Bloomington Spirituals quartet
Songs of Sorrow & Songs of Jubilee
BLOOMINGTON, IN
Notes on the Program
Black spirituals are deeply rooted in the history of African Americans during the era of slavery. For decades and even centuries, they formed a broad oral tradition that spread and connected enslaved people across early America and were documented in print only after the Civil War and during the Reconstruction era. Profound expressions of the spiritual and emotional experiences of enslaved African Americans, these songs are marked by their core themes of faith, hope, and resilience.
The origins of Black spirituals can be traced back to the transatlantic slave trade and the American plantation economy. Prohibited from continuing to practice the rich musical traditions of their previous lives, enslaved Africans were intentionally allowed to only practice a censored version of Christian worship. Singing was sometimes allowed but only within the prescribed boundaries of a system of human chattel. This led to a blending of work music and newly created folk tunes with Christian hymns that had been introduced by missionaries. Spirituals resulted from a musical fusion of these elements, reinterpreting Biblical teachings through the lens of the Black experiences in slavery.
Tonight’s concert features selections from five seminal collections: Slave Songs of the United States (1867), Jubilee Songs as Sung by the Fisk University Singers (1872), Cabin and Plantation Songs as Sung by the Hampton Students (1874), Old Plantation Hymns (1898), and Folk Songs of the American Negro (1907). These collections preserve the musical heritage of African Americans and highlight the strength and creativity of a community that used music as a means of expression, resistance, and faith. The evolution of Black spirituals over time as demonstrated by these successive collections reflects the dynamic history and cultural shifts experienced by African Americans.
While acknowledging the historical value of these collections, it is important to recognize the problematic conditions under which they were made. The first major compilation of African American spirituals, Slave Songs of the United States, was created in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War by white northern abolitionists William Francis Allen, Lucy McKim Garrison, and Charles Pickard Ware. The book includes 136 songs collected from newly freed slaves, particularly from the Gullah Geechee people of Saint Helena Island, South Carolina, as well as other Southeastern slave states, Northern seaboard slave states like Maryland and Virginia, inland slave states along the Mississippi River, and Gulf states including Florida and Louisiana. Their efforts to collect these works was well intentioned but still framed within a white perception of Black music making. Allen’s preface described the songs as a “rich vein of music that existed in these half-barbarous people,” claiming that “The best we can do . . . will convey but a faint shadow of the original.”
These transcriptions by white collectors were influenced by prejudiced notions of how and by whom this music was created, but even among the newly freed people, there was some reluctance to share this repertoire. Ella Sheppard, one of the original Fisk Jubilee Singers and a significant but uncredited creator of their songbook, explained that slave songs were initially not part of their repertoire because they, “were sacred to our parents, who used them in their religious worship and shouted over them . . . It was only after many months that gradually our hearts were opened to the influence of these friends, and we began to appreciate the wonderful beauty and power of our songs.”
Transcribing both music and text proved challenging for the publishers of these collections. While harmonization in multiple voices was practiced, the editors of Slave Songs of the United States claimed that there was no part singing comparable to Western European Art music, so they chose to print only the melodies. Subsequent publications of spirituals were printed in four-part harmony, but these arrangements followed the tastes and rules of classical tonal theory, even if the original versions were created without the guidance of formal musical training and may have sounded quite different in practice. The enunciation of English and variations of dialects also perplexed the 19th-century collectors. Well-meaning attempts to preserve the color and flavor of linguistic differences of pronunciation read today as mawkish and caricatured ridicule of plantation slaves and Black people as a whole.
The intent of this program is to pull back the problematic 19th-century layers of transmission that are ossified in these early editions of spirituals by bringing this repertoire back to life in performance. By using five different sources of songs that span four decades following Emancipation, we can recreate the lineage of this music as it moved from the plantation to the concert hall, eventually becoming a rich source of inspiration to people struggling against Jim Crow laws, lynching, and segregation during Reconstruction and after the turn of the 20th century. These songs, many of which are still familiar today, offer a glimpse into the diverse musical heritage of enslaved Africans and their descendants, capturing their stories of faith, sorrow, rest, and jubilee.
~ Carolann Buff
A Note on the Texts
Each collection of spirituals used different methods to capture the sound of the music, including melodies, harmonies, and the dialects of Black Americans in the late 19th century. These dialects featured sounds such as the dropped ‘g’ at the ends of ‘-ing’ words; ‘dis’ or ‘de’ instead of ‘this’ or ‘the’; ‘neber’ instead of ‘never’; and colloquial grammar, such as the contraction ‘ain’t’ instead of ‘is not.
While these elements add color to the spirituals, they can be challenging for contemporary singers who are trained to enunciate clearly according to established rules of Standard American English (SAE). Additionally, performers must avoid creating a minstrel-like caricature of the dialects. This difficulty is compounded by the systematic and widespread belief that these dialects were inferior not only in the 19th century but also today. The issue of the impact of language acquisition during the African diaspora and its complicated history linked to the institution of slavery is addressed in the work of Felicia Barber and André J. Thomas. Their research highlights the value of the linguistic differences between SAE and African American English (AAE) and positions it within the broader context of historically informed performance.
I have chosen to keep the original spelling of the texts from the sources to preserve the essence of the sounds of these pieces. We will perform them in a historically informed manner that honors the original voices raised in song through great trial and sorrow.
Song Texts
FAITH
Witness
My soul is a witness for my Lord.
You read in the Bible and you understand,
Samson was the strongest man;
Samson went out at a-one time
And he killed about a thousand of the Philistines.
Delilah fooled Samson, this we know,
For the holy Bible tells us so.
She shaved off his head just as clean as your hand,
And his strength became as any other man’s.
Now Samson was a witness for my Lord.
Daniel was a Hebrew child,
He went to pray to his Lord awhile,
The King at once for Daniel did send,
And he put him right down in the lions’ den;
God sent His angels the lions for to keep,
And Daniel lay down and went to sleep.
Now Daniel was a witness for my Lord.
Who will be a witness for my Lord?
O Daniel / Didn’t my Lord deliver Daniel / My Lord delivered Daniel
You call yourself church-member,
You hold your head so high,
You praise God with your glitt’ring tongue,
But you leave all your heart behind.
Chorus I
O my Lord delivered Daniel,
O why not deliver me too?
Chorus II
Didn’t my Lord deliver Daniel,
And why not a every man?
Oh, Daniel cast in the lions den,
He pray both night and day,
The angel came from Galilee,
And lock the lion’s jaw.
Chorus III
My Lord delibered Daniel;
Why can’t he deliber me?
He delibered Daniel from de lions’ den,
Jonah from de belly ob de whale,
And de Hebrew children from de fiery furnace,
And why not ebery man?
Oh, yes!
Chorus III
The Good Old Way / Down in the Valley to Pray / I Went Down in the Valley
Chorus I
As I went down in de valley to pray,
Studying about dat good old way,
When you shall wear de starry crown,
Good Lord, show me de way.
O mourner, let’s go down,
Down in de valley to pray.
Chorus II
’S I went down in the valley to pray,
Studyin’ about dat good ole way.
You shall wear a starry crown,
Good Lord, show me the way!
O brother, less go down,
Down in the valley to pray!
Chorus III
I went down in the valley to pray,
Studying about that good old way.
O who shall wear the starry crown,
Good Lord, show me the way.
O sisters let’s go down,
Down in the valley to pray.
Chorus III
Wade in the Water
Chorus
Wade in the water,
Wade in the water, children,
Wade in the water,
God’s a-going to trouble the water.
See that band all dressed in white.
God’s a-going to trouble the water,
The Leader looks like the Israelite,
God’s a-going to trouble the water.
Chorus
See that band all dressed in red,
Looks like the band that Moses led.
Chorus
~~~~~~~
SORROW
Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Had /
Nobody knows the trouble I see, Lord! / Nobody knows de trouble I’ve Seen
Chorus I
Nobody knows de trouble I’ve had,
Nobody knows but Jesus,
Nobody knows the trouble I’ve had,
Sing Glory hallelu!
One morning I was a-walking down, O yes, Lord!
I saw some berries a-hanging down, O yes, Lord!
Chorus I
I pick de berry and I suck the juice, O yes, Lord!
Just as sweet as the honey in de comb, O yes, Lord!
Chorus II
Nobody know the trouble I see, Lord,
Nobody knows the trouble I see,
Nobody knows the trouble I see, Lord,
Nobody knows like Jesus.
Brothers, will you pray for me
And help me to drive old Satan away.
Chorus II
Sisters, will you pray for me
And help me to drive old Satan away.
Chorus III
Oh, nobody knows de trouble I’ve seen,
Nobody knows but Jesus,
Nobody knows de trouble I’ve see.
Glory Hallelujah!
Sometimes I’m up, sometimes I’m down; Oh, yes, Lord;
Sometimes I’m almost to de groun’, Oh, yes, Lord.
Chorus III
Although you see me goin’ ’long so, Oh, yes, Lord;
I have my trials here below, Oh, yes Lord.
Chorus III
Did You Hear How Dey Crucified My Lord? / Where You There?
Did you hear how dey crucified my Lord?
Oh how it makes me tremble, tremble,
Did you hear how dey crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they nail’d him to the cross?
O sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble!
Were you there when they nail’d him to the cross?
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble,
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble,
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child,
A long ways from home.
True believer.
A long ways from home.
Sometimes I feel like I’m almos’ gone.
Way up in the Hebbenly lan!
True believer.
Way up in the Hebbenly lan!
O, sometimes I feel like I’d never been borned,
Den I git down on my knees and pray!
O sometimes I feel like a motherless child.
Den I gi’ down on my knees and pray.
Jacob’s Ladder
I want to climb up Jacob’s ladder,
But I can’t climb it till I make my peace with the Lord.
O praise ye the Lord,
I’ll praise Him till I die,
And sing Jerusalem.
We are climbing Jacob’s ladder,
Soldier of the cross.
Sinner, do you love my Jesus?
We are climbing higher and higher.
Go Down, Moses
When Israel was in Egypt’s land:
Let my people go,
Oppressed so hard they could not stand,
Let my people go.
Chorus
Go down, Moses, way down in Egypt land,
Tell ole Pharoh, Let my people go.
Thus saith the Lord, bold Moses said,
If not I’ll smite your first-born dead.
Chorus
No more shall they in bondage toil,
Let them come out with Egypt’s spoil.
Chorus
O, ’twas a dark and dismal night,
When Moses led the Israelites.
Chorus
We need not always weep and moan,
And wear these slavery chains forlorn.
Chorus
This world’s a wilderness of woe,
O, let us on to Canaan go.
Chorus
~~~~~~~
REST
Balm in Gilead
Chorus
There is a Balm in Gilead,
To make the wounded whole,
There is a Balm in Gilead,
To heal the sin-sick soul.
Sometimes I feel discouraged,
And think my work’s in vain,
But then the Holy Spirit
Revives my soul again.
Chorus
Don’t ever feel discouraged,
For Jesus is your friend,
And if you lack for knowledge,
He’ll ne’er refuse to lend.
Chorus
Steal Away to Jesus
Chorus I
Steal away to Jesus!
Steal away home,
I hain’t got long to stay here.
My Lord calls me,
He calls me by the thunder;
The trumpet sounds it in my soul,—
I hain’t go long to stay here.
Chorus II
Steal away to Jesus!
Steal away home,
I ain’t got long to stay here!
My Lord calls me,
He calls me by the lightning;
The trumpet sounds within-a my soul,
I ain’t go long to stay here.
Chorus II
Michael Row the Boat Ashore
Michael row de boat ashore, Hallelujah!
Michael boat a music boat, Hallelujah!
Jesus stand on t’oder side, Hallelujah!
He raise de fruit for you to eat, Hallelujah!
He dat eat shall neber die, Hallelujah!
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
Chorus I
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home.
I looked over Jordan and what did I see,
Coming for to carry me home?
A band of angels coming after me,
Coming for to carry me home.
Chorus I
If you get there before I do,
Tell all my friends I’m coming too.
Chorus II
Oh swing low, sweet chariot,
I don’t want to leave me behind.
O de good ole chariot swing so low,
I don’t want to leave me behind.
Chorus II
Chorus III
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Coming for to carry me home.
I’m sometimes up, I’m sometimes down,
But still my soul feels heavenly bound.
Chorus III
The brightest day that ever I saw,
When Jesus washed my sins away.
Chorus III
Stars Begin to Fall / My Lord, What a Morning
I tink I hear my brudder say,
Call de nation great and small;
I lookee on de God’s right hand,
When the stars begin to fall.
Oh what a mournin’ (sister),
Oh what a mournin’ (brudder),
Oh what a mournin’,
When the stars begin to fall.
You’ll hear de trumpet sound,
To wake de nations underground,
Look in my God’s right hand,
When the stars begin to fall.
My Lord, what a morning,
When the stars begin to fall.
~~~~~~~
JUBILEE
A Great Camp-Meetin’ in de Promised Land / Big Camp Meeting in the Promised Land
Oh walk togedder, childron,
Don’t yer get weary,
Dere’s a great camp-meetin’ in de Promised Land.
Refrain
Gwine to mourn an’ nebber tire,
Dere’s a great camp-meetin’ in de Promised Land.
Chorus
O dis union!
O dis union band!
O dis union!
Big camp meeting in de promised land!
You kin hinder me here, but you can’t do it there,
Big camp meeting in de promised land!
For He sits in de heavens, and He answers prayer,
Big camp meeting in de promised land!
Chorus
Oh talk togedder, childron,
Don’t yer get weary,
Dere’s a great camp-meetin’ in de Promised Land.
Refrain
Oh sing togedder, childron,
Don’t yer get weary,
Dere’s a great camp-meetin’ in de Promised Land.
Refrain
Rise and Shine
Chorus
Oh, rise an’ shine, an’ give God de glory, glory,
For de year of Juberlee.
Jesus carry de young lambs in his bosom, bosom,
For de year ob Juberlee.
Chorus
Jesus lead de ole sheep by still waters, waters,
For de year ob Juberlee.
Chorus
Free at Last
Chorus
Free at last, free at last;
I thank God I’m free at last.
’Way down yonder in the graveyard walk,
I thank God I’m free at last,
Me and my Jesus goin’ to meet and talk,
I thank God I’m free at last.
Chorus
On-a my knees when the light pass’d by,
Tho’t my soul would rise and fly.
Chorus
Some of these mornings, bright and fair,
Goin’ meet King Jesus in the air.
Chorus
Going to Shout All Over God’s Heav’n
I’ve got a robe, you’ve got a robe,
All of God’s children got a robe;
When I get to Heaven, goin’ to put on my robe,
Goin’ to shout all over God’s Heav’n,
Refrain
Heav’n, Heav’n,
Ev’rybody talking ’bout heav’n ain’t going there,
Heav’n, Heav’n,
Goin’ to shout all over God’s Heav’n.
I’ve got a crown, you’ve got a crown,
All of God’s children got a crown;
When I get to Heaven, goin’ to put on my crown,
Goin’ to shout all over God’s Heav’n,
Refrain
I’ve got a song, you’ve got a song,
All of God’s children got a song;
When I get to Heaven, goin’ to sing a new song,
Goin’ to sing all over God’s Heav’n,
Refrain
Ain’t That Good News
I’ve a crown up in the Kingdom,
Ain’t that good news!
Refrain
I’m a-goin’ to lay down this world,
Goin’ to shoulder up my cross,
Goin’ to take it home to Jesus,
Ain’t that good news!
I’ve a harp up in the Kingdom,
Ain’t that good news!
Refrain
I’ve a robe up in the Kingdom,
Ain’t that good news!
Refrain
I’ve a harp up in the Kingdom,
Ain’t that good news!
Refrain
I’ve slippers in the Kingdom,
Ain’t that good news!
Refrain
I’ve a Saviour in the Kingdom,
Ain’t that good news!
Refrain
Artist Bio's
Haitian American soprano Kathiana Dargenson is a recipient of the Encouragement Award from the Florida District of the 2025 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. She is also a 2024–2025 mentee in the inaugural cohort of the Black Leadership and Arts Collective, and has served as a Fellow in Castleton Festival’s Vocal Immersion Program and a Smith Young Artist with Cedar Rapids Opera, where she sang the role of Nella and covered Lauretta in their production of Gianni Schicchi. Ms. Dargenson has performed the roles of Margarita Xirgu in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar; Mary in William Grant Still’s Highway 1, USA; and several operatic scenes, including Elettra (Idomeneo), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), and the Countess (Le nozze di Figaro). She has also performed in Carmen with Opera Orlando. Ms. Dargenson was the soprano soloist in Ballad of the Brown King with the Indiana University Symphony Orchestra and sang the role of the Marschallin in the Der Rosenkavalier trio in concert with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. This summer, she will be a Stuido Artist with Chautauqua Opera, covering Mimi in La bohème and performing Bettina in Sitcom, Kate in Ida by Lamplight, and other roles. Ms. Dargenson holds a Performance Diploma and a master of music degree from Indiana University, where she studied with Michelle DeYoung. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music Studies and Psychology from the University of South Florida. Ms. Dargenson has been featured in master classes with Paul Groves, Karen Slack, Julia Faulkner, Kevin Murphy, Jane Dutton and others.
Jerrell R. Gray, composer, conductor, musician, is a graduate of Southern University and A&M College where he received his Bachelor of Music degree. A native of Chicago, Mr. Gray has published works with Hal Leonard, Walton Music, and GIA Publications; his works and commissions have been performed both nationally and internationally. First- place winner of the 2020 George Shirley Composers Competition, his most recent commissions include the Cincinnati Song Initiative for the Inaugural National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Composer Mentorship Program; the Sing My Song program, a project of the Classic Song Research Initiative in partnership with the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance and the Hampsong Foundation, in collaboration with the School at Marygrove; and a song cycle for the Master’s Recital of Hailey Cohen from the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater and Dance Eileen Weiser EXCEL Fund. Currently a graduate student at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, Mr. Gray is the founder and director of the Neoteric Chorale, and a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.
www.jerrellgray.com
A native of Brandon, MS, soprano Ambriehl Ivy is currently finishing her Performance Diploma in Voice at Indiana University’s Jacob School of Music, and holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from Mississippi College. She made her collegiate lead debut as Laetitia in Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief in 2022 and appeared as Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen the following year. In the summer of 2023, Ambriehl made her Young Artist debut at Spotlight Opera as La Sorella Infermiera in Suor Angelica, Nella in Gianni Schicchi, and as Mama Bear in Spotlight’s children’s opera, Goldie B. Locks and the Three Singing Bears. She was selected as a member of Opera Mississippi’s Young Artist for their 2023-2024 season. In the spring of 2024, Ambriehl was the soloist for Damien Peter’s “Cantata for a More Hopeful Tomorrow” with Mississippi College’s MC Singers.
Tenor Sylvester Makobi hails from Nairobi, Kenya. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in May 2024. He is a recipient of Emerging Artist and Artistic Advancement grants from the Bloomington Arts Commission, and he won first prize in three solo singing categories for university students and faculty at the Kenya Music Festival. Makobi’s first professional engagement was as a member and soloist of the Kenyan Boys Choir. He later toured with Taifa Mziki, a Kenyan vocal ensemble and performed with Mushandirapamwe Singers, a group of classically trained singers from the Pan-African Diaspora. Makobi’s performances have taken him to Uganda, Tanzania, U.K., France, China, and U.S., where he performed in the first inauguration of former President Barack Obama. As a member of the Ravenna Festival Chorus in Nairobi, Makobi sang under the baton of Ricardo Muti. Makobi has performed as a soloist at State House, Nairobi, with the Kenya Conservatoire of Music Orchestra for the Kenyan President and his guests, as well as celebrations for the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Makobi has been heard as tenor soloist in Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, Requiem Mass, and Coronation Mass, Haydn’s Creation, and Handel’s Messiah. His operatic roles include Don Basilio and Don Curzio in Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, Ferrando in Cosí fan tutte, Second Priest in The Magic Flute, Rev. Horace Adams in Britten’s Peter Grimes, Nate in William Grant Still’s Highway 1 USA, Elder in Francis Chandler’s Ondieki the Fisherman, the tenor roles in the world premiere of The Firebringers by Chappell Kingsland, and Dr. Albert Düssel in the world premiere of Anne Frank, by Pulitzer Prize-winner Shulamit Ran. He can be heard as vocal soloist and playing Kenyan instruments such as Ohangla drums, Chivoti, Nyatiti, and Kêgamba on numerous albums, including Bloomingsongs’ Building Blocks. Makobi has maintained a strong commitment to community service in both Kenya and the US, and was the 2019 recipient of the Carlton Hodge Price, awarded to an Indiana University doctoral student for outstanding commitment to excellence in African Studies and public outreach. He is a Doctor of Music (Music Literature & Performance) candidate, and holds a Performer Diploma, and a Graduate Certificate in Vocology for Vocalists from the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University where he studies with Marietta Simpson. Makobi also holds a Master of Music (Voice Performance) and a Bachelor of Education (Music) from Kenyatta University.