Old Timey Spirituals
Collecting and Workshops
I began collecting old time African American spirituals back in 1987 - 1988 in rural South Carolina. From many wonderful senior citizens outside of Sumter, SC (my mother’s ancestral home place), I recorded months of amazing spirituals long unsung, some perhaps forgotten except for these recordings I made in homes, senior centers, and churches.
I became re-interested when asked to present the old time songs of that area for the 250th anniversary of the old, historic Presbyterian church built by and attended by my ancestors. I researched the old psalms and hymns of the Presbyterian Church and added a selection of the wonderful old timey spirituals sung in the black community in the same area. The response from the white and black communities was heartening, and the sharing of those songs brought the 2 communities closer together than ever before!
In July of 2010, at a national women's choral convention, (gathering of women’s choirs from all over America), I gave a workshop on these old spirituals that I’d learned 22 years ago. (Some of the songs I’d arranged for 3 part women’s choir, others we learned in unison.) That was a big success.
"Last summer at the Sister Singer Network national convention in
Chicago, I attended Cathy Riley's break out session on traditional
Black spiritual songs and singers. She showed remarkable films of
singers she collected in South Carolina and gave an engrossing account
of the process of recording the singers, their histories and the
context in which she was able to make connections with the community. The audience was very enthusiastic and loved learning and singing the
songs. The presentation was both informative and inspiring and many of
us felt it was the best session we had attended. I would highly
recommend this presentation to anyone interested in the true historical
origins of what we know as gospel songs, sung in the old, traditional
way." - Renee Bussanich,
Womansong
"In July 2010 I was lucky enough to attend an Old Timey Spirituals workshop with Cathy Riley at the Sister Singers Conference in Chicago. I was blown away by Cathy's passion for these hauntingly beautiful old songs and her heartfelt desire to preserve a time and place that is fast leaving our living memory. I am looking forward to learning and singing more of these cultural treasures with Cathy." - Diane Tower-Jones, Documentary Filmmaker
The success of the spirituals workshop inspired me to renew my interest in collecting these old time spiriturals. So, I have begun filming and recording African American seniors here in Asheville, requesting the oldest songs that can be recalled!
I will be giving a 5 week workshop at ArtSpace Charter School in Swannanoa with Mrs Lucille Ray, sharing these treasured songs, teaching them to the two 5th grade classes, as well as looking into the history and meaning of these old time spirituals. This will happen in January and February, celebrating Black History Month.
At this time, I do not have any sound selections of any of these songs collected, as the heirs of the SC seniors have preferred to keep those recordings within their families for the time being. The Asheville recordings have not been archived of yet, so these are as yet unavailable, but some of these songs will be used in teaching that 5 week workshop at the ArtSpace Charter School, during Black History Month. |
