Newspapers / Black Ink (Black Student … / Feb. 18, 1991, edition 1 / Page 8
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r Roland L. Freeman Internationally Acclaimed Group To Sing At UNC Sweet Honey In The Rock to perform as a part of the UNC Jazz Festival From Staff Reports These days, the voice is an instrument that has found new favor among music lovers. A group that has been central to this development within the contem porary music scene is Sweet Honey In The Rock, a Washing ton, D.C. quintet of vocalists. Performing a cappella and accompanied by body and hand instruments, this ensemble of black women singers is well into its second decade of building a solid international reputation. A Sweet Honey In The Rock con cert is a transforming experience, drenching its audiences with har monies charged with changing rhythms, switching leads, leaping and dancing — all combining to create a breathtaking musical per formance. The strength of Sweet Honey In The Rock lies within its sound and repertoire, both of which are based on a style rooted in the Af rican-American tradition of the unaccompanied congregation and branches out to embrace its many extensions. One hears in the moan of the blues the power of early 20th Century gospel, echoes of countless community a cappella quartet and more. These women sing fiercely of being fighters. They sing tenderly of being in love and knowingly of being women while taking their ever-growing audiences through an astonishing and complex jour ney of celebration and struggle that is a continuation of the history of the African-American legacy with a love and respect for life. The concept of Sweet Honey In The Rock rests primarily with Bernice Reagon Johnson, who, as vocal director of the D.C. Black Repertory Theatre, founded the group in 1973. Reagon began her work as a socially conscious artist in 1961 during the Albany, Ga., civil rights movements campaign. She continued her work as a solo performer, lecturer and scholar of cultural life and history in the African-American community. The musical and political groundwork laid by Reagon has expanded constantly over the years due to the efforts of other singers who joined heron Sweet Honey’s stages. S ince 1973,20 women have lent their voices to Sweet Honey In The Rock. In 1980 Shirley Childress, a sign language inter- 1988. Other releases include The Other Side and Feel Something People, Arts preter, joined the group as they moved to expand their audience by making their concerts acces sible to the deaf community. In 1989 Sweet Honey In The Rock toured Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom and Europe. The following year, they toured Af rica. Sweet Honey has also per formed for sell-out crowds all ovct the U.S., Europe and Japan. In 1985 the ensemble organized the production of a cultural festival that closed the United Nations’ Decade for Women conference in Nairobi, Kenya. That year, they also participated in events spon sored by the New Song Movement in Mexico City and Ecuador, and took part in the Edinburgh Festi val in Scotland. Sweet Honey In The Rock’s most recent release. Live at Car negie Hall, on Flying Fish Rec ords, includes Emergency, which received a Grammy nomination in Drawing Me On, a collection of sacred songs that was named Best Gospel Recording by the National Association of Independent Rec ord Distributors (NAIRD); We All . . . Everyone of Us, released in conjunction with their 10th anni versary celebration and Good News, a live recording released in 1976. Sweet Honey’s second d\hwi,B’lieve I'll Run On... See What The End" s Gonna Be (Red wood Records) was named Best Woman’s Album of 1979 by NAIRD. Sweet Honey’sperform- ance of Sylvie is the opening selec tion on the Grammy Award-win- ning anthology A Vision Shared: A Tribute to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly on Columbia Records. The group’s newest release. All For Freedom, is the first project developed fw younger audiences. It is available on cassette and compact disc from the Music for Little People Catalog. UNC Festival SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK Wednesday, February 20 $14.00 UNC Student $10.00 DIAL AND OATTS Friday, February 22 $6.00 UNC Student Free w/ticket AHMAD JAMAL TRIO Saturday, February 23 $12.00 Student $8.00 DON CHERRY AND MULTIKULTI Sunday,February 24 $10.00 UNC Student $6.00 m ALL CONCERTS AT 8:00 PM MEMORIAL HALL - UNC CAMPUS TICKETS ON SALE FEB. 1 Carolina Union Box Office 962-1449 Mon.-Thurs. 10:00 am to 5:00 pm WUNC Radio 966-5454 Presented by UNC Department of Mu sic, Carolina Union Performing Arts ommittee, and WUNC in association with the Chapel Hill Herald. Celebrate. Disseminate. Educate. Informate. Forum of Debate. BLACK INK... Black to Life!
Black Ink (Black Student Movement, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
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Feb. 18, 1991, edition 1
8
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