11 May 2019 • WAR CRY • INTERVIEW 3 Studiocanal
Aretha Franklin singing with the Southern California Community Choir
‘So focused’
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JOE BOYD, a producer of the newly released film Amazing Grace, tells Philip Halcrow about witnessing Aretha Franklin make a gospel album
Joe Boyd
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FILM showing Aretha Franklin recording a gospel album has finally seen the light of day. More than 35 years after cameras captured her performing the songs at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, Amazing Grace is being shown around the world and was released in UK cinemas yesterday (Friday 10 May). Back in 1972, Aretha spent two nights performing the songs that would be released on the album titled Amazing Grace. A camera crew filmed the events. But technical problems meant that the sound was not synchronised with the picture. So the footage was abandoned for years until a team equipped with new technology put the film together. Joe Boyd says Amazing Grace is ‘a portrait of a great artist at the height of her powers’. In 1972 Joe – who was already known for his work as a record producer – was working for the music department at Warner Brothers Films in California. He says that, although he’d helped to set in motion the project to film Aretha recording her gospel album, he didn’t have any duties on the nights when the singer, her producer Jerry Wexler, the Southern California Community Choir led by Alexander Hamilton, and the film crew went to work. Nevertheless, he
says, ‘I wouldn’t have missed it for all the tea in China.’ At the beginning of the film, the Rev James Cleveland – Aretha’s mentor and collaborator – can be seen telling everyone assembled: ‘We’re here for a religious service.’
The nights at the church weren’t just a recording of a concert Joe remembers those nights of music-making in the church as being different from the usual ways of making an album. ‘Often live recordings are simply a recording of a concert, where you have an audience that have bought their tickets and are just there to see a show. The nights at the church weren’t like that. They were a hybrid. They were partly a recording session, so there were microphones and they could stop and start a song again to correct mistakes, which you wouldn’t do at a live concert. ‘At the same time, there was an audience, but it wasn’t an audience that had just bought a ticket to an
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4 INTERVIEW • WAR CRY • 11 May 2019
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Studiocanal
Aretha Franklin concert. It wasn’t advertised, but it was spread by word of mouth within James Cleveland’s congregation, and probably among Aretha’s friends. ‘So you had an audience that really wanted to be there. Many of them I think were part of Cleveland’s congregation or Alexander Hamilton’s, and so they knew those songs and they knew the type of ritual and the type of event it was. ‘There were a few ringers like me and Mick Jagger sitting in the back row somewhere, but it was mostly local people.’ Joe believes that making the album meant ‘a great deal to Aretha spiritually and musically’. He says: ‘A couple of journalists came up to me at the end of a screening of the film and said: “Aretha looks so unhappy. She never talks, she’s very serious. What was wrong with her?” I said nothing was wrong
Aretha with choir master Alexander Hamilton
with her. She was so focused. She was working. This was an important project to her. And you can see it in the way that she stops one take – she doesn’t like the way that it started, so she’s the one who says stop. ‘Not only was it serious musically and a challenge to do a whole double album in two days, but also it was a spiritual project for her. You can see that in the final song, “Never Grow Old”, when she departs from the book and from the lyrics and says: “I’m so glad I’ve got religion and my soul is satisfied.”’ The film takes its title from John Newton’s hymn, written in 18th-century England, about the lifechanging experience of grace. Joe highlights another song in the set and how it not only reflected a moment of
In this film, you see one of the greatest singers of a musical tradition change in the life of its writer but also a development in gospel. He says: ‘Thomas A. Dorsey was originally a blues singer called Georgia Tom. He was known for quite risqué and salacious lyrics. He was on tour once and, while he was away from home, his wife died in childbirth. He returned to Chicago for the funeral of his beloved wife, and in that moment he composed “Precious Lord, Take My Hand”. ‘After that, he turned his back on the blues and devoted himself to the church. But he brought a lot of that blues feeling into his writing of religious music. He revolutionised gospel music in America. His compositions became the foundation stone of the modern gospel world. ‘Then there was Clara Ward, who appears in the film, and people such as the Dixie Hummingbirds and Mahalia Jackson and all these groups that toured the States right into the Sixties. ‘In this film, you see one of the greatest singers of a musical tradition that America turned round and gave to the world in various forms – through jazz, blues and pop musicians who came out of the church. So much of that rich strand of culture stems back to this tradition. ‘And in a way, in Amazing Grace Aretha is giving a history lesson in all these fantastic gospel songs.’
Dance mix 8 INTERVIEW • WAR CRY • 11 May 2019
Co-founder of Soweto Gospel Choir SHIMMY JIYANE tells Philip Halcrow how the singers are contributing to a ballet that combines South African and western styles of music and dance
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JANE HOBSON
OWETO Gospel Choir have sung at state occasions. They have collaborated with artists such as Peter Gabriel and U2 on music for cinema and TV. Now they have taken the step of sharing the stage with members of dance companies in a Zulu ballet. Conceived by former Royal Ballet dancer Pietra MelloPittman and composer Ella Spira, Inala is billed as a ‘fusion of South African and western cultures’ that takes its name from a Zulu word meaning ‘abundance of goodwill’. It was first staged at the Edinburgh International Festival and later at London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre, and is now in a debut run in the West End. In Inala’s early days the music was performed by Ladysmith Black Mambazo, but now Soweto Gospel Choir are taking the role. Shimmy Jiyane
Soweto Gospel Choir Shimmy Jiyane, the co-founder of the choir, believes that music and dance are natural partners. ‘Music is food for the soul, and dance and choreography are an art form that allows you to express yourself,’ he says. ‘When you put the two together, they make one harmony and one sound.’ And, he says, the choir’s role in the production is not solely to provide the music. ‘Because we’re a choir, people are expecting us to be sitting in rows, singing, but the choir is also actually dancing. We are onstage with the dancers. We even join the dancers with some movements. The dancers
We bring our feeling from our roots and mix it with the ballet
‘Inala’ is billed as ‘a fusion of South African and western cultures’
are classically trained, but we are bringing our feeling from our roots in the different cultures that we have in our country. We bring it and we mix it with the ballet.’ Soweto Gospel Choir was formed in 2002 with the aim of celebrating South African gospel music, which, Shimmy explains, derives its distinctive sounds from the country’s variety of cultures. ‘Our country has 11 official languages, and we sing in all those languages. Just as we have different languages, so we have different cultures and different churches that worship in different ways, right down to the
11 May 2019 • WAR CRY • INTERVIEW 9 JANE HOBSON
sound of their music. When you listen to Soweto Gospel Choir, you hear a variety of sounds and genres.’ He says that one such genre is isicathamiya, a style of song that is usually performed a cappella and characterised by harmonies and a call-and-response structure. ‘It is one of the genres that Ladysmith Black Mambazo put on the world map,’ he says. ‘We sing accompanied by an African drum called a djembe. We sing in ways that were taught to us by our great-great-grandparents. We start from our roots. We don’t want to sound like everybody else. We want to sound like us.’ Over the years, Soweto Gospel Choir have given their treatment to a variety of songs. Shimmy names two pop covers from their repertoire – ‘Bridge over Troubled Water’, written by Paul Simon, and Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’. ‘But we also sing “Amazing Grace”, “Oh Happy Day”, “This Little Light of Mine” and “When the Saints Go Marching In”. When we sing spiritual songs, people not only enjoy watching but also get up and sing with us.’ The music the choir sing in Inala does not come from their usual repertoire. It was written specially by Ladysmith Black Mambazo and British composer Ella Spira. It covers a range of experiences. Shimmy says: ‘In Inala we sing about death, where we’ll be singing quietly in harmony; but then we also sing about happiness. We’ll
Music and dance are food for the soul
raise our voices, dance, stamp our feet, ululate and shout. We sing about what someone says when they speak to the one they love. And we sing about the celebration of our cultures and the exchanges of cultures. ‘The story we try to tell is that music and dance are food for the soul. They can bring joy, peace and happiness, and we want the people in the theatre to see something that soothes their soul.’ The music of Inala may be new, but Shimmy says that, like the songs that make up their standard repertoire, it delivers a positive message. ‘Music has different genres all over the world. We need to share music and we have to create music that will make people happy and understand more about their heritage. You listen to music not just for the fun of it; you listen to music because it has to inspire you. ‘By joining with the ballet dancers, the message we are trying to spread is that anything is possible in life. Let’s explore music. Let’s explore our heritage. Let’s explore life.’ l Inala is at the Peacock Theatre until 18 May
12 INNER LIFE • WAR CRY • 11 May 2019
Prayerlink YOUR prayers are requested for Sue and her son, who are entering a new time in their lives. The War Cry invites readers to send in requests for prayer, including the first names of individuals and details of their circumstances. Send your requests to Prayerlink, War Cry, 101 Newington Causeway, London SE1 6BN. Mark your envelope ‘Confidential’.
Becoming a Christian There is no set formula to becoming a Christian, but many people have found saying this prayer to be a helpful first step to a relationship with God Lord Jesus Christ, I am truly sorry for the things I have done wrong in my life. Please forgive me. I now turn from everything that I know is wrong. Thank you that you died on the cross for me so that I could be forgiven and set free. Thank you that you offer me forgiveness and the gift of your Holy Spirit. Please come into my life by your Holy Spirit to be with me for ever. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Amen Extract from Why Jesus? by Nicky Gumbel published by Alpha International, 2011. Used by kind permission of Alpha International
Job
Nigel Bovey gives chapter and verse on each book in the Scriptures
HE Book of Job, along with Proverbs T and Ecclesiastes, is part of the Old Testament’s wisdom literature. These
books are not set within historical contexts but are philosophical considerations of big topics. In Job, the big topic is suffering. Job was a man with a reputation for being successful and God-fearing. One day Satan tells God that Job does not love him out of pure motive but for material gain. God allows Satan to test Job (1:1–12). A series of disasters befall Job, including the death of his children (1:13 to 2:10). Three friends – Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar – become Job’s comforters (2:11– 13). Together, they search for the ‘why?’ After Job laments the day he was born (chapter 3), the narrative divides into a series of questions and answers, with each friend offering suggestions and Job responding (chapters 4 to 31). In a culture where prosperity is regarded as a sign of divine favour, the friends are unanimous. Job’s loss of livelihood and family has one cause – he sinned. Eliphaz insists that the innocent do not suffer (4:7) and that Job’s plight is God’s chastening (5:17). Bildad argues that Job cannot be innocent, because creation itself testifies to God’s glory, against which mere mortals are worthless (chapter 25). Zophar contends that God’s knowledge is beyond human comprehension and that God is treating Job lightly (chapter 11).
Job feels wretched and believes that God is unjustly punishing him (9:17). He argues that God is angry with him (16:9) and is refusing to answer his prayers (9:16). Throughout, Job stridently maintains his innocence, but does not curse God. Elihu enters the discussion and corrects Job. No one, he says, is without sin. God does answer prayer (33:8–14) and sometimes allows suffering, not as a punishment for past sin but as a corrective against greater spiritual peril (33:19–30).
A series of disasters befall Job Finally, God speaks to Job. He reminds him of his creative genius, justice and sovereignty (chapters 38 to 41). Faced with the glory and wonder of the Almighty, Job repents (42:6). Consequently, God restores Job’s fortune and gives him a new family and more wealth than he had before (chapter 42). The mystery of suffering, though, goes unanswered.
Key verse
r lives, and that ‘I know that my redeeme on the earth’ in the end he will stand ational Version) (Job 19:25 New Intern
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