Upcoming Helena Chamber Singers Concerts
“FEEL THE SPIRIT: Music of the Negro Slave” will be held Saturday, April 25, 2009, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 26, 2009, at 7:00 p.m., with guest artist Megan Buness, Premiere Dance Company and the Mark Walker Trio.
Performances will be held at St. Paul's United Methodist Church. Tickets are $12 for Adults, $10 for Seniors and $6 for Students. Tickets are available at Grand Junction Mercantile, Leslie's Hallmark and at the door. For more information, call 465-0956 or send us an email message at helenachambersingers@yahoo.com.
Music of the Negro Slave
Why it is that “man’s inhumanity to man” should often produce great art is one of the mysteries of the human spirit. Some deep wellspring of creativity has certainly been touched in the making of the songs of the Negro, or African-American people. Inspired by the Bible, by their work and play, by their own experiences and great expectations, they have formed a language which leaps over national and racial boundaries, speaking to all men in a uniquely rich and varied art.
In their songs, the slaves reflected their way of life. While the original inspiration for a spiritual may have been a Biblical story or a Protestant hymn, the poetic material was reshaped to the slaves’ own immediate concerns. We know from the testimony of ex-slaves that the religious songs, more than any others, often had double meanings and were used as code songs.
