On February 24th, the Church of the Holy Spirit of Lake Forest, Illinois presented a panel discussion on "The History and Evolution of the Negro Spiritual." Panelists included former Fisk Jubilee Singers Delano O'Banion, George Cooper, Robert Denson, and E.J. Murray. Nina Kennedy was the only non-Jubilee Singer panelist, as her father served as director of the group from 1957 to 1986. The Reverend Mother Jihan Murray-Smith, Associate Rector at the Church of the Holy Spirit, - and also a former Fisk Jubilee Singer - served as moderator. The conversation included much history of the Negro Spiritual starting with its origins on American plantations during slavery, and the importation of African melodies during the Middle Passage. Several recordings were heard including those of Paul Robeson and Marian Anderson.
Delano O'Banion
While the famous portrait of the Fisk Jubilee Singers commissioned by Queen Victoria was on the screen, Nina Kennedy shared information on Ella Sheppard, seated at the piano in the painting, who should be celebrated as an African-American woman composer of the 19th century, who notated arrangements of the spirituals sung by the group. It is no coincidence that George Cooper is the director and founder of the Ella Sheppard School of Music in Chicago.
George Cooper
Toward the end of the discussion, the Reverend Mother Murray-Smith played a video of the Fisk Jubilee Singers performing the spiritual "Steal Away." Nina Kennedy pointed out that the arrangement performed was her father's, and provided information on acquiring the sheet music for that arrangement. Several questions from the audience followed, including requests for an explanation on the difference between spirituals and gospel, and inquiries as to how many enslaved Africans were practicing Muslims. Kennedy clarified that the only legal gathering place for the enslaved was the church where biblical passages encouraging servitude were stressed. Delano O'Banion pointed out that gospel songs were composed in the 20th century, as opposed to spirituals that were sung on plantations and varied depending upon which plantation one came from.
E.J. Murray Jihan Murray-Smith
Order Matthew Kennedy's arrangements of "Steal Away" and "Ev'ry Time I Feel the Spirit" here.
Watch Nina Kennedy's master class with the Fisk Jubilee Singers.
Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili April Gibson and Nina Kennedy both contributed to this article to share their respective insights and opinions. April grew up listening to Hip Hop, Pop, R&B, and Hair Bands. Nina, herself a classical pianist, grew up listening to jazz and R&B, as well as symphonies and opera. Nina: While living in Paris I got in the habit of watching the news channel “France24,” and was delighted to find that I continued having access to France24 here in Manhattan. Now that most American news channels have become The Trump Show, I became more dependent on France24 to be able to hear some authentic international news. One day this summer while going about my business with the TV on, I heard the news anchor announce a feature story on “The Beyonc é of the Piano.” I stopped what I was doing to sit down and watch. The subject of this segment was world-renowned Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili, who has been referred to as "The B
Since Wikipedia refuses to publish this article because they claim, "The subject's references do not adequately show the subject's notability," I am publishing it myself. I'd like to see any of those editors try to survive as a Black female in the American South during the 1940s and 50s. Anne Gamble's accomplishments are notable as HELL! Anne Gamble Kennedy From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Anne Gamble Kennedy (25 September 1920 – 11 June 2001) was an American classical pianist , piano professor, and accompanist for the Fisk Jubilee Singers of Nashville, Tennessee . Anne Gamble Kennedy Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Selected discography 4 Notes Early life Anne Lucille Gamble was born in Charleston, West Virginia to Dr. Henry Floyd Gamble and the former Nina Hortense Clinton of Zanesville, Ohio. She was the younger of two children born to that union. She also had two older step-siblings, Katherine Lee
As you probably know, I am currently going through boxes and papers preparing for the publication of my first book of memoirs. Today I thought I would share with you this New York Times review of the Fisk Jubilee Singers' 1980 Carnegie Hall concert with my father as director and my mother as piano accompanist.
On April 23rd, I received an email from the Juilliard Alumni Association director. In it was an email from the president of the school addressing an issue concerning a workshop conducted by the Drama Division. Evidently, the Drama Division invited a guest lecturer who conducted a workshop on the African American experience during slavery. In the words of President Woetzel to students, faculty, and staff: "I write to you to address a September 2020 Drama Division workshop that has impacted our school community. While I am s haring a message below that was sent to the drama community by Evan Yionoulis, dean and director of the Drama Division, I believe it is important for our school community to hear directly from me. To live our values requires an acknowledgment of mistakes we have made. To that end, I want to state unequivocally that this workshop was ill-conceived and should not have occurred in the manner that it did. I extend a heartfelt apology to the individuals wh
The Metropolitan Opera A friend said to me the other day, "With all of your talent and accomplishments, if you'd been born white and male, you'd be a billionaire by now!" I thought about it, and realized that she was right. I've had to contend with racism in some form or other every day of my life, to say nothing of the sexism. I've watched my white colleagues take advantage of having powerful family connections. I've watched as my Jewish friends have made influential contacts at their synagogues. I've read how powerful white male conductors have mentored and invited my young white male colleagues to fill life-changing appointments. White friends have been invited to fill faculty positions at conservatories and summer festivals, and no one seems to notice that these faculties are lily-white, or that they don't represent the racial diversity of our nation. Now that most concerts and performances have been cancelled for the rest of the ye
While searching through more boxes, I found these two articles. Both are reviews of my father's New York Recital debut in 1958. The first is from The New York Times , the second from the New York Herald Tribune.
Matthew Kennedy directing the Fisk Jubilee Singers of 1971-72 Again for posterity (since all of the articles appearing in this blog can be found online in perpetuity), here is the review of the Fisk Jubilee Singers' concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. as it appeared in Down Beat Magazine in 1972. It is listed in the Down Beat magazine archives .
In 1871, Verdi’s groundbreaking opera Aida had its world premiere in Cairo. October 6th of that same year, a group of formerly enslaved African Americans set out on their first fundraising tour to save the Free Fisk Colored School in Nashville, which had been established by the American Missionary Association in the aftermath of the Civil War. Within three years, this group primarily made up of teenagers would find themselves singing in the royal courts of Europe, eventually singing before Queen Victoria who reportedly stated, “These young people sing so beautifully they must be from the Music City of the United States.” This group of singers became internationally known as the Fisk Jubilee Singers. The Fisk Jubilee Singers Queen Victoria commissioned a larger-than-life-sized painting of the group that hangs in Jubilee Hall today. Built from the proceeds from those first concert tours, Jubilee Hall was the first permanent structure built in the United States specifically for the purpo
I finally got the chance to sit down and watch the Oscar-winning film Green Book , on the life of African American concert pianist Don Shirley . As I had written in an earlier blog ( "Ebony and Ivory: A Dissonant Truth" ), I had visited with Dr. Shirley in his apartment above Carnegie Hall when my parents were in New York with the Fisk Jubilee Singers. The film gave a very accurate depiction of his home and the extravagant, ostentatious décor. The Real Don Shirley in his home Don Shirley was praised early in his life as a genius, a wunderkind whose forte was the traditional classical repertoire. Composer Igor Stravinsky said of him: "His virtuosity is worthy of Gods." But his record label forced him to play jazz, and sent him on tour with a jazz trio. In an interview, Shirley said that his record label wanted him to appear in overalls with a red bandana around his neck on the album cover. He refused. In my own book I have written about facing racism as an African Am
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