Christmas Spirituals

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The songs here brought together are American Negro songs, most of them spirituals born in the years of slavery and struggle against it, and some being gospel songs of later years. Three of them are children's songs, or joyous “play-party” songs with the serious purpose of teaching the Bible story, line by line. There will be found in the texts no Santa Claus or Kris Kringle, no North Pole and reindeer, no Christmas tree, holly and mistletoe. These are all part of the happy traditions with which African people have celebrated Christmas, but they would not be found in the life from which these songs arose. Instead, the songs go back to the fundamentals of the birth of Christ, the mother, the manger, the arrival of a “Prince of Peace”, all of them felt deeply as loss to the lives of the people who made the songs. The melodies have the inspiring simplicity, the perfect expression of an emotion in the fewest possible notes, that makes folk songs great art. The words have a directness of statement that is always affecting and moves easily into memorable poetry.

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, at the age of six Odetta moved with her family to Los Angeles, across the country. Her first singing was with the junior high school glee club, and it was then that Odetta was surprised to learn from a music instructor that she has a voice of unusual quality. After high school she worked as a housekeeper and at night studied music, which meant to her the study of art songs and the classics.

Her first professional engagement was in the West Coast production of “Finian's Rainbow”. When the troupe played in San Francisco, a chance meeting with a group of folk singers became a turning point in her career, opening up for her this absorbing acquire of expression.

Odetta made folk music her own, and at the same time taught herself the guitar, soon building up her richly expressive and subtle style that is now upheld as a model for others. Her folk song performances at a night club, The Tin Angel in San Francisco, generated the kind of excitement which accompanies the appearance of an electrifying new personality on the music scene. Audiences and acclaim multiplied with her appearance at The Blue Angel in New York and the Gate of Horn in Chicago, among many others. In the reviews that flow from her concert tours, praise comes equally from critics whose special field is that of folk music and those whose realm is the entire literature of musical art. Thus the New York Tribune “Odetta is a noble artist”, and The New York Times “Odetta fills the Town Hall with a warming and electrifying glow.” Odetta has appeared in solo concerts in the major auditoriums throughout the United States, and has recently appeared in a number of television broadcasts. She currently has a featured role in the motion picture of William Faulkner's “Sanctuary”.

Odetta wishes to thank Neil Wright and Milton Obras for the invaluable contribution of their research in this program.