The use of cameras or recording equipment during the 

performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell phones,

pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off.

Music Department

National Gallery ofArt

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, DC

www.nga.gov

Concerts are made possible in part through the generosity of donors

to the National Gallery ofArt through The Circle. Reserved seating is

available in recognition oftheir support. Please contact the development

office at (202) 842-6450 or circle@nga.gov for more information.

The Seventy-third Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

3,016th Concert

The Senegal St. Joseph Gospel Choir

October 5, 2014

Sunday, 3:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
Program

Requiem Latino-Wolof

Adaptation of Mozart’s Requiem in the Woloflanguage

You Better Mind

Traditional gospel song

The Storm Is Passing Over

Traditional gospel song

Bandia

Song in the Bambara language, arranged by Julien Jouga 

Ta Vueta

Song about the act of Grace 

Walay

Wolofsong for blind men begging for alms

Ele Way Way

Song to give young women strength and courage

during the traditional tattoo ceremony

Coumpo

Popular song in the Diola language, used to cast out bad spirits

Terra Sabi

Creole song to encourage farmers during winter plowing

Diot Niam

Traditional Serere song

The Musicians

The Senegal St. Joseph Gospel Choir was founded in 1950 by Julien Jouga

(1931-2001), UNESCO’s Ambassador Artist for Peace. Jouga served as an officer

in the Senegalese Armed Forces and also coached Senegal’s national basketball 

team. As a musician, he dedicated himselfto incorporating Senegal’s indigenous harmonic forms into Western choral music’s diverse repertoire, from

Gregorian chants to polyphony. Jouga was a visionary devoted to the cultivation 

and preservation ofthe Senegalese culture. Audiences and singers who had

the opportunity to see Jouga leading the Senegal St. Joseph Gospel Choir

recall his intense magnetism, and the way his long hands and delicate fingers

transmitted rhythm and voluptuousness to the singing. He and his choir

were one musical entity, touched by the same grace.

Now in its forty-fourth year and directed by Ambroise N’Diong, the

ensemble’s seat is St. Joseph’s of Medina in Dakar. Each Sunday in this

working-class neighborhood, the chorale interprets Gospel and Negro 

spirituals, traditional African songs, and the magnificent masses that

Julien Jouga composed in his country’s four national languages: Ouolof, 

Diola, Serere, and Portuguese Creole. The voices—to which drums, guitar, 

and kora are occasionally added—rise in a local polyphony invented by

Jouga, testifying to both his mastery oflanguages and his profound knowledge of Senegal’s rhythms and musical traditions. He prolifically arranged

and harmonized songs from the country’s rich folkloric repertoire, capturing the many and varied experiences of ordinary citizens. Jouga also interpreted and combined the Catholic liturgy and Senegal’s indigenous Muslim

songs to create an extraordinary harmony between the two cultures that

make up the nation. The Senegal St. Joseph Gospel Choir represents the

humanity and fraternity that exist not only within Dakar, but also throughout this West African country.

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