By Women in Jazz SwanseaThe Fisk Jubilee Singers in Wales 1874-1907
The Jubilee Singers performed a programme of Slave Songs or 'spirituals' in Wales from 1874 until 1907. Their music was described in 1903 by the African-American historian W. E. B. du Bois in his book 'The Souls of Black Folk', as "Sorrow songs, the rhythmic cry of the slave, the most beautiful expression of human experience, the siftings of centuries, the voice of exile."
Ella Sheppard, after studying at Fisk University, was harmonium player, pianist and soprano for the Jubilee Singers; she was 18 when she arrived in Wales. Her mother remained a slave in Mississippi until Sheppard was eventually able to trace her and take care of her.
'Spirituals' were a means of communication and survival, with hidden references of safe passages to freedom: there were titles such as 'Show Me The Way', 'Theres A Meeting Here Tonight', 'We Shall Walk Through the Valley', 'Down By The River'. Sheppard lectured on African American history and womens issues. She died in 1914 aged 63.
Ragtime: the Cakewalk dance and its politics 1900s
In 1904 the 'Enormously Successful Negro Musical Comedy In Dahomey' toured Wales. The all-Black production featured Ragtime Music with its four-beats-to-the-bar left hand and syncopated right-hand rhythms. Ragtimes dance derivative was the Cakewalk, an African-American send-up of stiff Victorian (white) values. Welsh audiences were only too happy to collude with them and help satirise the English upper classes. The American performers were probably not aware of the intricacies and complications of the Welsh/English cultural divide!
Charles E. Johnson & Dora Dean The American Coloured Fashion Plates starred at The Grand Theatre, Swansea in 1905 during their Wales tour - they made things hustle with their version of the Cakewalk. They were the first to realise the potential of good PR and marketing, by distributing their photograph to theatres prior to their engagement. Tuition was offered at the end of their performances and local youngsters took part in cakewalk championships at the end of the week's engagement.
To contact Jen Wilson or Jane Miton at Women In Jazz email them at enquiries@womeninjazzswansea.org.uk.
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