Search - Various Artists :: Voices Of The Civil Rights Movement: Black American Freedom Songs 1960-1966

The Freedom Songs that were the life blood of the Movement

Lawrance M. Bernabo | The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota | 04/09/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This double-CD reissue of "The Voices of the Civil Rights Movement: Black American Freedom Songs 1960-1966" documents the importance of songs in the Civil Rights Movement. Teachers covering this tumultuous time in American History in their class can certainly give students a better sense for the time by not only showing videos of the peaceful demonstrations and police brutality, but by playing them some of the songs from this album. Many of these freedom songs were recorded live in mass meetings held in churches. These are not just spirituals and gospel songs, but draw upon rhythm and blues, football chants, blues, and calypso for their beauty and energy. The first disc features songs from mass meetings, where a singer or core of singers leads the people in the singing of the songs, while the second focuses on ensemble works by the SNCC Freedom Singers and other groups. The accompanying booklet written by Bernice Johnson Reagon combines historic photographs with insights into each song, providing an excellent education in the meaning of the music. Reagon not only explains how these songs were song, but also which songs were prominent for the Selma-to-Montgomery March ("Governor Wallace"), "Freedom Train" for the vigil for the Mississippi Democratic Party elections, and so on. Chances are that unless you were involved in the Civil Rights Movement you will not especially recognize many of these songs, with "This Little Light of Mine," "Go Tell It On the Mountain," and "We Shall Overcome" being the obvious exceptions. But you will be surprised at some of the popular songs that were appropriate for the cause, such as "Calypso Freedom," based on Harry Belafonte's "The Banana Boat Song," and "Get Your Rights, Jack," based on the Ray Charles hit "Hit the Road, Jack." For me the song that stood out was "In the Mississippi River," written by Marshall Jones after the disappearance of three Civil Rights workers in Mississippi during the summer of 1964. As local rivers were dragged in search of the men, many other bodies were discovered, a chilling fact that certainly needs to be more than a historic footnote to that tragic event. There is also a lengthy segment from a sermon by Rev. Lawrence Campbell, which illustrates the song-sermons that were an integral part of the movement and its traditions. The result is a historical document of immense value to teachers and their students. Folkways Records was founded by Moses Asch and Marian Distler in 1948 to document music and spoken word from around the world. The Smithsonian Institution acquired Folkways from the Asch estate and has succeeded in preserving the best of the label's 2,200 albums. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings has continued this grand tradition. I have checked out a half-dozen of their offerings and their are uniformly superb, especially in terms of providing the historical context by which we can best appreciate these songs from another place and another time."

Emmotionally charged and historically valuable document

Lawrance M. Bernabo | 09/25/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For any one interested in the freedom struggle in the sixties this is essential listening. The first disc of recordings made in the South during the mid sixties captures the importance of music at the mass meetings. The second disc with ensemble recordings shows the skill of the SNCC singing groups.The cd is accompanied by extensive liner notes by Bernice Johnson Reagan, herself a member of a SNCC ssinging group and founder of "Sweet Honey in the Rock". She draws out not only the historical references in the songs, but also the different African American musical influences at play."

Excellent documentary CD

Andre M. | Mt. Pleasant, SC United States | 01/04/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This Cd is an excellent docuemtnary with complete versions of the Freedom songs of the Civil rights movmeent of the 60s.



Wonderful stuff both for the historian or a lover of uplifting music. The Calypso takeoff of Harry belafonte's "Day-o" (Calypso Freedom) is quite witty and would have done Handsome Harry proud. ("Come Mr. Kennedy give us integration/Freedom come and me want to go home!"). "Get Your Rights Jack" does the same with Ray Charles' "Hit the Road Jack" ("And don't be a tom no more no more no more no more"). But songs like the "Ballad of Medgar Evers" "I Shall Not Be Moved" and the tribute to Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman (the Black and Jewish civil rights team that was killed in Mississippi in 1964) strike straight to the heart as do the tunes sung by the legendary Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer. The sermon and song by Rev. Lawrence Campbell of Danville Virginia needs no explaination. Hear it and you'll understand that MLK was by no means the only eloquent preacher of this movement. Oginga Odinga, BTW, was an African freedom fighter of that era and Malcolm X was quite pleased when the SNCC Freedom Singers (who later morphed into Sweet Honey in the Rock) sang this at a 1964 program where he spoke.



Fans of the similar CD "Sing For Freedom" are bound to compare the 2 CD's. "SFF" has more in the way of little-known speeches by such luminaries as Dr. King, Medgar Evers, Ralph Abernathy, etc. Some tunes overlap on the two cd's but buy "SFF" for the speeches and this one for the music as a companion piece."