Edited by Azizi Powell
This post showcases the music of the South African acapella music group "Amaryoni".
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
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FEATURED SONGS
Example #1: Amaryoni EPK
LeboMoliki, Uploaded on May 5, 2011
Amaryoni has become one of South Africa's finest Mbube vocal groups. The group's music is strongly influenced by the Is'cathamiya style, but Amaryoni also arrived at their special and unique sound by adding plenty of Township vibes, along with some "Bandit" music, and strong Gospel influences. Amaryoni ("The Lions") have been charming audiences around the country for years, and have grown into a strong, stable and harmonious musical unit.
All the closely-knit members fully understand and appreciate their important roles as singers in a nation that tends to sing about almost anything that happens, or has happened, to its people.
Line-up: Zamo Mbutho, Thulani Galane, Thami Mbatha, 'Spencer' Smanza Nokwe, and Nathi Scabashe.
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Example #2
Amaryoni - Sizodlal 'ibhola (We Play Soccer)
Jan Tak, Uploaded on Aug 13, 2011
If you miss the sound of the vuvuzela made famous during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, here is your chance to hear it again - Amaryoni (The Lions)performing "Sizodlal 'ibhola" (We Play Soccer) on their 2003 album Aza'Pella....
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Example #3
Amaryoni - Lion Sleeps No More (A capella)
FLORENCOM, Uploaded on Jul 4, 2009
Álbum: Aza´Pella
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RELATED VIDEO
Solomon Linda&The Evening Birds - Mbube
FLORENCOM, Uploaded on Nov 7, 2007
the original 1939 version of Mbube (The Lion Sleeps Tonight) by the South African group Solomon Linda And The Evening Birds.
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RELATED LINK
Click http://www.africancreamstore.com/about-us/ for information about Amaryoni's music and music that has been recorded by other South African groups.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
My thanks to the group Amaryoni. Also, thanks to the producers and uploaders of these sound files and videos for helping to spread awareness of this type of music and this group throughout the world.
Finally, thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Viewer comments are welcome.
Showing posts with label acappella music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label acappella music. Show all posts
Monday, November 5, 2012
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Po' Lazarus (Comments, Lyrics, & Videos)
Edited by Azizi Powell
This post provides comments, lyrics, and two videos of the African American prison work song "Po' [Poor] Lazarus". Another term for "prison work songs" are "chain gang songs", although all prison work songs aren't sung by prisoners working on chain gangs.
The content of this post is provided for folkloric, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Carter_and_the_Prisoners
"James Carter (December 18, 1925 – November 26, 2003) was an American amateur singer and several times an inmate of the Mississippi prison system. He was paid $20,000, and credited, for a four-decade-old lead-vocalist performance used in the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?.
In 1959, Carter was serving time at Camp B of the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman, Mississippi. In a southern field excursion, Carter and the other prisoners in his chain gang were spending the day chopping wood. Folk music historian Alan Lomax encountered them, and Carter and the others agreed to be recorded, as soloist and chorus respectively on an old spiritual, "Po' Lazarus", chopping the logs in time to the music. The recording and a photograph of the prisoners became part of Lomax's seminal music archive.
Decades later, the recording was purchased for use in the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, which went on to win a Grammy for Album of the Year. During this, the producers, working in the hope that Carter was still alive, successfully tracked him down. Despite never seeing the film and not even remembering the song he had sung over 40 years previously, Carter was pleased with the album's success, and was present at the benefit concert held in Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, which featured repeat performances by the performers of other numbers on the soundtrack (although Carter himself did not perform).
As the other prisoners have not been identified (and likely never will be), the official credit for the artist on the soundtrack is for "James Carter & the Prisoners"."
-snip-
Editor's Note:
I disagree with the description of this song as a "spiritual". "Spirituals" are religious songs. Despite containing the exclamation "Lawd" ("Lord") and the New Testament Biblical male name "Lazarus", "Po' Lazarus" is a secular (non-religious) song, part of the "prison work songs" genre.
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LYRICS : PO LAZARUS
[unknown composer/s]
Well, the high sheriff
He told his deputy
Want you go out and bring me Lazarus
Well, the high sheriff
Told his deputy
I want you go out and bring me Lazarus
Bring him dead or alive,
Lawd, Lawd
Bring him dead or alive
Well the deputy he told the high sheriff
I ain't gonna mess with Lazarus
Well the deputy he told the high sheriff
Says I ain't gonna mess with Lazarus
Well he's a dangerous man
Lawd, Lawd
He's a dangerous man
Well then the high sheriff, he found Lazarus
He was hidin' in the chill of a mountain
Well the high sheriff, found Lazarus
He was hidin' in the chill of the mountain
With his head hung down
Lawd, Lawd
With his head hung down
Well then the high sheriff, he told Lazarus
He says Lazarus I come to arrest you
Well the high sheriff, told Lazarus
Says Lazarus I come to arrest you
And bring ya dead or alive
Lawd, Lawd
Bring you dead or alive
Well then Lazarus, he told the high sheriff
Says I never been arrested
Well Lazarus, told the high sheriff
Says I never been arrested
By no one man
Lawd, Lawd
By no one man
And then the high sheriff, he shot Lazarus
Well, he shot him mighty big number
Well the high sheriff, shot Lazarus
Well he shot him with a mighty big number
With a forty five
Lawd, Lawd
With a forty five
Well then they take old Lazarus
Yes they laid him on the commissary gallery
Well they taken poor Lazarus
And the laid him on the commissary gallery
He said my wounded side
Lawd, Lawd
My wounded side
From http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/obrotherwhereartthou/polazarus.htm
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FEATURED VIDEOS
Video #1: po' Lazarus [Sung by "James Carter & the Prisoners" & featured in the movie Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?]
Uploaded by L1A1 on Apr 13, 2011
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Video #2: The Fairfilled Four - Po Lazarus
[The Fairfield Four]
Uploaded by ppmcsk on Dec 18, 2009
From "Down From The Moutnain" concert
-snip-
In my opinion, the percussive foot stomps, handclaps, and thigh patting substitute for the sound of picks and enhance this acapella song performance.
**
R42464, a commenter on this video's viewer comment thread explains that the group's name is The Fairfield Four because there were four members when the group started in 1921.
**
From http://singers.com/group/Fairfield-Four/
"The a cappella style of the Fairfield Four was drawn from the Birmingham, Alabama quartet tradition exemplified by recording groups such as the Bessemer Sunset Four, the Birmingham Jubilee Singers, and the Famous Blue Jay Singers with lead vocalist, Silas Steele. The tradition is characterized by a percussive bass voice anchoring middle harmonies sung often on repeated rhythmic syllables ("boom a lanka lanka lanka") and a tenor voice out front carrying the lead...
Today, the Fairfield Four are best known from their appearance on the soundtrack and on screen in the Coen Brothers 2000 film, O Brother Where Art Thou. They are multiple Grammy winners with albums including Standing in the Safety Zone (1992) and I Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray (1997) on Warner Brothers, Wreckin' the House (1998) on Dead Reckoning, The Fairfield Four and Friends Live from Mountain Stage (2000) on Blue Plate, and by their bass singer Isaac Freeman with the Bluebloods, Beautiful Stars (2003) on Lost Highway"...
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT & THANKS
Thanks to the unknown composer/s of "Po Lazarus". Thanks also to the singers and collectors of this song and the uploaders of this video.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Viewer comments are welcome.
This post provides comments, lyrics, and two videos of the African American prison work song "Po' [Poor] Lazarus". Another term for "prison work songs" are "chain gang songs", although all prison work songs aren't sung by prisoners working on chain gangs.
The content of this post is provided for folkloric, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Carter_and_the_Prisoners
"James Carter (December 18, 1925 – November 26, 2003) was an American amateur singer and several times an inmate of the Mississippi prison system. He was paid $20,000, and credited, for a four-decade-old lead-vocalist performance used in the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?.
In 1959, Carter was serving time at Camp B of the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman, Mississippi. In a southern field excursion, Carter and the other prisoners in his chain gang were spending the day chopping wood. Folk music historian Alan Lomax encountered them, and Carter and the others agreed to be recorded, as soloist and chorus respectively on an old spiritual, "Po' Lazarus", chopping the logs in time to the music. The recording and a photograph of the prisoners became part of Lomax's seminal music archive.
Decades later, the recording was purchased for use in the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, which went on to win a Grammy for Album of the Year. During this, the producers, working in the hope that Carter was still alive, successfully tracked him down. Despite never seeing the film and not even remembering the song he had sung over 40 years previously, Carter was pleased with the album's success, and was present at the benefit concert held in Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, which featured repeat performances by the performers of other numbers on the soundtrack (although Carter himself did not perform).
As the other prisoners have not been identified (and likely never will be), the official credit for the artist on the soundtrack is for "James Carter & the Prisoners"."
-snip-
Editor's Note:
I disagree with the description of this song as a "spiritual". "Spirituals" are religious songs. Despite containing the exclamation "Lawd" ("Lord") and the New Testament Biblical male name "Lazarus", "Po' Lazarus" is a secular (non-religious) song, part of the "prison work songs" genre.
****
LYRICS : PO LAZARUS
[unknown composer/s]
Well, the high sheriff
He told his deputy
Want you go out and bring me Lazarus
Well, the high sheriff
Told his deputy
I want you go out and bring me Lazarus
Bring him dead or alive,
Lawd, Lawd
Bring him dead or alive
Well the deputy he told the high sheriff
I ain't gonna mess with Lazarus
Well the deputy he told the high sheriff
Says I ain't gonna mess with Lazarus
Well he's a dangerous man
Lawd, Lawd
He's a dangerous man
Well then the high sheriff, he found Lazarus
He was hidin' in the chill of a mountain
Well the high sheriff, found Lazarus
He was hidin' in the chill of the mountain
With his head hung down
Lawd, Lawd
With his head hung down
Well then the high sheriff, he told Lazarus
He says Lazarus I come to arrest you
Well the high sheriff, told Lazarus
Says Lazarus I come to arrest you
And bring ya dead or alive
Lawd, Lawd
Bring you dead or alive
Well then Lazarus, he told the high sheriff
Says I never been arrested
Well Lazarus, told the high sheriff
Says I never been arrested
By no one man
Lawd, Lawd
By no one man
And then the high sheriff, he shot Lazarus
Well, he shot him mighty big number
Well the high sheriff, shot Lazarus
Well he shot him with a mighty big number
With a forty five
Lawd, Lawd
With a forty five
Well then they take old Lazarus
Yes they laid him on the commissary gallery
Well they taken poor Lazarus
And the laid him on the commissary gallery
He said my wounded side
Lawd, Lawd
My wounded side
From http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/obrotherwhereartthou/polazarus.htm
****
FEATURED VIDEOS
Video #1: po' Lazarus [Sung by "James Carter & the Prisoners" & featured in the movie Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?]
Uploaded by L1A1 on Apr 13, 2011
****
Video #2: The Fairfilled Four - Po Lazarus
[The Fairfield Four]
Uploaded by ppmcsk on Dec 18, 2009
From "Down From The Moutnain" concert
-snip-
In my opinion, the percussive foot stomps, handclaps, and thigh patting substitute for the sound of picks and enhance this acapella song performance.
**
R42464, a commenter on this video's viewer comment thread explains that the group's name is The Fairfield Four because there were four members when the group started in 1921.
**
From http://singers.com/group/Fairfield-Four/
"The a cappella style of the Fairfield Four was drawn from the Birmingham, Alabama quartet tradition exemplified by recording groups such as the Bessemer Sunset Four, the Birmingham Jubilee Singers, and the Famous Blue Jay Singers with lead vocalist, Silas Steele. The tradition is characterized by a percussive bass voice anchoring middle harmonies sung often on repeated rhythmic syllables ("boom a lanka lanka lanka") and a tenor voice out front carrying the lead...
Today, the Fairfield Four are best known from their appearance on the soundtrack and on screen in the Coen Brothers 2000 film, O Brother Where Art Thou. They are multiple Grammy winners with albums including Standing in the Safety Zone (1992) and I Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray (1997) on Warner Brothers, Wreckin' the House (1998) on Dead Reckoning, The Fairfield Four and Friends Live from Mountain Stage (2000) on Blue Plate, and by their bass singer Isaac Freeman with the Bluebloods, Beautiful Stars (2003) on Lost Highway"...
****
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT & THANKS
Thanks to the unknown composer/s of "Po Lazarus". Thanks also to the singers and collectors of this song and the uploaders of this video.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Viewer comments are welcome.
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