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Purchasing Information: |
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Twelve Gates to the
City - $16.00
(available on CD only) |
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A Bright Side Somewhere
- $16.00
(available on CD only) |
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Set of Twelve Gates
to the City
& A Bright Side Somewhere - $27.00
(Two CD's - A Savings of $5.00) |
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Twelve Gates to the City
An Anthology of Rural Singing and Preaching Styles in African-American
Churches of Southern Maryland
This anthology of rural singing and preaching styles in African-American
churches of southern Maryland was recorded on site between October,
2002 and July, 2003 by folklorists Carrie and Michael Kline under
the auspices of the Southern Maryland Folklife Project at St. Mary's
College of Maryland. The singing styles of the featured choirs and
individuals have flourished in a region where African-American communities
date to the 1600s. Shiloh Community United Methodist Church, where
most of the recording occurred, is the oldest African-American church
in Charles County, Maryland, with beginnings during the height of
the American Civil War.
Now, at a time when neighboring churches have moved on to synthesized
and electrified instrumental sounds, the music of Shiloh Community
and Mt. Calvary United Methodist Churches remains strong and spirited
with inspired piano and tambourine accompaniment, hand-clapping
and a cappella singing. |
A Bright Side Somewhere
Old Time Church Piano Playing and Singing by Brother Elmer Mackall,
First Place Vocalist 2004, Maryland State Arts Council
Recorded by folklorist Carrie Nobel Kline in 2002-03, this solo
CD celebrates the lifetime musical achievement of 80-year-old Brother
Elmer Mackall, a singing and piano-playing legend in rural African-American
churches throughout southern Maryland. Raised up in Calvert County,
Brother Mackall was deeply influenced by the singing of his mother,
Rosie Mackall, who died in 1981 at the age of 102. The family sang
to survive the oppression of share cropping in sweltering southern
Maryland tobacco fields. The call-and-response singing with which
Rosie Mackall sustained her family has its roots both in West Africa
and the Caribbean Islands from which slaves were brought beginning
in the Seventeenth Century.
In 2004 the Maryland State Arts Council recognized Brother Mackall
with a first place award for vocal performance. His singing, recorded
in his living room accompanied by himself on his sister's spinet
piano, is both spirited and infectious. His piano playing rocks
with a blend of ragtime and barrel house riffs. |
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To hear samples from Twelve
Gates to the City or A Bright Side Somewhere
click on "Soundbytes" above
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