#group singing

The Fairfield Four were founded in the 1920s and have been going strong ever since, recently releasing a new album. They were featured in the film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, which brought them into mainstream prominence, but they’ve always been popular on the gospel circuit. This song is really made by the bass, Isaac Freeman, who digs deeper and deeper down the scale. You can even see the great bass George Younce in the background enjoying the music (he starts getting up out of his seat when the tenor goes off). The only problem? The Fairfield Four was started as a trio, and seems to have five members here; I’m sure they were a quartet at some point.

A few legends of bluegrass singing a great old gospel song. Alison Krauss sang this on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, but it’s a much older song Doc says he got from his grandmother. The valley is a common theme in gospel music, from Lily in the Valley to Peace In The Valley to the biblical Valley of the Shadow of Death. Maybe it’s the humility of the valley next to the mountain (a place where God is often found), or the isolation from the rest of the world. The geography was changed to a river for the movie, another prominent symbol in gospel music, and was played during a scene of people being baptized en masse.

An introduction to polyphony in the country of Georgia. It’s thought that polyphonic singing was around before the introduction of Christianity to the region, and both sacred and secular songs are sung. While the video states there are three different styles of polyphony, you’ll find many variations and local styles throughout the country. It’s worth noting that these singers are all quite refined despite being “folk” singers. Folk music was highly prized in Soviet times as a representation of the people and regional identity, and so musicians and singers were paid to study and perform their traditional music (albeit in a sanitized and censored way). The video is from UNESCO, which designated Georgian polyphony as a part of the “Intangible Heritage of Humanity.”

Sean nós Irish singing is a solo tradition, with no accompaniment or harmony. But these guys took older Irish songs and added some close harmonies, and the result is remarkable. The tenor, Frank McPhail, has an ethereal quality to his voice that sets this apart from other male harmony groups. They’re still performing at festivals, mainly around Ireland and the UK, but this was taken from a TV performance sometime in the early 90s. The River Bann is the longest river in Ulster, the northern province of Ireland, and flows mostly through Northern Ireland.

These are the Mpumalanga White Birds, an “Isicathamiya” a capella group from Durban, South Africa. Isicathamiya roughly translates to “walking softly” from Zulu, and seems to reference the choreography that goes along with the singing. Groups tend towards the theatrical in dress, movements, and singing (I love the white gloves as the hands shake and shimmer!). The most famous Isicathamiya singers have to be the men in Ladysmith Black Mambazo, who have appeared on many Western musicians’ albums, most notably Paul Simon’s Graceland.

magictransistor:

Angola Prison Spirituals (Prison Work Songs); Louisiana Folklore Society, Folkways, Folk Lyric Records, Louisiana State Penitentiary.

It somewhat debatable whether this is actually unaccompanied singing, seeing as it would have been accompanied by the swinging of axes, or the ringing of hammers on nails. Work songs were hugely important in many settings, as it allowed workers to keep time and synchronize their tasks. In prison (and in slavery before), men who fell behind the pace could be beaten, and so setting an easy way to keep up made everyone safer. Spirituals also provided an outlet for the longing to escape; they might not leave their bonds behind in this world, but they would be free in the next.

I can’t speak or read Russian, so I don’t know what the song is about, but what caught my ear was the young woman in the black shirt and her (for lack of a better word) yipping. You’ll see this in some Slavic folk singing, and it’s an arresting sound for sure. Also of note is the fact that while many similar videos feature people in “traditional” dress, often very staid or forced. These ladies look like they’re genuinely enjoying themselves, and they’re dressed in clothing probably much more representative of the Russian “folk” today.

Doyle Lawson is a legend of bluegrass, and while his mandolin playing is second to none, it’s his a capella arrangements that draw me back to him. This one in particular showcases some modern, almost barbershop-like harmonies within a traditional framework. Bluegrass has always had a push-and-pull dialectic over tradition vs modernity, and I think this song, and Lawson’s music in general, treads that line beautifully.

Cantu a Tenore has relatives in Corsica, Sicily, and on the Italian mainland, but the Sardinian version has such a raw sound. Part of that is due to the guttural, raspy sound of the lower voices, which sound almost like the throat singers and chanters of Asia. This is a nice introduction to genre.