The Spirituals

American Spirituals, Music and Slavery

A musical art form, the American Spiritual, was born out of the folk songs of slaves. Melodies of backbreaking work were hummed, sung, and passed on throughout the Deep South over fields of cotton, greens, cowpeas, yams, rice, peanuts, and okra. Sorrow songs were used to console and transmit secret information. With defiance, sorrow, and anger, the songs traveled, after being hummed in to the ear of the next arranger.

Few of these spiritual treasure songs have survived. With a great sadness, the American Spiritual Ensemble lament the songs that have been lost forever. Songs with words and passion as vital as: Swing Low Sweet Chariot, Give me Jesus, and Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child. Just a small portion of the original songbook has survived and the ASE has a mission to nurture, teach, sing, and watch over the spirituals that have remained.

The power of these songs lies in their ability to touch hearts whenever they are heard. The spirituals have survived generations and continue to inspire all over the world, from South Africa to the Middle East. *We Shall Overcome *is still heard wherever there is a struggle against social injustice. Listen to the spirituals that motivate, freedom songs, our anthems of the human spirit.