EVERY VOICE AND SING! hosted by MICHELE NORRIS, looks at the fascinating and little-known history of choral music and choirs at historically Black colleges and universities. The five-part series of stand-alone hours covers the period from Pre-Civil War and Reconstruction to the present.
Episode Five: "A Joyful Noise!" Explores the careers/influence of such choral directors as Frederick Hall and S. Carver Davenport at Dillard, U., Drs. Nathan and Roland Carter, James W. Norris, William Henry Caldwell, Moses Hogan, and some new-generation directors like Eric Conway and Damon Dandridge; how they, and others, have come to terms with the power and reach of gospel music (even Kurtis Blow and Hip-Hop Gospel); how rhythm & blues/pop artists like Aretha Franklin, Sam Cooke, and Ray Charles, as well as the jazz-based style of Take 6, and the world-music sound of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, all connect to this Black choral tradition. What it all means to the future of the music.