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Overcast Gospera sings its way through history at Raynham
Raynham Hall was filled with music on Saturday as the singing group June E. Townes & Gospera gave an a capella Black History Month concert consisting of Negro spirituals, hymns and folk songs. The concert, “Songs That Brought Us Through,” celebrated the beauty and legacy of Black music and emphasizes their relevance today.
Raynham Hall’s Visitor Center was packed with over 30 attendees. Justinne Lake-Jedzinak, the museum’s director of education and public programs, explained to the gathered crowd the importance and historical impact of spirituals and the importance of acknowledging Long Island’s own legacy of slavery.
“Gospera preserves the tradition of the Negro spiritual,” Lake-Jedzinak said, “a traditional form of expression that through slavery and emancipation has served as a source of empowerment and inspiration, with continued resonance through the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement and through today.”
Townes and her fellow Gospera singers, Miracle Jones, Ashia Parks, Devonne Douglass and Charles Thomas performed their songs in chronological order, starting with the African American Anthem “Lift Ev’ry Voice And Sing.” From there they sang their way through history, going from Negro spirituals like “Follow the Drinking Gourd” through to Langston Hughes’ poetry and culminating with protest songs from the 1960’s, including Bob Dylan’s “Blowing in the Wind.”
In addition to the singing, the members of Gospera would also take turns describing the historical backgrounds of the music, chartering the development and continued struggles of Black Americans throughout the centuries. Townes, the founder of the group, emphasized in a later interview the importance of keeping this music, and the history that accompanies them, alive.
“The mission of Gospera for me has always been about preserving the music of my heritage,” Townes said. “If I as an African American myself don’t preserve the legacy of my ancestors, who will?”
Townes, who is herself a descendant of a Civil War veteran and prominent Long Island landowner, David Carll, and her fellow singers explained to the audience that the Negro spiritual began as a way for enslaved African Americans to lift their spirits and even exchange information, such as giving directions for escaping to the North. They also emphasized the importance of the Black Renaissance, known popularly as the Harlem Renaissance, in developing musical and poetic expressions of African American life.
The concert was followed by a wine and cheese reception, where Gospera mingled with and answered questions from the audience. Harriet Clark, the museum’s executive director, said afterwards how much fun everyone had at the concert. It was a fitting and beautiful way to celebrate Black History Month, she said.
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They’re so amazingly musical and inspiring, and listening to them you always learn something,” Clark said. “June Townes does such a great job of putting the whole experience together.”
