: Composer search
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Jan 02 - 05:56 PM

See the information on "He's Got the Whole World..." in this thread. Joe Offer found some reliable information.
Here

Subject: RE: Help: Composer search
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Jan 02 - 06:09 PM

A different exposition of the history of Kumbaya is given in this thread:
Here . Martin V. Frey is given as the author. He last renewed the copyright in 1985. How long does this renewal run?

Subject: RE: Help: Composer search
From: Sorcha
Date: 10 Jan 02 - 06:14 PM

I'll send an e mail.

Subject: RE: Help: Composer search
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Jan 02 - 06:15 PM

Sorry. I spaced out when I should have crowded.
Here .