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Singing The Living Tradition
''Singing the Living Tradition'' is a hymnal published by the Unitarian Universalist Association Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) is a liberal religious association of Unitarian Universalist congregations. It was formed in 1961 by the consolidation of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America, both P .... First published in 1993 by the Hymnbook Resources Commission of the UUA, it was meant to be much more inclusive in both gender references, multicultural sources, and a wider number of religious inspirations. According to Jason Shelton, Singing the Living Tradition was the first standard denominational hymnbook to include songs from Unitarians in Eastern Europe, spirituals from the African American tradition, folk and popular songs, music of major, non-Christian religious traditions, and chants and rounds gathered from the various traditions of the world. The hymnal succeeded the UUA's first hymnal, '' Hymns for the Celebration of Life ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unitarian Universalist Association
Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) is a liberal religious association of Unitarian Universalist congregations. It was formed in 1961 by the consolidation of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America, both Protestant Christian denominations with Unitarian and Universalist doctrines, respectively. However, modern Unitarian Universalists see themselves as a separate religion with its own beliefs and affinities. They define themselves as non- creedal, and draw wisdom from various religions and philosophies, including humanism, pantheism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Judaism, Islam, and Earth-centered spirituality. Thus, the UUA is a syncretistic religious group with liberal leanings. In the United States, Unitarian Universalism grew by 15.8% between 2000 and 2010 to include 211,000 adherents nationwide. Congregations Most of the member congregations of the UUA are in the United States and Canada, but the UUA has also admitted c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Go Down Moses
"Go Down Moses" is a spiritual phrase that describes events in the Old Testament of the Bible, specifically Exodus 5:1: "And the LORD spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me", in which God commands Moses to demand the release of the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. This phrase is the title of one of the most well known African American spirituals of all time. The song discusses themes of freedom, a very common occurrence in spirituals. In fact, the song actually had multiple messages, discussing not only the freedom of the Israelites, but also the freedom of runaway enslaved people, and many enslavers outlawed this song because of those very messages. The opening verse as published by the Jubilee Singers in 1872: The lyrics of the song represent liberation of the ancient Jewish people from Egyptian slavery, a story recounted in the Old Testament. For enslaved African Americans, the story was very powe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nkosi Sikelel' IAfrika
"Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" (, ) is a Christian hymn originally composed in 1897 by Enoch Sontonga, a Xhosa people, Xhosa clergyman at a Methodism, Methodist mission school near Johannesburg. The song became a pan-African liberation song and versions of it were later adopted as the national anthems of five countries in Africa including Zambia, Tanzania, Namibia and Zimbabwe after independence, and South Africa after the end of apartheid. The song's melody is still used as the Mungu ibariki Afrika, national anthem of Tanzania and the Stand and Sing of Zambia, Proud and Free, national anthem of Zambia (Zimbabwe and Namibia have since changed to new anthems with original melody composition). In 1994, Nelson Mandela decreed that the verse of ''Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika'' be embraced as a joint national anthem of South Africa; a revised version additionally including elements of "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika, Die Stem" (the then co-state anthem inherited from the previous apartheid governmen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
We Shall Overcome
"We Shall Overcome" is a gospel song which became a protest song and a key anthem of the American civil rights movement. The song is most commonly attributed as being lyrically descended from "I'll Overcome Some Day", a hymn by Charles Albert Tindley that was first published in 1901. The modern version of the song was first said to have been sung by tobacco workers led by Lucille Simmons during the 1945–1946 Charleston Cigar Factory strike in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1947, the song was published under the title "We Will Overcome" in an edition of the ''People's Songs Bulletin'' (a publication of People's Songs, an organization of which Pete Seeger was the director), as a contribution of and with an introduction by Zilphia Horton, then-music director of the Highlander Folk School of Monteagle, Tennessee (an adult education school that trained union organizers). Horton said she had learned the song from Simmons, and she considered it to be her favorite song. According to H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Down By The Riverside
"Down by the Riverside" (also known as "Ain't Gonna Study War No More" and "Gonna lay down my burden") is an African-American spiritual. Its roots date back to before the American Civil War, though it was first published in 1918 in ''Plantation Melodies: A Collection of Modern, Popular and Old-time Negro-Songs of the Southland'', Chicago, the Rodeheaver Company. The song has alternatively been known as "Ain' go'n' to study war no mo'", "Ain't Gwine to Study War No More", "Down by de Ribberside", "Going to Pull My War-Clothes" and "Study war no more". The song was first recorded by the Fisk University jubilee quartet in 1920 (published by Columbia in 1922), and there are at least 14 black gospel recordings before World War II. Because of its pacifistic imagery, "Down by the Riverside" has also been used as an anti-war protest song, especially during the Vietnam War. The song is also included in collections of socialist and labor songs. Lyrics The song has many lyrical variation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Follow The Drinking Gourd
''Follow the Drinking Gourd'' is an African-American folk song first published in 1928. The ''Drinking Gourd'' is another name for the Big Dipper Asterism (astronomy), asterism. Folklore has it that Slavery in the United States, enslaved people in the United States used it as a point of reference so they would not get lost. According to legend, the song was used by a conductor of the Underground Railroad, called Peg Leg Joe, to guide some fugitive slaves. While the song may possibly refer to some lost fragment of history, the origin and context remain a mystery. A more recent source challenges the authenticity of the claim that the song was used to help slaves escape to the North and to freedom.Kelley, James. Song, Story, or History: Resisting Claims of a Coded Message in the African American Spiritual "Follow the Drinking Gourd". ''The Journal of Popular Culture'' 41.2 (April 2008): 262–80. History Texas Folklore Society and H. B. Parks ''Follow the Drinking Gourd'' was c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free
"I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" is a jazz song written by Billy Taylor. Taylor's original version (as "I Wish I Knew") was recorded on November 12, 1963, and released on his ''Right Here, Right Now!'' album (Capitol ST-2039) the following year. His 1967 live version, from the album of the same name, was later used as the theme music for the ''Film...'' review programme series on BBC Television. Taylor said: "I wrote this song, perhaps my best-known composition, for my daughter Kim. This is one of the best renditions I’ve done because it is very spiritual." Cover versions The song served as an anthem for the Civil Rights Movement in America in the 1960s. A widely played version was recorded by Nina Simone in 1967 on her ''Silk & Soul'' album. Lighthouse Family covered it as "(I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be) Free/One", a medley with U2's "One (U2 song), One". Other artists who have covered the song include Don Shirley (1968), Junior Mance (1968), Illinois J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lift Every Voice And Sing
"Lift Every Voice and Sing" is a hymn with lyrics by James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) and set to music by his brother, J. Rosamond Johnson (1873–1954). Written from the context of African Americans in the late 19th century, the hymn is a prayer of thanksgiving as well as a prayer for faithfulness and freedom, with imagery which evokes the biblical Exodus from slavery to the freedom of the "promised land." After its first recitation in 1900, "Lift Every Voice and Sing" was communally sung within Black communities, while the NAACP began to promote the hymn as a "Negro national anthem" in 1917. It has been featured in 42 different Christian hymnals, and it has also been performed by various African American singers and musicians. History James Weldon Johnson, Chair of the Florida Baptist Academy in Jacksonville, Florida, had sought to write a poem in commemoration of Abraham Lincoln's birthday. However, amid the ongoing civil rights movement, Johnson decided to write a poem whic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spirit Of Life
"Spirit of Life", number 123 in the Unitarian Universalist (UU) hymnal ''Singing the Living Tradition'', is "by far the most commonly sung UU song" (excepting children's recessionals). It was written by Carolyn McDade in 1981. "An outsider examining UU worship practices would almost certainly regard 'Spirit of Life' as the standard UU anthem." It has been used to represent Unitarian Universalism in interfaith contexts, such as the 1993 centennial celebration of the Parliament of World Religions. Raised Southern Baptist, McDade joined the Unitarian Church of Austin, Texas, in the 1950s, and was active at the Arlington Street Church in Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ... in the 1960s. She has been involved in Unitarian Universalist ministry but today she self-id ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
This Little Light Of Mine
"This Little Light of Mine" is a popular gospel song of unknown origin. It was often reported to be written for children in the 1920s by Harry Dixon Loes, but he never claimed credit for the original version of the song, and the Moody Bible Institute where he worked said he did not write it. It was later adapted by Zilphia Horton, amongst many other activists, in connection with the civil rights movement. History The origin of the song is unclear, but the phrase "This little light of mine" appears published in poetry by 1925 by Edward G. Ivins, a writer in Montana. In 1931, the song is mentioned in a Los Angeles newspaper as " Deaconess Anderson's song". In 1932, the song was mentioned in a 1932 Missouri newspaper. In 1933, the song was mentioned in newspapers as being sung by a chorus at an African Methodist Episcopal conference in Helena, Montana and then various other churches around the United States later that year. In June 1934 John Lomax and Alan Lomax recorded the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I'm On My Way (traditional Song)
"I'm on my way (and I won't turn back)" is a traditional Gospel song. It is described a typical "going-to-Canaan" song; and possibly an Underground Railroad song. The lyrics begin ''"I'm on my way and I won't turn back, I'm on my way and I won't turn back, I'm on my way and I won't turn back; I'm on my way, great God, I'm on my way. I asked my brother to come with me..."''Mark Kailana Nelson ''Favorite Old-Time American Songs for Dulcimer'' 2011 p. 147 "I'm on my way and I won't turn back, I'm on my way and I won't turn back, I'm on my way and I won't turn back; I'm on my way, great God, I'm on my way. I asked my brother to come with me, I asked my brother to come with" Recordings * The Carter Family * Odetta on ''Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues'' 1956 * Soundtrack for ''Elmer Gantry'' (1960) * The Golden Gate Quartet recorded this song under the title "The Story of Job" * Barbara Dane, on her album "On My Way", 1962. * The Proclaimers (1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
