Choral Fixation

Jacqui and Liz are extremely grateful to their guests for the rich and illuminating discussion of the current state of protest singing within the Black Lives Matter movement. Thank you Micah Hendler, Nikki Nesbary, Caullen Hudson, and Patrice Rhone.

Micah Hendler is a musical changemaker, and covers music and social change for Forbes. He is the founder and artistic director of the Jerusalem Youth Chorus.

Nikki Nesbary is an experienced facilitator, trainer, and program manager. She is a singer and leadership team member with SongRise, a DC-based women's social justice a cappella group.

Caullen Hudson is a filmmaker, activist, and founder of SoapBox productions and organizing. He is a scholar and producer of the feature documentary Chicago Drill ‘n’ Activism, and produces and co-hosts the Bourbon ‘n BrownTown podcast. Check out their Collective Freedom Project, a four-part series highlighting grassroots efforts in Chicago, Atlanta, Texas, and California to fight crimmigration.

In addition to her digital activism, Patrice Rhone is a fashion fanatic, marketing professional, and blogger. She will also be rocking some classic 80s Madonna and Whitney with Jacqui and Liz at our next karaoke party.

LINKS

On the march: is communal protest singing poised for a comeback? by Micah Hendler, Jun 13, 2020

https://www.forbes.com/sites/micahhendler/2020/06/13/on-the-march-is-communal-protest-singing-poised-for-a-comeback/?sh=639ce5157372

Dr. Ysaye M. Barnwell

https://www.ymbarnwell.com/

Marching and Singing with Ysaye Barnwell - Black Lives Matter, YouTube, uploaded Jun 9, 2020

Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXV9c0-JZcg

Lift Every Voice and Sing by the Spellman College Glee Club, YouTube, Feb 28, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRF9FOPgLpw

Lift Every Voice and Sing by SongRise, Juneteenth Solidarity Sing, YouTube, Premiered Jun 20, 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko9I9d8Zu68

Tupac interview about food in hotel, YouTube, uploaded Dec 29, 2012 (from Tupac: Resurrection)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuBWjhEax3g

This is what protest sounds like by Breeanna Hare, November 19, 2017

https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/20/us/soundtracks-protest-music-evolution/index.html

Anti-maskers, the alt-right, and leftist messaging by Paula Ethans, October 20, 2020

https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/anti-maskers-the-alt-right-and-leftist-messaging

Anti-vaccine protesters are likening themselves to civil rights activists by Mackenzie Mays, Sep 18, 2019

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/18/california-anti-vaccine-civil-rights-1500976

Justice Choir https://www.justicechoir.org/

Kendrick Lamar's "Alright" chanted by protesters during Cleveland police altercation by Jeremy Gordon July 29, 2015

https://pitchfork.com/news/60568-kendrick-lamars-alright-chanted-by-protesters-during-cleveland-police-altercation/

Has Kendrick Lamar recorded the new Black national anthem? by Aisha Harris, Aug 3, 2015

https://slate.com/culture/2015/08/black-lives-matter-protesters-chant-kendrick-lamars-alright-what-makes-it-the-perfect-protest-song-video.html

Kendrick Lamar - Alright

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-48u_uWMHY

Reverend Gary Davis ~ I'll Be Alright Someday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovZZL_-SWTE

Pete Seeger - We Shall Overcome (Live)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1yQcIEFAFc

You About to Lose Your Job (Original Remix), YouTube, uploaded Jun 4, 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cDyvJu05bc

Chief Keef "Faneto"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuEx6lNHZjM

Ludacris - Move Bitch

https://youtu.be/3oIbztWsY8g

Black Lives Matter and Music: Protest, Intervention, Reflection, Edited by Fernando Orejuela and Stephanie Shonekan, from Indiana University Press

https://iupress.org/9780253038425/black-lives-matter-and-music/

The World in Six Songs by Daniel J. Levitin, from Penguin Random House

I'm Gon' Stand sung by Nikki Nesbary

I'm Gon' Stand by Bernice Johnson Reagon of Sweet Honey In The Rock, SongRise, YouTube, uploaded Nov 23, 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weuKNknUbqw

The books and songs discussed in this episode include:

O Sanctissima performed by the Daughters of Saint Paul, 2010

The Battle Hymn of the Republic by Julia Ward Howe, performed by the Canadian Brass

The History of We Shall Overcome uploaded to YouTube by creator Genie Deez, June 15, 2020

I’ll be Alright performed by The Angelic Gospel Singers

I’ll Be Alright Someday performed by Rev. Gary Davis, reissued 1972

Pete Seeger Talks about the History of We Shall Overcome, uploaded to YouTube by folkarchivist, Dec 29, 2010

We Shall Overcome (Live) performed by Pete Seeger, 1963

We Shall Overcome performed by the Freedom Singers, Sing For Freedom Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (1990)

We Shall Overcome (Live) performed by Mahalia Jackson

The Nashville Sit-In Story from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (1960) We Shall Overcome, Jail Sequence

We Shall Overcome performed by Peter Yarrow, Mary Travers, Paul Stookey, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Bernice Reagon, Cordell Reagon, Charles Neblett, Rutha Harris, Pete Seeger, and Theodore Bikel, Newport Folk Festival, July 1963

Blowin’ in the Wind by Bob Dylan, performed by Cliff Richards (1966)

Malcolm X, The Ballot or the Bullet, from Say It Plain, Say It Loud: A Century of Great African American Speeches (original recording King Solomon Baptist Church, Detroit, Michigan - April 12, 1964)

We Gonna Be Alright Crowd Chanting, Black Lives Matter, Downtown Los Angeles July 7, 2016 #AltonSterling #PhilandoCastile

Making Movement Sounds: The Cultural Organizing Behind the Freedom Songs of the Civil Rights Movement by Elizabeth Davis-Cooper (2017)

Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:39987965

Sit In, Stand Up and Sing Out!: Black Gospel Music and the Civil Rights Movement by Michael Castellini (2013) Georgia State University

https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/history_theses/76

From Sit-ins to SNCC : The Student Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, edited by Iwan Morgan and Philip Davies. 2014.

Thanks, as always, to Aaron P and Jeffrey Christian for reviewing the episode.

Big thanks go out to Canadian folk music icon Garnet Rogers. He kindly shared with us some amazing stories and fantastic music recommendations. Go to his website to purchase his memoir Night Drive: Travels with My Brother about his time on the road with Stan and check out his music on his website, or wherever you get your tunes.

Thanks also to Sam Pope, ShantyTok leading light, and lead vocals on The Wellerman’s Official TikTok version of, well, The Wellerman. He gave us great insight into the current sea shanty phenomenon and was extremely charming and generous with his time. Find him on TikTok (of course), YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and wherever you get your tunes.

Thanks, as always, to our unofficial co-producer, Aaron P.

Just FYI: There's a bit of salty language in this ep, which makes sense when you think about it.

Here are the songs, articles, and that one podcast you'll hear about in this episode:

The Wellerman (Sea Shanty) - From TikTok to Epic Remix, Nathan Phillips and others (Thanks to The Kifness for putting it up on YouTube)

Barrett’s Privateers by Stan Rogers, 1977 Fogarty's Cove Music

The Canadian Encyclopedia Stan Rogers, by Chris Gudgeon, Andrew McIntosh, August 29, 2013

Hail to You, Santa Claus by Stan Rogers, 1970 RCA (Thanks to Nick Spacek for putting it on YouTube)

STAN ROGERS: An Interview at Mariposa, 1978, Reprinted from The Folk Life Quarterly, Vol. III, No 1, Summer, 1978

Stan Rogers intros & sings "Barrett's Privateers" in One Warm Line produced by Kensington Communications

Stan Rogers shows off his first guitar from the CBC Digital Archives. Stan explains privateering to the host of Canada After Dark, Paul Soles. Broadcast Date: Nov. 30, 1978

The Maritime Cultural Resource Center Is the Stan Rogers song "Barrett's Privateers" true? by Dan Conlin

Sloop John B. by The Kingston Trio. 1958 Universal Music Group.

Stand by Your Band Tom Thakkar and Tommy McNamara talk about the bands that Pitchfork attacks and your friends make fun of). The October 10, 2019 featuring Charlie Bury is all about Stan Rogers.

Ordinary Day Great Big Sea 2011 WMG (This is the song Liz heard in a Scarborough bar)

Four Strong Winds by Neil Young. 1978 album Comes a Time, written by Ian Tyson.

Sea Shanty TikTok is the perfect expression of masculinity for 2021 MSNBC opinion piece by Hayes Brown

Michael Row the Boat Ashore by Pete Seeger. Live in 1963. (Thanks to Evan for putting it on YouTube)

In the Moment of Zen clip at the end, Jacqui is singing Bluenose by Stan Rogers. It is waaaaaaay out of her range.

The books, songs and Saturday morning cartoon discussed in this episode include:

The World in Six Songs by Daniel J. Levitin, from Penguin Random House

The World in Six Songs: Dr. Daniel Levitin at TEDxUSC 2012

The Power of Grayskull by Prince Adam, aka He-Man

The "Tenore Ulianesu" singing Sardinian Pastoral Songs in an Irish Pub

33 Revolutions per Minute: A History of Protest Songs, from Billie Holiday to Green Day by Dorian Lynskey, from HarperCollins

Yankee Doodle by The Robert Shaw Chorale (note: This isn’t actually played in the episode, but we wanted to note that Jacqui slightly misrepresents the origins of this song. The original lyrics, pre-dandy talk, were mostly nonsense words in English and Dutch).

John Brown’s Body by Pete Seeger

Tubthumping by Chumbawamba

The Diggers’ Song Chumbawamba

Captain Kidd by Great Big Sea

Bonus hymn based on a song about a pirate: Precious Name performed by Dr. Terry Morris, First United Methodist, Downtown, Houston TX

Special thanks to Aaron P, Ian D and Jeffrey C for listening and giving feedback. Much appreciated!

7ytjdniKj7BDQpXZ2GtF

This episode, we’re doing a deep dive on a song that means a lot to Germans who remember the heady days of reunification in 1989. If you want to do your own exploration of the earworm that may* have ended the Cold War, check out:

• David Hasselhoff - Looking For Freedom Official Music Video: https://youtu.be/h2f9dumn8DM (We’re listening to this at 9:10 in the episode)
• David Hasselhoff - Looking For Freedom Live in Berlin (1989): https://youtu.be/dYVi7n7aoB4 (Starting at 14:52 in the episode)
• David Hasselhoff & André Rieu - Knight Rider Theme Song & Looking For Freedom: https://youtu.be/BSeWA8f0Qv0 (We start watching this at 23:16 in the episode)

Special thanks to Aaron P for listening and giving feedback. Much appreciated.

* It absolutely did not.

This episode, we ask: why do (lots of) people (who might not normally join a choir) love singing (everything from AM radio classics to Handel's Messiah) together (in pubs and bars)?

Find us on Facebook and Twitter

Email us at [email protected]

*ADDITIONAL THANKS WE FORGOT TO INCLUDE IN THE EPISODE:

Thanks to Aaron P for his eagle ear (?) when it comes to providing QA.

Thanks to Paul McDougall for help with our original logo. Individual episode logos are all us, though. Don't blame him.

Thanks to Emilie Boucek for her sound sound engineering assistance. Both sounds intentional.

Massive, MASSIVE thanks to the wonderful Katie Jensen of Vocal Fry Studios. Her guidance was an absolute lifesaver. Hire VFS to make you a podcast or teach you some podcasting skills! You will not regret it.

Music Notes & Special Guest Stars

Ep. 1 December 12, 2019

1. We Wish You A Merry Merry Christmas Traditional English Folksong Adapted and Arranged by Kirby Shaw (Hal Leonard)
2. Jingle Bells https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CWJNqyub3o
3. In the Bleak Midwinter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExZbY-zPh9k
4. "Noël, C'est L'amour" by Henri Contet & Norbert Glanzberg From "Le Choeur des Enfants Chante Noël"(2005). Sung by Le Chouer Des Enfants de Sherbrooke. (C) Distribution Select
5. Incidental music from TRG Banks' Christmas Album: “Snowfall”, ‘A Christmas Adventure Part 4”, “The Star of Bethlehem” (Free Music Archive, Public Domain)

Many thanks to these legends:

Morgan Russell

Damaris Schmucker

Mike Flint

Laurie Sanderson

Rachel Ellis

We’re using choirs and group singing to talk about emotional discovery. Singing is an intimate experience rooted in our bodies, and when people share their songs with others, choirs can create a powerful sense of solidarity, unity and identity. We’re exploring how people are doing that in 2020, and aim to inspire people to find their voice.