I belong to this band, hallelujah!
Subtitle: community, spirituality, and tradition among sacred harp singers
By: Laura Clawson
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Chicago
Language: eng
Number of pages: 200
ISBN-13: 9780226109589; 9780226109596
Subjects: Sacred vocal music; Folk music festivals; Baptists; Shape-note singing; Folk music
Description: 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].
Notes: Includes bibliographical references  (p. 187-192) and index.
Table of contents: title: Onto Sand Mountain, into sacred harp community; title: The South: family and community; title: The North: tradition, complications, and change; title: Belief into organization; title: Creating national community; title: Going Hollywood.