Southern Journey, Vol. 9; Harp of a Thousand Strings

United Sacred Harp Musical Association Singing Convention

album cover

No Harp, Just Voices

Participants in Sacred Harp singing, the American tradition of worship song that's sometimes called "Shape Note" singing, are divided into four groups according to vocal range. Sopranos, altos, tenors, and baritones each occupy a side of a square; they face each other when they sing, with the leader, often just a member of the choir, in the middle. No accommodation is made for an audience. Congregants sing for each other, for hours and hours. (Some involved in the music, which has enjoyed an explosion of popularity in recent years, suggest that the fervent intensity might be compromised by too many onlookers.) When musicologist Alan Lomax recorded this on September 12, 1959, at a convention in Alabama, the group went through over a hundred songs in a day, stopping only for the traditional meal they call "dinner on the grounds."

The mass of voices doesn't necessarily generate intricate harmony. There's some here (see the psalm tune "David's Lamentation"), but more often, the group sings in open fourths and fifths, a hollowed-out sound that aligns Sacred Harp with early liturgical music from Europe. The songs, notated by shapes (different notes of the scale are represented by geometric figures such as squares and triangles), come in several types: In addition to the psalm-based pieces, there are folk tunes out of the English or Irish vocal tradition ("Wondrous Love"), lively revivalist tunes ("Homeward Bound"), and what are called fuguing tunes, rhythmically intricate pieces (like "Greenwich" and "Sherburne") in which the various parts start out singing independent lines. These culminate in rousing unison finales.

Music is the centerpiece of the annual Sacred Harp conventions, of course, but there's also fellowship. Lomax's surprisingly crisp field recording captures the sound of a community, finding strength in the sounds they only get to hear when they're all together, making them.

Genre: Folk
Released: 1996, Rounder/Alan Lomax Collection
Key Tracks: "Homeward Bound," "Weeping Mary," "David's Lamentation," "Wondrous Love"
Next Stop: Various Artists: Religion Is a Fortune
After That: The Hilliard Ensemble: Pérotin
Book Pages: 796–797

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