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Standing before an audience of musicians and community members, Hendricks Chapel Dean Brian Konkol opened this year’s Black History Month concert with remarks on the power of music as a unifying force.

“Music has a way of binding us together,” Konkol said. “In a time where so many people tear each other down, music has a way of building each other up.”

The concert’s performers ranged from undergraduates to graduate students to professors, and all the music performed was composed by either African-American or African classical composers.

Some of the music was contemporary, such as Syracuse University alumnus Asriel Davis’ organ composition “Fantasy on the Solid Rock.” The performances included traditional pieces as well, including “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” written by NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson and widely regarded as the “Black National Anthem.”

The gospel music genre was the concert’s primary focus. The Hendricks Chapel Choir, with the Concert Choir, performed two gospel pieces to end the event. Freshman Sanai Fowler said Robert Ray’s “He Never Failed Me Yet” was her favorite piece from the day.

“I sang (“He Never Failed Me Yet”) in high school, and when I found out we were singing it this semester, I was really excited,” Fowler said. “As a classical vocal major, it’s really cool to have experiences where we get to sing gospel music. It was a lot of fun getting to sing something that wasn’t classical.”

Gospel music was a reason why some of the concert’s musicians first got into music. Fowler said she found her passion for music after beginning to sing in church at 6 years old.

Black musicians influence more genres than just gospel music, said freshman Gabrielle McAllister, a music education major. McAllister performed Betty Jackson King’s piano composition “Spring Intermezzo.”
“We have a lot of Black influence in jazz and gospel, but it’s not very common to see Black classical artists, so it was really fun to play that,” McAllister said.

Some of the pieces performed had been adapted for musical performance; one piece was inspired by one of Aesop’s fables, and another was Langston Hughes’ poem “Prayer” sung in an operatic style. Others were instrumentals from a diverse array of instruments like clarinet, piano and organ.

One organ piece, titled “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho,” was arranged by Nigerian composer Fela Sowande andbased on a traditional hymn that drew inspiration from the biblical story of Jericho. The piece’s performer, graduate student Joseph Maxwell Ossei-Little, said it is a triumphant retelling of the walls of Jericho coming down, and the piece resembles a buoyant war cry.

Visibility surrounding Black classical music is critical, and a primary reason for the concert, said José “Peppie” Calvar, the director of the Hendricks Chapel Choir and assistant director of choral activities at Setnor School of Music.

“We have a rich history in our nation and around the world that deserves its time in the sun,” Calvar said. “This is not the only time of year where we highlight composers from other cultures, but we feel that this is a good time to specifically lift up music by Black and other historically marginalized communities.”

Published on February 25, 2024 at 9:22 pm