Differences Between Black American Jubilee Singing Groups And Black American Gospel Singing Groups

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part IV of a four part pancocojams series on the word "jubilee".

This post provides information from three online sources about the differences between Black American Jubilee singing groups and Black American Gospel singing groups.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2023/07/mcintosh-county-shouters-jubilee-black.html for Part I of this series. That post presents YouTube videos, information about, and lyrics for the ring shout "Jubilee" ("Jubilee In The Morning"). That pancocojams post was published on July 5, 2023.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/04/information-about-original-fisk-jubilee.html for Part II of this series. That post presents information about the original Fisk Jubilee singers and information about six other Black American singing groups with the word "jubilee" in their names.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/04/swing-and-turn-jubilee-play-party-song.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. That post showcases a YouTube audio file of folk singer Jean Ritchie singing the Appalachian play party song "Swing And Turn Jubilee" (also given as "Jubilee").

The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the legacies of all the early Jubilee and/or the early Gospel singing groups that are included in these write-ups as well as the legacies of the early Jubilee and/or the early Gospel singing groups that aren't mentioned in these write-ups. Thanks also to all  those who are quoted in this post. .

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ONLINE SOURCES ON THIS SUBJECT
These online sources are numbered for referencing purposes only.

SOURCE #1
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubilee_quartet
"Jubilee quartets were popular African-American religious musical groups in the first half of the 20th century. The name derives from the Fisk Jubilee Singers, a group of singers organized by George L. White at Fisk University in 1871 to sing Negro spirituals. The members of the original Fisk Jubilee Quartet (1909–1916) were Alfred G. King (first bass), James A. Myers (second tenor), Noah W. Ryder (second bass), and John W. Work II (first tenor).[1] Students at other historically black schools, such as Hampton Institute, Tuskegee Institute and Wilberforce University, followed suit. Many independent jubilee troupes also found inspiration in the Fisk Jubilee Singers, such as the Original Nashville Students.

The early jubilee quartets featured close harmonies, formal arrangements and a "flatfooted" style of singing that emphasized restrained musical expression and technique derived from Western musical traditions. Early quartets reinforced their respectable image by adopting uniforms that a university glee club might wear and discouraging improvisation.

In time, however, the popularity of the jubilee style spread from the universities to black churches, where quartets, singing before audiences with a tradition of enthusiastic response, began to absorb much of the energy and freedom of Gospel music coming out of Holiness churches. Groups such as the Golden Gate Quartet—originally named the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet—infused their performances of spirituals with the rhythmic beat of blues and jazz and gradually began including gospel standards written by Thomas A. Dorsey and others in their repertoire. The Gates and other jubilee quartets gained nationwide popularity through radio broadcasts, records and touring in the 1930s and 1940s.

Other groups, such as the Dixie Hummingbirds and the Original Five Blind Boys of Alabama (formally known as the Happyland Jubilee Singers) that had begun singing in the conventional jubilee style went further, creating the more improvisational and fervent style of quartet singing known as "hard Gospel". That new style largely eclipsed jubilee singing by the 1950s."...

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SOURCE #2
From https://timeline.carnegiehall.org/genres/gospel-quartetSacred Gospel Quartet
“We changed our name to the Jericho Quintet for the clubs. During that time [1940s] the gospel audiences weren’t ready for a night club group, so we worked under the Jericho Quintet in the [club] Café Society. But back in the church we were the Dixie Hummingbirds.”
-Ira Tucker, Lead Singer, Dixie Hummingbirds

"The gospel quartet sound began evolving in the1940s when jubilee quartets incorporated songs by pioneering gospel songwriters, such as Thomas Dorsey and Lucie Campbell, in their repertoire. The Dixie Hummingbirds, Golden Gate Quartet and the Soul Stirrers, among others, helped to introduce and popularize this new musical style, initially rejected by ministers of denominational churches, to the Black masses through their live performances and regular broadcasts on local radio. In the 1950s some jubilee quartets had begun slowly transforming into gospel quartets. This transformation included a repertoire of nearly as many gospels as jubilee songs, and the addition of instruments, particularly the guitar. Influenced by the bluesy melodies of Thomas A. Dorsey’s gospel songs and the sanctified singing style of Holiness-Pentecostal churches, gospel quartets emerged as a distinct tradition. By the 1960s, several quartets had also added piano, Hammond organ and drums.

The Soul Stirrers is believed to have been the first jubilee quartet to shift completely to gospel music. They moved away from a collective group singing style to one that featured a lead tenor supported by refrain lines repeated throughout the song (“Glory, Glory, Halleluiah” and “Wonderful”). After World War II, from about 1945 to 1960, gospel quartets reigned supreme. Many semi-professional groups toured the country, and some made performing their full-time profession. They sang at special gospel programs held in auditoriums and other large venues. By the 1960s, the gospel quartet sound had acquired shouts, screams and growls, and other non-verbal utterances. Rhythmic thigh slapping and other bodily movements further intensified the style, represented best by the Five Blind Boys of Alabama led by Clarence Fountain (“Alone and Motherless”). New trends eclipsed the popularity of gospel quartets, but their sound resurfaced in rhythm and blues vocal groups, many of whose members began in gospel quartets, such as Billy Ward and the Dominoes and the Isley Brothers."...

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SOURCE #3

[Pancocojams Editor's Note - This AI Overview write-ups are the results of my April 20, 2026 queries on this subject.] 

"AI Overview   

Jubilee songs (often called jubilee spirituals) and Black gospel songs differ primarily in their musical style, performance context, and origin, with jubilee serving as an early, often a cappella bridge between slave spirituals and the more modern, instrumental-driven Black gospel music of the 1920s and 1930s.

Here are the key differences between the two:

1. Musical Style and Structure

Jubilee: Features tight, close-harmony singing, often performed in a four-part harmony style. It is generally more restrained and rhythmic, focusing on ensemble singing rather than individual vocal gymnastics.

Gospel: Characterized by high-energy, soulful, and dramatic improvisation. It features strong, emotional vocal solos (screams, moans) over a rhythmic foundation, frequently with high-spirited call-and-response between the soloist and the group.

2. Instrumentation

Jubilee: Traditionally, jubilee singing is a cappella or accompanied by very minimal instrumentation. The focus is on the human voice blending.

Gospel: Known for heavy instrumental accompaniment, typically including piano, Hammond organ, drums, bass guitar, and tambourines.

3. Origins and Content

Jubilee: Originated in the late 19th century (popularized by the Fisk Jubilee Singers in the 1870s) as a polished, concert-style arrangement of traditional enslaved people's spirituals. They often carried subtle, coded messages of freedom.

Gospel: Developed later (early 20th century) as a new genre of sacred music, often composed by known artists (e.g., Thomas A. Dorsey) rather than passed down through oral tradition. It is more directly influenced by blues and ragtime, focusing on personal testimony, joy, and emotional release.

4. Performance Context

Jubilee: Historically presented in a more formal concert setting, designed to be accessible to both Black and white audiences in the post-Civil War era, helping to introduce spirituals to the world.

Gospel: Developed primarily within the Pentecostal and Baptist churches, becoming a core part of the worship service, and was designed to be ecstatic and engaging.

Summary Table

Feature            Jubilee Song    

Vocals             Tight 4-part harmony, blended       

Instruments     Often A cappella or minimal 

Origin  Post-Civil War Spirituals        

Style    Restrained, rhythmic  

Summary Table

Feature       Black Gospel Song

Vocals           Improvised, solos, passionate

Instruments  Organ, piano, drums, guitars

Origin          Early 20th Century Sacred

Style            Energetic, blues-influenced

While different, many early gospel groups, such as the Golden Gate Quartet, successfully blended the two styles, bringing the tight harmonies of the jubilee tradition to the upbeat, lyrical nature of gospel music."

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This concludes Part IV of this pancocojams series.

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Visitor comments are welcome. 

Information About The Original "Fisk Jubilee Singers" And Information About Six Other Black American Singing Groups With The Word "Jubilee" In Their Name

Fisk Jubilee Singers-a History ..."Swing Low Sweet Chariot" (1909)

Jay Sweet, Jul 8, 2020

A History of The Fisk Jubilee Singers.  A History of American Music 1750-1950. Included is the earliest recording of "Swing Low Sweet Chariot." Presented by Jay Sweet

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Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest updates - April 20, 2026

This is Part II of a four part series on the word "jubilee".

This pancocojams post showcases the original Fisk Jubilee Singers' 1909 recording of "Swing Low Sweet Chariot". 

This post also presents information about The Fisk Jubilee Singers & six other Black American singing groups with the word "Jubilee" in their name.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2023/07/mcintosh-county-shouters-jubilee-black.html for Part I of this series. That post presents YouTube videos, information about and lyrics for the ring shout "Jubilee".("Jubilee In The Morning").That pancocojams post was published on July 5, 2023.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/04/swing-and-turn-jubilee-play-party-song.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. That post showcases a YouTube audio file of folk singer Jean Ritchie singing the Appalachian play party song "Swing And Turn Jubilee" (also given as "Jubilee"). 

That post also presents information about White American singer Jean Ritchie as well as general information about play party songs, information about the song "Swing And Turn, Jubilee" and information about the word "Jubilee" in this song.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/04/differences-between-black-american.html for Part IV of this pancocojams series. That post provides information from three online sources about the differences between Black American Jubilee singing groups and Black American Gospel singing groups.

The content of this post is presented for historical and socio-cultural purposes.

All copyrights remained with their owners.

Thanks to the legacies of all those groups that are mentioned in this post. Thanks to all those who quoted in this post.

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ONLINE EXCERPTS

SOURCE #1
From https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/jubilee-2016-12-15
"What It Means

1 : (often capitalized Jubilee) a year of emancipation and restoration provided by ancient Hebrew law to be kept every 50 years by the emancipation of Hebrew slaves, restoration of alienated lands to their former owners, and omission of all cultivation of the land

2 : a special anniversary; especially : a 50th anniversary

3 : a period of time proclaimed by the Roman Catholic pope ordinarily every 25 years as a time of special solemnity

4 : a state of joy or rejoicing : jubilation

5 : a religious song of black Americans usually referring to a time of future happiness

[…]

Did You Know?

According to Leviticus, every 50th year was to be a time when Hebrew slaves were set free, lands were given back to their former owners, and the fields were not harvested. This year of liberty was announced when a ram's horn was blown. In Hebrew, that ceremonial horn was called a yōbhēl, and the celebratory year took its name from that of the horn. As the Bible was translated into other languages, the concept of the yōbhēl spread around the world, as did its name (albeit with spelling modifications). In Latin, yōbhēl was transcribed as jubilaeus (influenced by Latin jubilare, meaning "to let out joyful shouts"). French-speakers adopted the word as jubilé, and English-speakers created jubilee from the French and Latin forms."

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SOURCE #2
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubilee_quartet
"Jubilee quartets were popular African-American religious musical groups in the first half of the 20th century. The name derives from the Fisk Jubilee Singers, a group of singers organized by George L. White at Fisk University in 1871 to sing Negro spirituals. The members of the original Fisk Jubilee Quartet (1909–1916) were Alfred G. King (first bass), James A. Myers (second tenor), Noah W. Ryder (second bass), and John W. Work II (first tenor).[1] Students at other historically black schools, such as Hampton Institute, Tuskegee Institute and Wilberforce University, followed suit. Many independent jubilee troupes also found inspiration in the Fisk Jubilee Singers, such as the Original Nashville Students.

The early jubilee quartets featured close harmonies, formal arrangements and a "flatfooted" style of singing that emphasized restrained musical expression and technique derived from Western musical traditions. Early quartets reinforced their respectable image by adopting uniforms that a university glee club might wear and discouraging improvisation.

In time, however, the popularity of the jubilee style spread from the universities to black churches, where quartets, singing before audiences with a tradition of enthusiastic response, began to absorb much of the energy and freedom of Gospel music coming out of Holiness churches. Groups such as the Golden Gate Quartet—originally named the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet—infused their performances of spirituals with the rhythmic beat of blues and jazz and gradually began including gospel standards written by Thomas A. Dorsey and others in their repertoire. The Gates and other jubilee quartets gained nationwide popularity through radio broadcasts, records and touring in the 1930s and 1940s.

Other groups, such as the Dixie Hummingbirds and the Original Five Blind Boys of Alabama (formally known as the Happyland Jubilee Singers) that had begun singing in the conventional jubilee style went further, creating the more improvisational and fervent style of quartet singing known as "hard Gospel". That new style largely eclipsed jubilee singing by the 1950s”…

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SOURCE #3
From https://www.fiskjubileesingers.org/overview
"The Fisk Jubilee Singers are vocal artists and students at Fisk University in Nashville, TN., who sing and travel worldwide.

The original Fisk Jubilee Singers introduced ‘slave songs’ to the world in 1871 and were instrumental in preserving this unique American musical tradition known today as Negro spirituals.

They broke racial barriers in the US and abroad in the late 19th century and entertained Kings and Queens in Europe. At the same time, they raised money in support of their beloved school."

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SOURCE #4
From https://www.fiskjubileesingers.org/history
"Fisk University opened in Nashville in 1866 as the first American university to offer a liberal arts education to “young men and women irrespective of color.” Five years later the school was in dire financial straits.

George L. White, Fisk treasurer and music professor then, created a nine-member choral ensemble of students and took it on tour to earn money for the University. The group left campus on October 6, 1871. Jubilee Day is celebrated annually on October 6 to commemorate this historic day.

The first concerts were in small towns. Surprise, curiosity, and some hostility were the early audience response to these young black singers who did not perform in the traditional “minstrel fashion.”

One early concert in Cincinnati brought in $50, which was promptly donated to victims of the notorious 1871 fire in Chicago. When they reached Columbus, the next city on tour, the students were physically and emotionally drained. Mr. White, in a gesture of hope and encouragement, named them “The Jubilee Singers,” a Biblical reference to the year of Jubilee in the Book of Leviticus, Chapter 25"

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SOURCE #5
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pace_Jubilee_Singers
"The Pace Jubilee Singers were a gospel group founded by Charles Henry Pace in Chicago in 1925, and one of the first gospel groups to be recorded. They recorded more than 40 songs for Victor and for Brunswick Records in 1926–29, including spirituals arranged by Pace, and songs and hymns by Pace and Charles Albert Tindley and others. They performed in close harmony style, usually accompanied by piano or organ. Thomas A. Dorsey was briefly associated with them. In their later recordings, Hattie Parker is identified as soloist.[1]"...

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SOURCE #6
From  https://arts.alabama.gov/traditional_culture/folkwaysarticles/BIRMINGHAMSOUND.aspx "BIRMINGHAM SOUND" HAD PROFOUND INFLUENCE ON AMERICAN POPULAR MUSIC"
by Henry Willett (no publishing date given)
"In Jefferson County, Alabama, beginning in the first quarter of the twentieth century, there developed a tradition of African-American a cappella quartet singing that was to have such widespread influence on the recorded gospel music industry that numerous record companies applied "Birmingham" to recording artists who were not even from Alabama, hoping to take advantage of that city's reputation as the heartland of gospel quartet music.

With a rich, fluid and mellow intertwining of voices, the Birmingham Sound" is a direct-line ancestor to the most popular versions of African-American harmony singing, from the Ink Spots and the Platters to the Temptations, Take Six and Boyz 2 Men.

In 1926, the Birmingham Jubilee Singers traveled from Jefferson County to record in Atlanta, after being discovered by a Columbia Records talent scout. They achieved popularity nation wide and back home through their live radio broadcasts over stations WAPI, WVRC and WJLD.

In the following two decades, a number of other Jefferson County Quartets--the Famous Blue Jay Singers, the Dunham Jubilee Singers, and the Four Great Wonders--followed in the footsteps of the Birmingham Jubilees as immensely popular recording artists."

The "Birmingham Sound" was nurtured by the historical migration of African-Americans from the farm to the industrial mill and mine settlements of Jefferson County in the early twentieth century.

Quartet "trainers," such as Charles Bridges, R. C. Foster, Son Dunham, and Gilbert Porterfield, products of music teachers from Tuskegee and Fisk, in turn taught legions of quartet singers, combining those traditional harmony lesson stressing timing and articulation with many of the more modern influences of jazz. The result was a dynamic new sound which emerged from Jefferson County's mining camps and mills towns and became immensely popular in urban areas across the country, from New York to Los Angeles.

The "Birmingham Sound," characterized by close harmony, a stressing of vocal attack and release, exchanging lead vocals from singer to singers, and a "pumping" rhythmic bass vocal, set the standard for gospel quartet music."

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SOURCE #7
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrim_Jubilees
"The Pilgrim Jubilees, also known as The Pilgrim Jubilee Singers, was an American traditional black gospel music group originally from the cities of Jackson, Mississippi and Chicago, Illinois, where they were established by Elgie Graham and Willie Johnson, in 1934. The group have released 25 albums with six record labels Nashboro Records, Peacock Records, Savoy Records, Malaco Records, MCA Records, and Benson Records. Five of those albums charted on the Billboard magazine charts.

Background

The Mississippi and Illinois-based traditional black gospel group, The Pilgrim Jubilees, were established in 1934 by Elgie Graham and Willie Johnson, as a duo at that time in Houston, Mississippi. They added three more members to the duo in 1946:"...

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SOURCE #8
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selah_Jubilee_Singers
"The Selah Jubilee Singers were an American gospel vocal quartet, who appeared in public as a gospel group but who also had a successful recording career as a secular group in the 1930s & 1940s.

 History

Around 1927, Thermon Ruth (1914–2002) founded the Selah Jubilee Singers, a group drawn from the membership of a church choir, while he was the disc jockey at WOR in Brooklyn, New York. He later based the group in Raleigh, North Carolina when he moved his radio show to station WPTF. The Selah Jubilee Singers first recorded on April 28, 1938 for Decca, a session which included popular songs such as "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" (DE 7598), and in February 1941, "I'll Fly Away" (DE 7831).[1] The group made the first recording of "Just a Closer Walk With Thee" (Decca Records 7872), recorded on October 8, 1941 in New York City with Thermon Ruth and John Ford, lead vocal; Fred Baker, lead baritone; Monroe Clark, baritone; J. B. Nelson, bass vocal; and Fred Baker on guitar.[2]

By the late 1940s, the members were Ruth, Alden ("Allen") Bunn, Junius Parker, Melvin Coldten, and Jimmy Gorham. In 1949, Ruth and Bunn decided to form a secular vocal group, which became The Larks.[3] The Larks recorded most successfully for Apollo Records, a New York City area record company, but split up in 1952.[4]

The Selah Jubilee Singers became the first gospel group to play in the famed Apollo Theater, known for its vaudeville acts, after Therman Ruth convinced the owner, Frank Shiffman, to allow a gospel act. On December 15, 1955, the Selah Jubilee Singers debuted at the Apollo, the first gospel group to play at any commercial theater. Ruth ensured that a variety of music including gospel, jubilee, and spirituals was featured in order to broaden the appeal, though the emphasis was on rhythm as well as the emotional components of gospel.[5]"

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Visitor comments are welcome. 

Norfolk Jazz And Jubilee Quartet - "Get On Board, Little Children" (1920s Record) with information about Black American Jubilee singing

Norfolk Jazz And Jubilee Quartet - Topic, Jun 24, 2017

Provided to YouTube by The Orchard Enterprises

Norfolk Jazz And Jubilee Quartet Vol. 2 (1923-1925)

℗ 1995 Document Records

Released on: 2005-06-28

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series on the Black American Spiritual "Get On Board, Little Children" (also known as "The Gospel Train").

This post showcases an early to mid 1920s recording of the Norfolk Jazz And Jubilee Quartet singing "Get On Board, Little Children."

This post presents information about "Get On Board. Little Children" (also entitled "The Gospel Train") from that song's Wikipedia page.

This post also presents a complete reprint of the Wikipedia page on Jubilee Quartets.as well as an excerpt from the Wikipedia page about The Norfolk Jazz And Jubilee Quartet.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/05/shirley-temple-singing-get-on-board.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. That post showcases a YouTube video of child Shirley Temple singing "Get On Board, Little Children" from the 1936 American movie Dimples. That post also showcases a YouTube video of the 2003 PlayStation video game advertisement entitled "Mountain".That ad features Shirley Temple singing "Get On Board, Little Children." Additional information about that ad is also included in that pancocojams post.  

The content of this song is presented for historical, cultural, religious, and educational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the composer/s of this song and thanks to the Norfolk Jazz And Jubilee Quartet. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG "GET ON BOARD, LITTLE CHILDREN" (ALSO KNOWN AS "THE GOSPEL TRAIN")
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gospel_Train [retrieved May 17, 2024]
" "The Gospel Train (Get on Board)" is a traditional African-American spiritual first published in 1872 as one of the songs of the Fisk Jubilee Singers.[2] A standard Gospel song, it is found in the hymnals of many Protestant denominations and has been recorded by numerous artists.

The first verse, including the chorus is as follows:

The gospel train is coming
I hear it just at hand
I hear the car wheels moving
And rumbling thro' the land
Get on board, children (3×)
For there's room for many a more

Although "The Gospel Train" is usually cited as traditional, several sources credit a Baptist minister from New Hampshire, John Chamberlain, with writing it.[3] Captain Asa W. Bartlett, historian for the New Hampshire Twelfth Regiment, reported Chamberlain as singing the song on April 26, 1863, during Sunday services for the regiment.[4]"...

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INFORMATION ABOUT BLACK AMERICAN JUBILEE QUARTETS
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubilee_quartet [retrieved May 17,2024] 
"Jubilee quartets were popular African-American religious musical groups in the first half of the 20th century. The name derives from the Fisk Jubilee Singers, a group of singers organized by George L. White at Fisk University in 1871 to sing Negro spirituals. The members of the original Fisk Jubilee Quartet (1909–1916) were Alfred G. King (first bass), James A. Myers (second tenor), Noah W. Ryder (second bass), and John W. Work II (first tenor).[1] Students at other historically black schools, such as Hampton Institute, Tuskegee Institute and Wilberforce University, followed suit. Many independent jubilee troupes also found inspiration in the Fisk Jubilee Singers, such as the Original Nashville Students.

The early jubilee quartets featured close harmonies, formal arrangements and a "flatfooted" style of singing that emphasized restrained musical expression and technique derived from Western musical traditions. Early quartets reinforced their respectable image by adopting uniforms that a university glee club might wear and discouraging improvisation.

In time, however, the popularity of the jubilee style spread from the universities to black churches, where quartets, singing before audiences with a tradition of enthusiastic response, began to absorb much of the energy and freedom of Gospel music coming out of Holiness churches. Groups such as the Golden Gate Quartet—originally named the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet—infused their performances of spirituals with the rhythmic beat of blues and jazz and gradually began including gospel standards written by Thomas A. Dorsey and others in their repertoire. The Gates and other jubilee quartets gained nationwide popularity through radio broadcasts, records and touring in the 1930s and 1940s.

Other groups, such as the Dixie Hummingbirds and the Original Five Blind Boys of Alabama (formally known as the Happyland Jubilee Singers) that had begun singing in the conventional jubilee style went further, creating the more improvisational and fervent style of quartet singing known as "hard Gospel". That new style largely eclipsed jubilee singing by the 1950s.".

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE NORFOLK JAZZ AND JUBILEE QUARTET ((originally published in German; retrieved on May 17,2024)
From https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norfolk_Jazz_%26_Jubilee_Quartet
"The Norfolk Jazz & Jubilee Quartet was an American vocal ensemble initially known as the Norfolk Jazz Quartets and later recording as the Norfolk Jubilee Quartet . The quartet was one of the first groups to present recordings with close harmony in the field of jazz and spirituals .

The Norfolk Jazz Quartet had been performing in Norfolk, Virginia since early 1919 . The first recordings began in 1921, such as the first recording of Jelly Roll Morton's early jazz piece Jelly Roll Blues . On most recordings, a guitar can be heard in addition to the voices. Between 1924 and 1929 the vocal quartet recorded under the name The Negro Spirituals or Norfolk Jubilee Quartets , but continued to perform vaudeville numbers under the old name. Some recordings were also marketed as the Palmetto Jazz Quartet .

The Norfolk Jazz & Jubilee Quartet was one of the most popular vocal groups of the 1920s, recording over 110 titles over the course of its existence, first for Okeh , then for Paramount Records and, from 1937, for Decca Records . At this point the group consisted of Norman Harris and Len Williams as well as new additions Raymond Smith and Melvin Coldten. Its members began their careers in vaudeville (including in the Mamie Smith Review ) and then appeared in musicals . Their recorded repertoire initially included classic jazz and blues pieces and novelty songs from minstrel shows , until from 1924 onwards mainly spirituals such as “Father Prepare Me” were recorded on record alongside secular titles such as “Queen Street Rag” and “Louisiana Bo Bo”. [1] After the death of bassist and arranger Len Williams in 1940, the group broke up. [2]"...

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The Influence Of Late 19th Century African American Minstrel Groups Performing In South Africa On South African Music

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents several online excerpts about the influence of late 19th century African American minstrel groups performing in South Africa on South African music.

The content of this post are presented for historical, cultural, and educational purposes. 

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those historical African American groups and historical South African groups for their musical legacy. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/03/timeline-of-music-development-in-nation.html for the closely related pancocojams post entitled "Timeline Of Music Development In The Nation Of South Africa (online article excerpt)."

Portions of this March 8, 2024 pancocojams post are quoted sometimes in longer forms in previous pancocojams post on this subject. Click the tags below to find those posts.

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VARIOUS ONLINE EXCERPTS 

These excerpts are given in no particular order and are numbered here for referencing purposes only.

ONLINE EXCERPT #1
From https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/development-music-south-africa-timeline-1600-2004 THE DEVELOPMENT OF MUSIC IN SOUTH AFRICA TIMELINE 1600-2004

[...]

"1860s

In the mid-1800s, travelling minstrel shows began to visit South Africa. As far as can be ascertained, these minstrels were at first white performers in "black-face", but by the 1860s black American minstrel troupes had begun to tour the country. They sang spirituals of the American South, and influenced many South African groups to form themselves into similar choirs; soon regular meetings and competitions between such choirs were popular, forming an entire subculture that continues to this day.

1890s

Orpheus McAdoo and the Virginia Jubilee Singers were among the most popular of the visiting minstrel groups, touring the country four times. African American spirituals were made popular in the 1890s by Orpheus McAdoo's Jubilee Singers."...

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ONLINE EXCERPT #2

"Chapter 10

Isicathamiya

MATTHEW MIHALKA

Isicathamiya is a performative vocal style in South Africa that is primarily associated with Zulu migrant works. ‘Isicathamiya’ translates roughly as ‘on tip toe’ or to stalk/walk carefully, which is reflected in some of the signature dance moves used in performances. As with many styles, it is a synthesis of various indigenous and foreign styles. Indigenous traditions include the Ingoma dance, a stomping dance of the Zulu people, and choral singing found amongst many of the Indigenous people in eastern South Africa. Isicathamiya was also influenced by minstrelsy and the various musical traditions brought by minstrel groups, particularly ragtime, along with the hymnody spread by Christian missionaries.

Blackface Minstrelsy

Developed and popularized during the 19th century, the minstrel show was one of the earliest forms of theatrical entertainment within the United States. In the decades preceding the American Civil War white performers used burnt cork on their face to portray black characters. Performances included a variety of acts including songs, dances, and comic skits that drew heavily on music produced by blacks and reinforced racial stereotypes. After the Civil War black minstrel show tropes emerged, including a group led by African American singer and impresario Orpheus McAdoo. McAdoo toured South African during the 1890s and his group is credited with influencing the creation of isicathamiya."...

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ONLINE EXCERPT #3
From https://www.coursehero.com/file/p1366g1/Virginia-Jubilee-Singers-an-African-American-minstrel-troupe-toured-South/

Introduction to World Music-.Course: MUSIC 009

School: Pennsylvania State University

The Social History Of Zulu Migrant Workers
..."Virginia Jubilee Singers, an African-American minstrel troupe, toured South Africa in 1890, performing in concert halls for white South Africans and in churches and community halls for black South Africans. While on tour the Virginia Jubilee Singers sang spirituals such as "Steal Away" and "The Gospel Train" along with traditional minstrel songs such as "The Old Folks at Home" and "Old Black Joe." Both white and black South Africans were extremely impressed with the American minstrel performances, but the music, particularly the spirituals, appealed especially to the black South African people, who could relate to the longing for freedom and justice communicated in the songs. Soon black South Africans began forming their own minstrel troupes. The music of the minstrel troupes was typically a four-part singing style. Gradually the South African minstrel music, known as isikhunzi (lit. "coon" style), incorporated more traditional South African dances and songs.

Urban music

During the 1870s and 1880s many rural South Africans migrated to the cities to work in the mines and factories. In the cities formerly-rural South Africans were exposed to many urban musical styles, particularly ragtime, ragtime dancing, and jazz. Thus urban styles (e.g., ragtime, and American jazz styles) had an influence on traditional South African music, including isicathamiya. The four musical traditions described above came together to create isicathamiya, and in the early years they also provided the repertoire for isicathamiya performers. The typical sound of isicathamiya or mbube is a cappella male voices. (There are some female isicathamiya groups, but traditionally this is a men's genre.) The music is typically in four-part harmony, which is Western-influenced, with most voice parts singing repeating ostinato patterns. There is an emphasis on the lowest voice, which is characteristic of traditional Nguni polyphony, with a heavy doubling of the bass part. And a soloist sings the top voice, usually in a more improvisatory manner and sometimes in a falsetto voice (a man's high register, far above the normal male range). Isicathamiya favors a call and response form, in which the voices overlap. No two voices begin or end their phrases at the same time, creating an overlapping effect. Another distinguishing feature is the use of glissando, as heard in traditional Nguni music. (You can see how much the other musical genres influenced this genre.) The texts, usually in Zulu or another South African language, often address real-life experiences, sometimes criticizing or protesting current events."....

****
ONLINE EXCERPT #4
Pancocojams Editor's Note: I amended the spelling of the "n word" that is given in this article.  The page number are given at the bottom of each page.

From https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/39666757.pdf
University ol the Witwatersrand
THE MAKING OF CLASS
February, 1987
AUTHOR: V. Erlmann
TITLE: "Singing Brings Joy To The Distressed"
The Social History Of Zulu Migrant Workers'

...."THE HISTORY OF ISICATHAMIYA: STYLE AND CONTEXT

In October 1956, the following article appeared in the Zulu newspaper Ilanga Lase Natal:
The history of the jazbaatjie singers dates back to 1890. It becomes clearer after 1925 and usable after 1939. The legendary Champions were led by Mabhulukwana Mbatha of Baumannville. There are hundreds of them in Durban alone. There are the Crocodiles of Enoch Mzobe, the Home Tigers of Samson Ntcmbela, the Five Roses of Aaron Ntcmbela...to name but a few. The jazbaatjie musicians have their own mannerisms. Educationally they are generally literate only in their own language. They.dress well and are simple in style. They believe in the principle "as loud as your voice can take it " when singing. Each member of a group almost tries to sing louder than his comrades. The audience are in most cases men. The few women you see now and then, are admirers of certain individual singers. The jazbaatjies, as they are commonly known, love to compete among one another and the popular trophy in Natal is a nice live goat for the winners, 5 for the second prize and 2/10 for the third. Their adjudicators are usually picked at random in the street so that they may not know or have any special interest in any individual group. If they are Africans, they stand a good chance of being beaten up should their verdict be queried. Attempts to bribe adjudicators are often made by some competitors. The competitors pay as much as 2 or more in order to enter a contest and there is a lot of money being made by organizers of such contests. The money comes from the musicians themselves and the spectators are entertained almost free of charge.

The jazbaatjie concerts are an attraction for the semi-literate. The music has grown so popular among Whites that it has been mistaken for pure Zulu traditional music. The "step" of the jazbaatjies remains unequaled in its uniqueness, while their beautiful compositions remained original and simple.

Although the term jazbaatjies has become somewhat obsolete , present day competitions in the single sex hostels near the Durban airport and oil refineries, or on the southern fringes of downtown Johannesburg do not differ substantially from the one the Ilanga correspondent witnessed in the 1950s. Apart from the "mannerisms" in stage behavior and dress, a modern observer would most probably be astonished by the diversity of musical styles represented. Although generally recognized as one of the most advanced forms of Zulu musical expression , isicathamiya reflects a rich mixture of Western, Afro-American, traditional

[page 4]

and modern stylistic sources. American revival hymns, Zulu traditional wedding songs, rock and roll, yodeling a la Jimmie Rodgers - to name but a few, are all part of the choral repertoire. They are the product of intensive experimentation by several generations of migrant workers with the most advanced and popular urban styles available to them. Reflecting upon the experience and struggles of generations of migrant workers, isicathamiya performers molded these diverse idioms into a unique expression of Zulu working class identity. The evidence available on vintage records, in present-day performance styles as well as in performers' oral testimony indicates that the first isicathamiya performers drew on a complex mix of both traditional and modern styles that were themselves the products of long processes of urbanization, rural-urban interaction and labor migration; processes much older in any case than the 1890s. What the Ilanga critic did however realize correctly, is the fact that performance styles do not simply spring up out of nowhere. The historian searching for the origins of syncretic African performance styles in South Africa in particular, often finds himself confronted with the musical residues of the early phases of European colonization.

The "pre history" of isicathamiya starts in the second half of the 19th century when American minstrel shows had become by far the most popular form of stage entertainment in the urban centers. Although a Durban based group, the Ethiopian Serenaders, performed minstrel acts as early as 1858, it was only until 1862 that the world famous Christy Minstrels toured South Africa, followed by other illustrious troupes and a plethora of local companies.

Despite the crude caricatures of Blacks in minstrel shows, the repertoire, performance style and musical instruments of the minstrel stage were enthusiastically received by the growing black urban population of the late 19th century. As early as 1880, at least one black minstrel troupe, the Kafir Christy Minstrels, was operating in Durban, which the Durban newspaper Natal Mercury paternalistically described as "a troupe of eight genuine natives, bones and all, complete who really get through their songs very well."

For black audiences, however, no visiting minstrel troupe created a deeper impression than Orpheus McAdoo's Minstrel, Vaudeville and Concert Company. Between 1890 and 1898, McAdoo, one of the first Afro-Americans of note to visit South Africa, made two phenomenally successful tours of the country that lasted more than five years, and visited Durban and Natal no less than six times. Black audiences praised McAdoo as their "music hero", and at least two choirs, the South African Choir and the Zulu Choir, were formed in imitation of McAdoo's company. McAdoo's visits became so deeply ingrained in popular consciousness as a turning point in black musical history in South Africa that the Ilanga critic saw the history of isicathamiya beginning in 1890, and

[page 5]

that Thembinkosi Pewa, member of the legendary Evening Birds under Solomon Linda declared: "Our oldest brothers, the first to sing isicathamiya, were the Jubilee Brothers. That was in 1891." (Interview Pewa) By the turn of the century, minstrelsy had reached even remote rural areas with a fairly intact traditional performance culture. Mission school graduates formed minstrel troupes modeled on either McAdoo's company or on the numerous white blackface troupes, and adopted names such as AmaNigel Coons, Pirate Coons, Brave Natalian Coons, or Yellow Coons. As late as 1918, scenes like the following, reported from Umzumbe rural mission night school in Natal, were not uncommon:

One of the items was a march across the platform of all the urchins with a bone clapper, at the head of the line...and to the astonishment of all, one of the most heathenish boys stood up and sang "TiRerary", keeping time to his singing by the twirling of an invisible mustache. By at least the 1930s, traditional weddings songs, one of the stylistic sources of isicathamiya became known as boloha or umboloho.

Doke and Vilakazi found the term to be etymologically related to Xhosa or Afrikaans for "polka" and defined it as a "dance with boots on (as on farms on festive occasions, N--ger* minstrels, etc.)" and as a "rough concert or night carnival party" (Doke, Vilakazi 1948:43). As late as 1934, Percival Kirby was able to document the widespread use of bone clappers called amathambo among rural Zulu (Kirby 1968:10-11), and octogenarian Eva Mbambo, member of the renowned Ohhlange Choir, recalls performing on the bones as late as 1928. Among the most influential troupes that popularized "coon", ragtime songs and other minstrel material throughout South Africa, was the Ohlange Choir of Ohlange Institute near Durban, founded by African National Congress president John Dube. The choir was led by Reuben T.Caluza, South Africa's most popular and innovative composer between World War I and the early 1930s. Mission educated performers such as Caluza were responsible for the emergence of precursor styles of isicathamiya, in bridging between elements of American minstrelsy and ragtime songs suited to predominantly urban tastes, and semi-traditional styles. Taking the Ohlange Choir on annual fund raising tours of the Transvaal mining towns and compounds, Caluza brought migrant workers in touch with the most polished forms of dance and topical song of the time. "In the compounds," choir member Selina Kuzwayo recalls, Caluza's show attracted "bigger crowds than anywhere." (Interview Kuzwayo) Not only were compound residents impressed by Caluza's skillful combination of dance, action, and topical lyrics, but the slick entertainment reflected positive, African images of the ideal urbanite, the "coon". Not without its own ambivalence, the figure of the sophisticated, self conscious "coon" had not only been a central tool of intra

[page 6]

communal criticism used by early Afro-American stage entertainers, but it ultimately helped to restore racial confidence (Oliver 1984:108). In the minds of South African migrant workers, the image and its corresponding musical style, soon merged into isikhunzi (coons), the earliest prototype of isicathamiya. The 1920s, at the height of Caluza's popularity and the "ragtime craze" among black South Africans, were a period of explosive industrialization that had profound effects on the lives of millions of black people."... 

****
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Visitor comments are welcome.

The Influence Of Black American Jubilee Singers & Black American Minstrel Singers On South Africa's Isicathamiya Music

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest revision - March 8, 2024 [new title]

This pancocojams post presents information about Black American Jubilee singing and Black American minstrel singers on South Africa's isicathamiya music.

In addition, this post showcases two videos of isicathamiya music.

The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to African Americans and South Africans for this musical legacy. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to those groups that are featured in these videos. Thanks also to the publishers of these university papers and these YouTube videos.

****
INFORMATION ABOUT BLACK AMERICAN JUBILEE SINGING
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubilee_quartet
"Jubilee quartets were popular African-American religious musical groups in the first half of the 20th century. The name derives from the Fisk Jubilee Singers, a group of singers organized by George L. White at Fisk University in 1871 to sing Negro spirituals. The members of the original Fisk Jubilee Quartet (1909-1916) were Alfred G. King (first bass), James A. Myers (second tenor), Noah W. Ryder (second bass), and John W. Work II (first tenor).[1] Students at other historically black schools, such as Hampton Institute, Tuskegee Institute and Wilberforce University, followed suit.

The early jubilee quartets featured close harmonies, formal arrangements and a "flatfooted" style of singing that emphasized restrained musical expression and technique derived from Western musical traditions. Early quartets reinforced their respectable image by adopting uniforms that a university glee club might wear and discouraging improvisation.

In time, however, the popularity of the jubilee style spread from the universities to black churches, where quartets, singing before audiences with a tradition of enthusiastic response, began to absorb much of the energy and freedom of Gospel music coming out of Holiness churches. Groups such as the Golden Gate Quartet—originally named the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet—infused their performances of spirituals with the rhythmic beat of blues and jazz and gradually began including gospel standards written by Thomas A. Dorsey and others in their repertoire. The Gates and other jubilee quartets gained nationwide popularity through radio broadcasts, records and touring in the 1930s and 1940s.

Other groups, such as the Dixie Hummingbirds and the Original Five Blind Boys of Alabama (formally known as the Happyland Jubilee Singers) that had begun singing in the conventional jubilee style went further, creating the more improvisational and fervent style of quartet singing known as "hard Gospel". That new style largely eclipsed jubilee singing by the 1950s."...

****
TWO VIDEO EXAMPLES OF ISICATHAMIYA MUSIC
Video #1: Amazing Zulu ISICATHAMIYA choirs



VIVIDPRO, Published on Feb 27, 2009

Zulu Isicathamiya choirs
-snip-
Here are three comments from this video's discussion thread
Peter Gibbs, 2013
"I had a chance to see one of these competitions in Durban... it lasted all night and included a fashion show. I think I sitll have some of it filmed, but I had the sense during my time in Durban that the culture (especially the musical culture) was on the verge of being swalled up by modernity... I heard some of the older kids sing in one of the schools there as well. You just can't not smile. :)"

**
REPLY
VIVIDPRO, 2013
"Hey Peter, Thanks for the comment. Yeah! thats why I did this video, unfortunately this cappella style of singing is quietly dis-intergrating with all the Kwaito, Afro beat and House taking over in the dance halls but at least at this stage, there is still a national competition held once a year where these back room basement choirs gather for competition to prove who the best choir is.....going to try to film that this year." 

**
John Jones, 2018
"I used to be a judge Sat nights YMCA's and hostels all over Dbn and Pmb. I got bundled ( in a nice but firm way ) into a Valiant one night and taken somewhere. Can't remember where as it was my first time.Competition lasted all night into the early hours of Sunday. With time for a dressing competition. I was 'tested' on my first night because I was offered a bribe in the toilets. I refused and became a sought after judge. The handlers got to know where I lived and used to come and pick me up. The funny thing was I knew nothing about dressing ( still dont lol ) and nothing about music in general let alone Isicathamiya. My 'judgements' were never questioned which was nice."

****
Video #2: Ladysmith Black Mambazo - Homeless Live



LadysmthBlackMambazo, Published on Jan 13, 2011

****
EXCERPT #1:
From https://www.coursehero.com/file/p1366g1/Virginia-Jubilee-Singers-an-African-American-minstrel-troupe-toured-South/
Introduction to World Music-...
Course: MUSIC 009
School: Pennsylvania State University
..."Virginia Jubilee Singers, an African-American minstrel troupe, toured South Africa in 1890, performing in concert halls for white South Africans and in churches and community halls for black South Africans. While on tour the Virginia Jubilee Singers sang spirituals such as "Steal Away" and "The Gospel Train" along with traditional minstrel songs such as "The Old Folks at Home" and "Old Black Joe." Both white and black South Africans were extremely impressed with the American minstrel performances, but the music, particularly the spirituals, appealed especially to the black South African people, who could relate to the longing for freedom and justice communicated in the songs. Soon black South Africans began forming their own minstrel troupes. The music of the minstrel troupes was typically a four-part singing style. Gradually the South African minstrel music, known as isikhunzi (lit. "coon" style), incorporated more traditional South African dances and songs.

Urban music
During the 1870s and 1880s many rural South Africans migrated to the cities to work in the mines and factories. In the cities formerly-rural South Africans were exposed to many urban musical styles, particularly ragtime, ragtime dancing, and jazz. Thus urban styles (e.g., ragtime, and American jazz styles) had an influence on traditional South African music, including isicathamiya. The four musical traditions described above came together to create isicathamiya, and in the early years they also provided the repertoire for isicathamiya performers. The typical sound of isicathamiya or mbube is a cappella male voices. (There are some female isicathamiya groups, but traditionally this is a men's genre.) The music is typically in four-part harmony, which is Western-influenced, with most voice parts singing repeating ostinato patterns. There is an emphasis on the lowest voice, which is characteristic of traditional Nguni polyphony, with a heavy doubling of the bass part. And a soloist sings the top voice, usually in a more improvisatory manner and sometimes in a falsetto voice (a man's high register, far above the normal male range). Isicathamiya favors a call and response form, in which the voices overlap. No two voices begin or end their phrases at the same time, creating an overlapping effect. Another distinguishing feature is the use of glissando, as heard in traditional Nguni music. (You can see how much the other musical genres influenced this genre.) The texts, usually in Zulu or another South African language, often address real-life experiences, sometimes criticizing or protesting current events.

Listening Exercise
Isicathamiya arose around 1915 in Durban, with groups like The Crocodiles and The Durban Evening Birds, and spread quickly to other cities. By the 1930s it had become very popular throughout all of South Africa. The group that truly defined the isicathamiya sound was Solomon Linda and the Evening Birds, who came into the spotlight in the 1930s.”...

****
EXCERPT #2:
Pancocojams Editor's Note: I amended the spelling of the "n word" that is given in this article.  The page number are given at the bottom of each page.

From https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/39666757.pdf
University ol the Witwatersrand
1 Jan Smuts Avenue
Johannesburg 2001
THE MAKING OF CLASS
9-1 4 February, 1987
AUTHOR: V. Erlmann
TITLE: "Singing Brings Joy To The Distressed"
The Social History Of Zulu Migrant Workers'
Choral Comnetions
..."Ethnomusicological studies have as yet to come to terms with the profound changes African societies have been undergoing as a result of massive industrialization, labor migration and urbanization. Although, parallel to early studies of African labor, the prevailing paradigm in ethnomusicological studies of African music continues to be detribalization, more recent studies of "town music" in Africa stress the continuity of traditional rural musical expression in a changed environment. Traditional music is no longer seen as irreconcilable with urban life, but as a major agent of adaptation to new forms of social organization (Kaemmer 1977). Labor migration as a major factor of urbanization seems to be one of the central mechanisms that directs the transformation of traditional performance practices in the urban socio-economic environment. However, few studies (Koetting 1979-80) have effectively examined the relationship between labor migration and musical performance, and even fewer studies (Coplan 1982, 1985, Collins and Richards 1982) have addressed the complex theoretical problems posed by new emerging forms of .urban and popular music in Africa in categories other than "acculturation", "detribalization", or their derivatives.

This paper is an attempt to redress the balance by offering an examination of the social history of a genre of Zulu choral music called isicathamiya. Closely linked with almost a century of industrialization and urbanization in the oldest and most advanced political economy of the continent, this all male vocal tradition

[page 1]

is still alive and popular with Zulu migrant workers in the industrial centers of Johannesburg and Durban. Weekly all night competitions that involve as many as 30 choirs, form the vital artery of isicathamiya music. These events are referred to by the English term "competition", a term most performers prefer to the slightly derogatory term ingoma ebusuku (night song). Recently, the Durban based vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo introduced this vibrant and long-lived urban musical tradition to international audiences. Although the history of isicathamiya is well documented on commercial recordings and radio transcripts, with the exception of three brief studies (Larlham 1981, Rycroft 1957, Sithole 1979) it has not attracted the attention of ethnomusicologists.
[page 2]

[...]

"2. THE HISTORY OF ISICATHAMIYA: STYLE AND CONTEXT

In October 1956, the following article appeared in the Zulu newspaper Ilanga Lase Natal:
The history of the jazbaatjie singers dates back to 1890. It becomes clearer after 1925 and usable after 1939. The legendary Champions were led by Mabhulukwana Mbatha of Baumannville. There are hundreds of them in Durban alone. There are the Crocodiles of Enoch Mzobe, the Home Tigers of Samson Ntcmbela, the Five Roses of Aaron Ntcmbela...to name but a few. The jazbaatjie musicians have their own mannerisms. Educationally they are generally literate only in their own language. They.dress well and are simple in style. They believe in the principle "as loud as your voice can take it " when singing. Each member of a group almost tries to sing louder than his comrades. The audience are in most cases men. The few women you see now and then, are admirers of certain individual singers. The jazbaatjies, as they are commonly known, love to compete among one another and the popular trophy in Natal is a nice live goat for the winners, 5 for the second prize and 2/10 for the third. Their adjudicators are usually picked at random in the street so that they may not know or have any special interest in any individual group. If they are Africans, they stand a good chance of being beaten up should their verdict be queried. Attempts to bribe adjudicators are often made by some competitors. The competitors pay as much as 2 or more in order to enter a contest and there is a lot of money being made by organizers of such contests. The money comes from the musicians themselves and the spectators are entertained almost free of charge.

The jazbaatjie concerts are an attraction for the semi-literate. The music has grown so popular among Whites that it has been mistaken for pure Zulu traditional music. The "step" of the jazbaatjies remains unequaled in its uniqueness, while their beautiful compositions remained original and simple.

Although the term jazbaatjies has become somewhat obsolete , present day competitions in the single sex hostels near the Durban airport and oil refineries, or on the southern fringes of downtown Johannesburg do not differ substantiall y from the one the Ilanga correspondent witnessed in the 1950s. Apart from the "mannerisms" in stage behavior and dress, a modern observe r would most probably be astonished by the diversity of musical styles represented. Although generally recognized as one of the most advanced forms of Zulu musical expression , isicathamiya reflects a rich mixture of Western, Afro-American, traditional

[page 4]
and modern stylistic sources. American revival hymns, Zulu traditional wedding songs, rock and roll, yodeling a la Jimmie Rodgers - to name but a few, are all part of the choral repertoire. They are the product of intensive experimentation by several generations of migrant workers with the most advanced and popular urban styles available to them. Reflecting upon the experience and struggles of generations of migrant workers, isicathamiya performers molded these diverse idioms into a unique expression of Zulu working class identity. The evidence available on vintage records, in present-day performance styles as well as in performers' oral testimony indicates that the first isicathamiya performers drew on a complex mix of both traditional and modern styles that were themselves the products of long processes of urbanization, rural-urban interaction and labor migration; processes much older in any case than the 1890s. What the Ilanga critic did however realize correctly, is the fact that performance styles do not simply spring up out of nowhere. The historian searching for the origins of syncretic African performance styles in South Africa in particular, often finds himself confronted with the musical residues of the early phases of European colonization.

The "pre history" of isicathamiya starts in the second half of the 19th century when American minstrel shows had become by far the most popular form of stage entertainment in the urban centers. Although a Durban based group, the Ethiopian Serenaders, performed minstrel acts as early as 1858, it was only until 1862 that the world famous Christy Minstrels toured South Africa, followed by other illustrious troupes and a plethora of local companies.

Despite the crude caricatures of Blacks in minstrel shows, the repertoire, performance style and musical instruments of the minstrel stage were enthusiastically received by the growing black urban population of the late 19th century. As early as 1880, at least one black minstrel troupe, the Kafir Christy Minstrels, was operating in Durban, which the Durban newspaper Natal Mercury paternalistically described as "a troupe of eight genuine natives, bones and all, complete who really get through their songs very well."

For black audiences, however, no visiting minstrel troupe created a deeper impression than Orpheus McAdoo's Minstrel, Vaudeville and Concert Company. Between 1890 and 1898, McAdoo, one of the first Afro-Americans of note to visit South Africa, made two phenomenally successful tours of the country that lasted more than five years, and visited Durban and Natal no less than six times. Black audiences praised McAdoo as their "music hero", and at least two choirs, the South African Choir and the Zulu Choir, were formed in imitation of McAdoo's company. McAdoo's visits became so deeply ingrained in popular consciousness as a turning point in black musical history in South Africa that the Ilanga critic saw the history of isicathamiya beginning in 1890, and

[page 5]

that Thembinkosi Pewa, member of the legendary Evening Birds under Solomon Linda declared: "Our oldest brothers, the first to sing isicathamiya, were the Jubilee Brothers. That was in 1891." (Interview Pewa) By the turn of the century, minstrelsy had reached even remote rural areas with a fairly intact traditional performance culture. Mission school graduates formed minstrel troupes modeled on either McAdoo's company or on the numerous white blackface troupes, and adopted names such as AmaNigel Coons, Pirate Coons, Brave Natalian Coons, or Yellow Coons. As late as 1918, scenes like the following, reported from Umzumbe rural mission night school in Natal, were not uncommon:

One of the items was a march across the platform of all the urchins with a bone clapper, at the head of the line...and to the astonishment of all, one of the most heathenish boys stood up and sang "TiRerary", keeping time to his singing by the twirling of an invisible mustache. By at least the 1930s, traditional weddings songs, one of the stylistic sources of isicathamiya became known as boloha or umboloho.

Doke and Vilakazi found the term to be etymologically related to Xhosa or Afrikaans for "polka" and defined it as a "dance with boots on (as on farms on festive occasions, N--ger* minstrels, etc.)" and as a "rough concert or night carnival party" (Doke, Vilakazi 1948:43). As late as 1934, Percival Kirby was able to document the widespread use of bone clappers called amathambo among rural Zulu (Kirby 1968:10-11), and octogenarian Eva Mbambo, member of the renowned Ohhlange Choir, recalls performing on the bones as late as 1928. Among the most influential troupes that popularized "coon", ragtime songs and other minstrel material throughout South Africa, was the Ohlange Choir of Ohlange Institute near Durban, founded by African National Congress president John Dube. The choir was led by Reuben T.Caluza, South Africa's most popular and innovative composer between World War I and the early 1930s. Mission educated performers such as Caluza were responsible for the emergence of precursor styles of isicathamiya, in bridging between elements of American minstrelsy and ragtime songs suited to predominantly urban tastes, and semi-traditional styles. Taking the Ohlange Choir on annual fund raising tours of the Transvaal mining towns and compounds, Caluza brought migrant workers in touch with the most polished forms of dance and topical song of the time. "In the compounds," choir member Selina Kuzwayo recalls, Caluza's show attracted "bigger crowds than anywhere." (Interview Kuzwayo) Not only were compound residents impressed by Caluza's skillful combination of dance, action, and topical lyrics, but the slick entertainment reflected positive, African images of the ideal urbanite, the "coon". Not without its own ambivalence, the figure of the sophisticated, self conscious "coon" had not only been a central tool of intra

[page 6]

communal criticism used by early Afro-American stage entertainers, but it ultimately helped to restore racial confidence (Oliver 1984:108). In the minds of South African migrant workers, the image and its corresponding musical style, soon merged into isikhunzi (coons), the earliest prototype of isicathamiya. The 1920s, at the height of Caluza's popularity and the "ragtime craze" among black South Africans, were a period of explosive industrialization that had profound effects on the lives of millions of black people. More than his skills as a performer and professional entertainer it was perhaps Caluza's ability to address the precarious living conditions of the growing black working class, that contributed to his popularity among compound residents. His song Sixotshwa Emsebenzini composed in 1924, depicts the hardship brought about by retrenchment and the job color bar. Themes such as these are recurrent in later as well as in contemporary isicathamiya songs. Thus in the early 1940s, the African Pride Singers echoed Caluza's resentment of the job color bar:

Why are they practicing the color bar? (I.L.A.M. 592S)12

Sawubona baba, a song performed regularly by the Durban group S.A.B.C.Easy Walkers, almost literally repeats Caluza's song Woza
Mfowethu in which the popular composer describes the search for a young migrant worker in Johannesburg by his family:
Greetings to you father.
We have come here on an important mission of seeking our brother.
Greetings to you father,
greetings to you mother,
greetings to you brother,
greetings to you sister.
He left his wife and children.
They are suffering back home.
He went in search of work,
but now ten years have passed without us knowing his whereabouts.
We want to take him back to see the children.
Avail yourself, brother!
Don't hide behind others!
Come, we want to go back with with you to see the children.

While the 1920s witnessed the formation of a working class, the 1930s saw it fully integrated into the socio-economic order. It is against the background of working class formation in Durban in the 1930s that the emergence of the first isicathamiya style from the middle class isikhunzi tradition has to be seen."...

****
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Birmingham Jubilee Singers - Sweet Mama Tree Top Tall (with sound file & lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases the song "Sweet Mama Tree Top Tall" by the Birmingham Jubilee Singers. Information about the Birmingham Jubilee Singers is included in this post.

This post also includes definitions of the word "jubilee" and information about the referent "Jubilee singers" as it applies to African American religious and secular singers.

Lyrics to the Birmingham Jubilee Singers' version of "Sweet Mama Tree Top Tall" are also included in this post along with my comments about the meanings of three African American Vernacular English expressions that are found in this song: "tree top tall", "turn your damper down" and "don't like my peaches, don't shake my tree".

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.
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This is an updated version of a pancocojams post that was published on pancocojams in 2013.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE BIRMINGHAM JUBILEE SINGERS
From http://www.last.fm/music/Birmingham+Jubilee+Singers
"The Birmingham Jubilee Singers were an American gospel quartet from Birmingham, Alabama.

They were put together in 1926 by Charles Bridges, a native of Birmingham suburb Pratt City, who studied voice at his high school and sang with the Dolomite Jubilee Singers after graduating....

The group became Alabama’s first professional quartet when in 1926 they were discovered by a Columbia Records talent scout, and travelled from Jefferson County to record in Atlanta. They achieved nationwide popularity through their live radio broadcasts over WAPI, WVRC and WJLD.

Becoming one of Columbia’s most prolific black vocal groups, they played vaudeville stages in New York and Chicago with the likes of Ethel Waters. They played a mix of both gospel songs and secular material, performing on gospel and vaudeville stages alike.

The group disbanded in the 1930s when Dave Ausbrooks died. Their complete recorded works were reissued on two compact discs in 1995 by the Document Records label."
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Italics added to highlight this sentence. "Jubilee songs".

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SHOWCASE EXAMPLE - Sweet Mama, Tree Top Tall - Birmingham Jubilee Singers



CanadianFolkBlues, Published on Jun 6, 2012

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LYRICS - SWEET MAMA TREE TOP TALL
(As sung by the Birmingham Jubilee Singers on "Birmingham Jubilee Singers: Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order: Volume 1: 1926 – 1927" (Document Records, DOCD-5345):

1. Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.
I smell your bread cookin', honey. Done got good an' brown.
I'm goin' away sweet mama just worry you off my mind,
'Cause you keep us both worried 'bout the baby all the time.
Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.

2. Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.
I smell your bread cookin', honey. Done got good an' brown.
I just got a letter from a gal in Rome.
Says she got plenty money, gonna bring it home.
Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.

3. Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.
I smell your bread cookin', honey. Done got good an' brown.
I've got a gal in Georgia, two in Tennessee.
Got three in Alabama good enough for me.
Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.

4. Hey beauty, wake up honey, I know you heard the whistle blow.
You got a few more minutes to get your clothes on; then you have to go.
Your hands are already rough and your feet are long.
... can't see what'n the world you're waitin' on.
Hey beauty, wake up honey, I know you heard the whistle blow.

5. Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.
I smell your bread cookin', honey. Done got good an' brown.
I'm standing on the corner with my hat in my han',
... waitin' for the woman ain't got no man.
Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.

6. Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.
I smell your bread cookin', honey. Done got good an' brown.
If you don't like my peaches, don't you shake my tree.
... let my peaches be.
Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.
(I said) Baby, turn your damper down.
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Hat tip to Jim Dixon and Arkansas Red for this transcription.
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=24332&messages=22 "Lyr Req: Sweet Mama Tree-Top Tall (Lasses White)"

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EXPLANATION OF THE TERM "TREE TOP TALL"
"Tree top tall" is a referent for a very tall person

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[Update 11/7/2013]

EXPLANATIONS OF THE TERM "TURN YOUR DAMPER DOWN"
"Turn your damper down"
Here's an explanation of "turn your damper down" from
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=24332&messages=22
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Mama Tree-Top Tall (Lasses White)
From:GUEST,Arkansas Red-Ozark Troubadour
Date: 03 Jun 13 - 01:29 PM

"From what I understand "turning a damper down" in cooking with a wood stove means to reduce the heat. So the double entendre in this song probably refers to "sweet mama" having "the hots" for other men, and spreading it around, so she is advised to keep her damper turned down and "make it hot" for her man only. This I was told by an [sic] black blues singer who probably knew more double entendres in songs than anybody. Blues are filled with double entendres. That's what makes the blues so great."
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Here's another opinion about what "turn your damper down" from that same discussion thread:

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Mama Tree-Top Tall
From:GUEST,Arkie
Date: 22 Jul 05 - 10:23 AM

Having grown up in a farm house heated by a woodstove with a damper in the stovepipe, I've always taken the phrase to mean "calm down" or "don't be so intense". The phrase was sometimes used in conversation when someone had become a little overheated or excited. While I suspect that some may have conjured up sexual imagery from the phrase, in my own experience it was related to a volatile temper.
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In my opinion, that non-sexual meaning is more accurate for this Blues song. Here's another non-sexual example of "turning your damper down" that I shared on that discussion thread in 21 Jul 05 -11:19 PM

from an article about Bessie Smith*:

"Her relationships with other female singers were often stormy. Bessie did agree to record with rival, Clara Smith (no relation) a few songs of which My Man Blues portrays the two in mock competition over the same man. The following dialogue comes from that 1925 recording.22

(Bessie:) It is my man, sweet papa Charlie Gray.
(Clara:) Your man? How do you git that way?
(Bessie:) Now look here, honey, I been had that man for umpteen year.
(Clara.) Child, didn't I turn your damper down?
(Bessie.) Yes, Clara, and I've cut you every way but loose!"

*A hyperlink was given to this article, but the link is no longer active.

Here's information about wood burning stove dampers:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood-burning_stove
"Keeping the air flowing correctly through a wood-burning stove is essential for safe and efficient operation of the stove. Fresh air needs to enter the wood compartment to provide oxygen fuel for the fire; as the fire burns, the smoke must be allowed to rise through the stove pipes, and exit through the chimney. To regulate air flow, there are damper devices built into the stove, flue, and stove pipes...

By opening or closing the dampers, air flow can be increased or decreased, which can fan the fire in the wood compartment, or "dampen" it by restricting airflow and reducing the flames.”
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I think that "turn your lamp down low" (in Blues songs) is a closely related expression to "turn your damper down".

Here's information about turning the flame of a kerosene lamp down low from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerosene_lamp
"The kerosene lamp (widely known in Britain as a paraffin lamp) is a type of lighting device that uses kerosene (British "paraffin", as distinct from paraffin wax) as a fuel...

Lighting a flat-wick lamp requires filling the fuel tank (fount) with fuel and allowing time for the wick to absorb the fuel. The wick is trimmed straight across with a pair of sharp scissors before lighting. With the glass chimney lifted off the lamp, the wick is turned up and lighted with a match or other lighter. The wick is turned down if smoke develops, and the lamp chimney lowered. After a few minutes warm-up the lamp can be turned to full brightness. Extinguishing the lamp is done by turning down the wick and blowing out the flame, or by turning the wick down below the top of the wick tube."

So, to conclude, I believe that "turn your damper down" and "turn your lamp down low"] mean "to reduce the heat you are emitting" - to "cool out" and not be "heated", "hot", "hot and bothered" or "enflamed" by someone or about something. Another of saying this is "to cease being or refrain from being irritated or angry at someone or about something."

However, at the same time or separately, both of those expressions may also have the sexual meaning whose explanation s given above.

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[Update 11/7/2013]

EXPLANATIONS OF THE TERM "IF YOU DON'T LIKE MY PEACHES, DON'T SHAKE MY TREE
If you don't like my peaches, don't you shake my tree.
... let my peaches be" is a floating verse that is found in a number of Blues songs & other songs. "Peaches" in those Blues songs had a sexual meaning" and that line means the same thing as "If you don't like me, don't come around me looking for just sex."

This verse is also found as a taunting line in a few contemporary American children's playground rhymes and children's cheer leader cheers where it's usually given as "if you don't like my apples, don't shake my tree".

I think that most of these taunting rhymes/cheers originated with African Americans although they were/are also recited by non-African Americans. Here's one example that I cited in this discussion thread on the "don't like my apples don't shake my tree" expression http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=123813

I'll BE

I'll be. be
Walking down the street,
Ten times a week.
Un-gawa. Un-gawa {baby}
This is my power.
What is the story?
What is the strike?
I said it, I meant it.
I really represent it.
Take a cool cool Black to knock me down.
Take a cool cool Black to knock me out.
I'm sweet, I'm kind.
I'm soul sister number nine.
Don't like my apples,
Don't shake my tree.
I'm a Castle Square Black
Don't mess with me.

Source: John Langstaff, Carol Langstaff, Shimmy Shimmy Coke-Ca-Pop!, A Collection of City Children's Street Games & Rhymes {Garden City, New York, Double Day & Co; p. 57; 1973)

That line's inclusion in children's cheerleader cheers is undoubtedly lifted from its use in Blues songs and/or songs from other genres, although few children reciting that line know or care about the source for that line.

The main non-sexual meaning of the "if you don't like my peaches [apples], don't shake my tree" expression is "If you don't like me, leave me alone."

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Thanks to the Birmingham Jubilee Singers for their musical legacy. Thanks also to those quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this sound file on YouTube.

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