Description |
xvii, 200 pages ; 24 cm |
Contents |
Onto Sand Mountain, into sacred harp community -- The South: family and community -- The North: tradition, complications, and change -- Belief into organization -- Creating national community -- Going Hollywood. |
Summary |
The Sacred Harp choral singing tradition originated in the American South in the mid-nineteenth century, spread widely across the country, and continues to thrive today. Sacred Harp isn't performed but participated in, ideally in large gatherings where, as the a cappella singers face each other around a hollow square, the massed voices take on a moving and almost physical power. I Belong to This Band, Hallelujah! is a vivid portrait of several Sacred Harp groups and an insightful exploration of how they manage to maintain a sense of community despite their members' often profound differences. Laura Clawson's research took her to Alabama and Georgia, to Chicago and Minneapolis, and to Hollywood for a Sacred Harp performance at the Academy Awards, a potent symbol of the conflicting forces at play in the twenty-first-century incarnation of this old genre. Clawson finds that in order for Sacred Harp singers to maintain the bond forged by their love of music, they must grapple with a host of difficult issues, including how to maintain the authenticity of their tradition and how to carefully negotiate the tensions created by their disparate cultural, religious, and political beliefs [Publisher description]. |
Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 187-192) and index. |
Subject |
Shape-note singing -- Social aspects -- United States.
|
|
Shape-note singing. |
|
Social aspects. |
|
United States. |
|
Sacred vocal music -- Social aspects -- United States.
|
|
Sacred vocal music. |
Genre/Form |
Sacred vocal music.
|
Subject |
Folk music festivals -- United States.
|
|
Folk music festivals. |
|
Folk music -- Religious aspects -- Baptists.
|
|
Folk music. |
|
Baptists. |
ISBN |
9780226109589 (cloth ; alkaline paper) |
|
9780226109596 (paperback ; alkaline paper) |
|
0226109585 (cloth ; alkaline paper) |
|
0226109593 (paperback ; alkaline paper) |
Standard No. |
40019805396 |
|