COMMUNITY SING

A Celebration of Hymnology on October 23

Explore the study of congregational singing of psalms and hymns with Dr. Marlena Smalls and Dr. Eric Crawford on Sunday, October 23, 3 p.m. at Carteret Methodist Church (located at 408 Carteret St). “We need to know why we sing what we sing in our houses of worship,” said Dr Smalls. The Community Sing will feature gospel to contemporary sacred music. How Great Thou Art, I Am, Great is Thy Faithfulness, I Then Shall Live are a couple of the songs that will be performed by The Hallelujah Singers, Carteret Street Chancel Choir, Scott Gibbs, Mike McFee, Elaine Lake, Sumitra Jackson, and Gary Brightwell.

In his book, Gullah Spirituals: The Sound of Freedom and Protest in the South Carolina Sea Islands, Musicologist Dr. Eric Crawford traces Gullah Geechee songs from their beginnings in West Africa to their use as songs for social change and Black identity in the twentieth-century American South. While much has been done to study, preserve, and interpret Gullah culture in the Lowcountry and sea islands of South Carolina and Georgia, some traditions like the shouting and rowing songs have been all but forgotten. Dr. Crawford is currently Dean of the Honors College at Claflin University.

Dr. Marlena Smalls founded The Hallelujah Singers in 1990 to preserve the Gullah culture of the South Carolina Sea Islands. She is a sacred music vocalist, who also sings gospel, contemporary, jazz, and blues. Her programs for schools, reunions, and meeting groups incorporate lectures, music, and Gullah storytelling. Inducted into the South Carolina Black Hall of Fame in 2004, Marlena has performed for the Queen of England and many U.S. and international dignitaries.