2 languages
Work songs and field hollers
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Genre
Work songs and field hollers · On the cotton and sugar plantations of the southern United States, enslaved Africans sang while they worked. In work songs, a lead singer sings a line and the group answers, in the rhythm of the work: call and response. A field holler is the calling and singing of one person out in the fields, with a free handling of pitch. In church and at secret gatherings, the spirituals arose. After the abolition of slavery in 1865, these forms lived on, among other places in prisons and work gangs, where Alan Lomax recorded them in the twentieth century.
Listening
Listening tip. In Po' Lazarus, hear the lead singer and the group that answers, with the blows of the axes as the rhythm.
Po' Lazarus · James Carter and the Prisoners, 1959Apple Music ↗
Rosie · Prisoners at Parchman Farm, 1933Apple Music ↗
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot · Fisk Jubilee Singers, 1909Apple Music ↗
In School of Rock
The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.
- Genre MapNL Map
See also
- James Carter and the Prisoners
- Prisoners at Parchman Farm
- Fisk University Jubilee Quartet
- West African music traditions
- Spirituals and gospel
- Delta blues
- Minstrel shows
Categories: Genres