Go Down Moses (from Voices of Freedom)
Format: Octavo (Manuscript)
SATB choir, Piano, Lead Steel Pan, Double Second Pans, Cello Pans, Bass Pans, Drum Set, Guiro, Congas
($2 per singer + $45 accompaniment)
This product includes manuscripts of full score, choral score, piano-vocal score, percussion section score, steel pan section score and individual instrument parts.
This Caribbean arrangement places the melody and text of the spiritual in the rhythmic and harmonic style known as “Salsa.” Spirituals are usually heard within the context of the singing styles that developed on the continental US while the experience of enslaved Africans in Latin America and the Caribbean is sometimes overlooked. We explore the relationship between this classic Spiritual and one music style from the Caribbean.
“Voices of Freedom” is a suite of choral works based a variety of American texts ranging from documents like the Preamble to the Constitution and the Emancipation Proclamation to an excerpt from Frederick Douglass’ “Speech on West Indies Emancipation” and the traditional spiritual, “Go Down Moses.” When assembled together, we see how the legal proclamations of our country reflect off of the wordsofa great leader and the timeless narrative of the Hebrew Exodus.
The global musical setting of these texts is designed to frame these ideas, fundamental to our American imagination, in the context of global sensibilities. We may assume a European cultural backdrop to our American documents, but theirmeaning and impact transcends the limits of Western Europe. Here we listen tothese words with choral gestures that refer to West Africa and 19th century Spirituals. Similarly, the steel drum accompaniment, inspired by the Frederick Douglass speech on the West Indies, transforms these familiar documents and songs into a broader cultural framework. Follow the rest of this musical freedom trail, the musicians, and more on our project website – www.emancipationagain.com
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