In our first and second installment on the African-American spiritual, we took a look into the meaning and importance of these songs.
In today's episode, we hear from Dr. André Thomas, the Director of Choral Activities at Florida State University. During our conversation, Dr. Thomas referenced a Psalm during his explanation on the creation of the spiritual. "In the bible, it says how can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? That same phrase was true as the slaves in America had come to a strange land. They formed their own new song. These special songs were born from their experiences as slaves and their faith and hope for a new day", said Dr. Thomas.
Dr. Thomas was not always appreciative of the spiritual and if you are interested in hearing how Thomas' opinion about these songs changed in this week's episode of Sing to Inspire, click the audio player above.
#SingToInspire Performance of the Week
Keep Your Lamps - arr. André Thomas
St. Olaf Choir, performer
Dr. Anton Armstrong, conductor
Check out these previous episodes of #SingToInspire
Sing to Inspire: Celebration of the Spiritual - Vol. 1
Sing to Inspire: Celebration of the Spiritual - Vol. 2
Sing to Inspire: History of the Morehouse College Glee Club
Sing to Inspire: Precious Lord
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