Virginia Folklife Area 2009
Sacred Sounds - Sacred Spaces
Musical Performers
The Sacred Sounds Presentation will take place at the Virginia Folklife Stage, made possible by the generous sponsorship of CenterStage, of Richmond Virginia.
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Frank Newsome
Old Regular Baptist Singing
Haysi, VA
The singing of the Old Regular Baptists is one of the oldest and deepest veins of American spiritual singing traditions. This hymnody, with its elaborate, lined-out, unaccompanied singing is prevalent throughout the
coalfield region of central Appalachia, but is barely known outside its region. It cannot be heard on television or radio, and is largely unavailable on recordings. Elder Frank Newsome, of Little David Old Regular Baptist Church outside of Haysi, Virginia, is one of the great masters of this singing style, which he used to inspire his small but spirited congregation every Sunday. Frequent Little David attendee Dr. Ralph Stanley has been so enamored with Newsome’s singing that he regularly invites him to sing at his annual music festival. Frank’s singing has touched the hearts of many, and he was most recently honored with the first ever Virginia State Heritage Award.
Moges Seyoum
Ethiopian Orthodox Singing
Arlington, VA
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is the oldest of all Eastern Christianities. A defining characteristic of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is the elaborate singing or chanting which takes place often for hours before the service. The son of an accomplished church musician, Moges Seyoum began his musical education in Ethiopia at the age of eight. He soon became an accomplished singer himself, and an expert in the various genres of Ethiopian Orthodox Christian chant, sacred dance, and associated instrumental practices. By the time he arrived in the United States in 1982, joining the quickly growing Ethiopian communities of Washington D.C. and Northern Virginia, he could perform from memory the complete Ethiopian Psalter, as well as other liturgical books such as the Ethiopian Hymnary. In 2006, he recorded and published a collection of six CDs containing the most complicated musical sections for the annual liturgy. Moges is also an expert on the Ethiopian Christian notational system, the only indigenous system of music writing in Africa, which has 600 signs. He is viewed as the master of an elaborate style of movement of the prayer staff (takla), and is known as the only such practitioner living in the United States. Today, while holding down two jobs, he leads the performance of the musical liturgy at the Debre Selam Kidist Mariam Church in Washington, DC, at services that are often attended by more than 2,000 worshipers. Moges has taught many members of the church the ancient songs of St. Yared, written in the 6th Century.
Paschall Brothers
Tidewater Gospel Quartet
Chesapeake, VA
The Paschall Brothers stand firmly in the great tradition of
unaccompanied religious singing in the Tidewater region of Virginia.
Though scarcely a handful of African American /a cappella /quartets sing
in Virginia today, black four-part harmony groups were singing in
Virginia at least as early as the mid-1800s, and the Tidewater region
alone produced over two hundred such groups in the century following the
Civil War. The “modern” quartets were born in the late 1920s and early
1930s with the emergence of groups like the Heavenly Gospel Singers, the
Blevins Quartet, and most notably, The Golden Gate Quartet of Norfolk.
Norfolk quickly became known as the “home of the quartet.” The Paschall
Brothers are the current torch-bearers of this traditional singing
style. It takes only a few opening notes for the artistry of the
Paschalls to claim the listener’s ear. The late Reverend Frank Paschall,
Sr. originally formed the ensemble in 1981 with his five sons: Frank
Jr., Reverend Tarrence, Wendell, Dwight, and William. Reverend Paschall
Sr. passed away in 1999, but his sons have carried on his legacy. The
Paschalls perform frequently at local area churches and festivals in the
Tidewater area, including yearly appearances at the Tidewater Gospel
Festival held at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, and
have recently performed at several nationally known festivals, including
the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and the Roots of American Music
Festival at Lincoln Center. They have helped to pass this tradition
along to the next generation by participating in the Virginia Folklife
Apprenticeship Program. Their most recent CD “On the Right Road Now,”
produced by the Virginia Folklife Program for Smithsonian Folkways
Records, won the 2008 IMA’s “Gospel Album of the Year.”
Maggie Ingram
African-American Gospel
Richmond, VA
Born July 4, 1930, on Mulholland’s Plantation in Coffee County, Georgia,
Maggie Ingram worked in the cotton and tobacco fields with her parents.
She began playing the piano and singing at an early age and exhibited a
great love for church and for the ministry of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. At 16, she married Thomas Jefferson Ingram whose family also
worked as sharecroppers in Georgia. It was from these humble beginnings
that the Ingramettes were formed. Sister Maggie Ingram and The
Ingramettes were soon a sought after group to sing at churches, gospel
festivals, auditoriums, church conferences, and other places throughout
Florida. In December 1961, Ms. Ingram moved her family to Richmond,
Virginia. .Ms. Ingram found employment in the home of Oliver W. Hill,
Sr., an energetic attorney who was working on a civil rights case. She
also began a prison ministry with her children and partnered with the
Mt. Gilead Baptist Church in the 1970’s. In the years since, the
Ingramettes have received numerous awards including most recently the
prestigious Virginia Heritage Award!
Cantor Irena Altschul
Jewish Liturgical Song
Reston, VA
Cantor Irena Altshul serves as the first invested Cantor at Northern
Virginia Hebrew Congregation in Reston, Virginia. A cantor is a singer
who assists the Rabbi with prayer in the Jewish Synagogue tradition. Cantor Alsschul was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. She spent her
formative years in Israel and came to New York City as a graduate
college student. There she was drawn into synagogue life through her
love of Jewish music. Since her cantorial investiture in 2003, Cantor
Altshul has served on the clergy team of Temple Israel of the City of
New York. A trained mezzo-soprano, her performance experiences have
included appearances with the Russian Chamber Choir, the New York
Brooklyn College Opera Theater, the Haifa Symphony Orchestra, Israel,
the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Israel, and the Tel-Aviv Philharmonic
Choir, Israel. Cantor Altshul was also twice invited to sing at The
President’s Residence in Jerusalem
Larnell Starkey and the Spiritual Seven
African-American Gospel
Rocky Mount, VA
Larnell Starkey and the Spiritual Seven, of Rocky Mount, Virginia, has
been spreading their Ministry in Songs for over 36 years. As they travel
the United States and other Countries, they put God first and they love
sharing their Ministry in Songs with everyone regardless of race, color
or denomination. They have sang in Churches, Schools, Shelters and many
other places spreading their Ministry in Songs and leading people to
God. As you listen to this collection of songs, you began to get to know this Artist and what they stand for. If you want to be taken to a higher level spiritually, and hear smoking hot gospel music, just listen to
this and you will share an experience you shall never forget!
Nader Majd
Persian Spiritual Music
Arlington, VA
Dr. Nader Majd, of Arlington, VA, was born in Sari, Iran, and began
studying and playing the santur (hammerd dulcimer) and violin at the age
of six. A year later, he received his education in tar and setar
(plucked instruments) from his father and uncles who were well known
artists in Iran. All these instruments are critical to prayer music in
Iran. Dr. Majd immigrated to the United States in 1968. He started The
Center for Persian Classical Music (CPCM) in 1997 “to make Persian
Classical music known to our American friends as a means to increase
understanding between our two countries.” The CPCM employs the universal
language of music as a tool for communication and cultural exchange.
Joel Rubin Ensemble
Klezmer
Charlottesville, VA
Klezmer is a musical tradition which parallels Hasidic and Ashkenazic, Judaism. The Charlottesville and New York City based duo of Joel Rubin and Pete Rushefsky performs Eastern European Jewish instrumental klezmer music and hasidic /nigunim/ (religious melodies of spiritual elevation), a meditation on the Russian-Jewish musical legacy. The music draws its inspiration from the publications of the ethnomusicologist Moshe Beregovski, which were based on Beregovski’s own fieldwork in the Ukraine and Byelorussia from 1927 to 1948. Rubin has specialized in the repertoire from these collections for the past fifteen years, which he regards as the deepest inspiration for his exploration of all phases of the complex klezmer tradition, from 19th century Eastern Europe to the 21st century transnationally.
Hummingbirds
United House of Prayer Shout Band
Portsmouth, VA
In 1903, an African-Portuguese immigrant named Marcelino Manoel da Graca (Charles Manuel Grace), the son of a stonecutter from the Cape Verdean Island of Brava, came to the southeastern Massachusetts town of New Bedford. “Daddy Grace,” as he became known, was a dynamic spiritual leader who started the United House of Prayer. The United House of Prayer congregation eventually reached up and down the east coast, with one of its first and most successful churches in Newport News, Virginia. One of the hallmarks of United House of Prayer church services, baptisms, funerals, and parades is the exclusive use of brass instruments, inspired by the words of Psalm 150: “Praise ye the Lord. Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet.” The United House of Prayer brass bands came to be known as “shout bands” because of their ability to move entire congregations to shout with heartfelt spiritual energy. The Madison Hummingbirds, of Portsmouth, are the current torch bearers of the great Virginia shout band tradition.
Virginia Indian Drum and Dance
For thousands of years, America’s Native peoples have celebrated social and spiritual events by dancing. Spiritually, dancing is a way of participating in the community’s cycle of balance: bringing all aspects of life into harmony through rhythm. The drum is considered a sacred element of cultural expression and thought of as “the heartbeat of Mother Earth.” Today, Virginia Indians participate in modern powwows and dance styles with members of many other tribes. They continue to practice their own social dances: the Welcome, Green Corn, Rabbit, and Canoe dances, among others. They are proud to share their rich heritage and invite you to join them at their Folk Festival performance this year.