Double Friday Factoids! 1) “Mr. Amen,” Jester Hairston; 2) The Evolution of “Hold On”

—By Cindy Jacobs Jestie Joseph Hairston (nicknamed “Jester” by a teacher) was born in 1901, the grandson of slaves from the Hairston plantation at Belew’s Creek, North Carolina.  He attended Massachusetts Agricultural College, graduated cum laude from Tufts University with … Read More

Bonus Factoid: “The Blue-Tail Fly”

–By David Horiuchi At first glance, “The Blue-Tail Fly” seems like an unusual choice for a concert featuring spirituals and gospel music, especially considering how frequently it’s performed as a children’s song retitled after the recurring phrase in its chorus, … Read More

Journey of the Wayfaring Stranger

—By Cindy Jacobs One of the most widely recorded songs in our Winter Concert program is “Poor Wayfaring Stranger.” Alternately titled simply “Wayfaring Stranger,” the song is thought to have originated in Appalachia in the late 18th or early 19th century.  Although … Read More

Marian Anderson, “Deep River,” H.T. Burleigh, and the New World Symphony

–By Cindy Jacobs In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, spiritual music had a profound influence on the development of “new American classical music” as well as perhaps its first effects on the embryonic beginnings of the 20th-century civil rights … Read More

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