Out of Sight

Lynn Abbottand

Doug Seroff

University Press of Mississippi / Jackson

Out of SightOut of Sight

The Rise of

African American

Popular Music

Out of Sight

www.upress.state.ms.us

Copyright 2002 by University Press of Mississippi

All rights reserved

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 09 08 07 06 05 04 4 3 2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Abbott, Lynn, 1946

Out of Sight: the rise of African American popular music,

18891895 / Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff.

p. cm. (American made music series)

Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.

ISBN 1-57806-499-6 (cloth: alk. paper)

1. African AmericansMusicHisory and criticism. 2. Popular

musicUnited StatesTo 1901History and criticism.

I. Seroff, Doug. II. Title. III. Series

ML3479 .A2 2003

781.6408996073dc21 2002007819

British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available

American Made Music SeriesAdvisory Board

David Evans, General EditorBarry Jean AnceletEdward A. BerlinJoyce J. BoldenRob BowmanSusan C. CookCurtis EllisonWilliam FerrisMichael HarrisJohn Edward HasseKip LornellFrank McArthurW. K. McNeilBill MaloneEddie S. MeadowsManuel H. PeaDavid SanjekWayne D. ShirleyRobert WalserCharles Wolfe

Acknowledgments Introduction

Chapter 1. 1889

Frederick J. Loudins Fisk Jubilee Singers andTheir Australasian Auditors, 18861889 3

SameThe Maori and the Fisk Jubilee Singers 12

Australasian Music Appreciation 13 Minstrelsy and Loudins Fisk Jubilee Singers 19 The Slippery Slope of Variety and Comedy 21 Mean Judge Williams 24

A Black Patti for the Ages: The TennesseeJubilee Singers and Matilda Sissieretta Jones,

18891891 27

Other Colored Pattis and Queens of Song,1889 40

Other Jubilee Singers, 1889 42 Rev. Marshall W. Taylor 45 Selected, Annotated Chronology of

Music-Related Citations, 1889 47

The Minstrel Profession 60 Charles B. Hicks Abroad, 18891895 60 McCabe and Youngs Minstrels, 18891892 65

Contents

Chapter 4. 1892

Cake Walks in Context 205 Toward a Black National Anthem: John

Browns Body 211

Colored Pattis and Queens of Song,1892 214

Lizzie Pugh Dugan: God Never Gave a Humana More Beautiful Voice 218

Selected, Annotated Chronology of Music-Related Citations, 1892 220

Barber-Musicians 244 Mandolin Clubs 247 W. P. Dabney 251 Monarchs of the Light Guitar 254 A Model of Community Service: John W.

Johnson and the Detroit City Band 255

The Excelsior Reed and Brass Band ofCleveland, Ohio 262

Benjamin L. Shook: A Community-BasedMusician 265

Chapter 5. 1893

The Dvork StatementAs Great as aBeethoven Theme 273

Black Music in the White City: African Ameri-cans and the 1893 Worlds Columbian

Exposition 276

Colored Folks Day 279 The Midway Plaisance and the Dahomean

Village 284

Conclusion 294 Selected, Annotated Chronology of Music-

Related Citations, 1893 296

Folk-Lore and Ethnology, Coonjine andHully-Gully 308

The African Prince Phenomenon,18911895 312

Chapter 2. 1890

Loudins Fisk Jubilee Singers Come Home 73 Jubilee Singers on the Home Front, 1890 86 A Woman with a Mission: Madame Marie

Selika, 1890 89

Selected, Annotated Chronology of Music-Related Citations, 1890 91

African American Minstrel Companies in theSouth 105

Richards and Pringles Original Georgia Min-strels and Billy Kersands, 18891895 106

Clevelands Colored Minstrels, Season of18901891 110

Maharas Minstrels, 18921895 115 The Legend of Orpheus McAdoo,

18901900 119

Chapter 3. 1891

New Departures in African American Minstrelsy 145

William Footes Afro-American Specialty Company 146

Sam T. Jacks Creole Burlesque Company 151 Compromises in Jubilee Singing: Thearles

Nashville Students, Wrights Nashville

Students, and the Canadian Jubilee

Singers 170

The Nashville Students 170 The Canadian Jubilee Singers 176

Selected, Annotated Chronology of Music-Related Citations, 1891 177

The Texarkana Minstrel Company and the Jefferson Davis Monument Fund: The

Thing Is Unnatural 198

Two Southern Brass Bands in New York City:Beckers Brass Band from Kentucky and the

Onward Brass Band from Louisiana 200

Rags in Tennesseetown, 1891 201

Contents

Contents

Prof. Tobe Brown: Terpsichorean Soiree 315

Blind Boone: Clear out of Sight 318

Chapter 6. 1894

Black and White Minstrelsy 325 Darkest America: Al G. Fields Real Negro

Minstrels 331

Selected, Annotated Chronology of Music-Related Citations, 1894 335

A Tour of Conquest and Melody: Prof. W. H.Councill and the Alabama State Normal

School Quartette 351

That Barbershop Chord 357 Quartets to the Fore: The South Before the War

Company and Its Plantation Pretenders,

18921895 360

A Low and Narrow Pathway of Opportunity inthe Circus Sideshow Colored Annex,

18911895 373

Dime Museums 380

Chapter 7. 1895

Black America 391 Brass Bands in Kansas 395 Kid Bands in Kansas: The John Brown Juve-

nile Band and N. Clark Smiths Pickaninny

Band 403

In Old Kentucky 406 The Fake and His Orphans: Sherwoods

Youth Missionary Band, 18891895 409

Selected, Annotated Chronology of Music-Related Citations, 1895 419

From the Criterion Quartet to In Old Ten-nessee: The Rise of Ernest Hogan,

18891895 433

The Black Patti Troubadours and Madame C. C. Smith, the Patti of Topeka 438

The Whitman Sisters 440 A Little Ragging: The Emergence of Ragtime

in the Land of John Brown 443

Preserving the Spiritual Legacy: The Last Daysof Frederick J. Loudin 455

Appendix 1: Repertoire of the Tennessee Jubilee

Singers, 18881889 463Appendix 2: Personnel Listings of Orpheus M.

McAdoos and M. B. Curtiss Troupes in

Australia, 18991900 463Appendix 3: Repertoire of McAdoos Virginia

Concert Company and Jubilee Singers,

18921893 464Appendix 4: Roster of the Detroit City Band,

18911892 465Notes 467Index 485

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In the early 1980s, when we began our survey of African American newspapers on microfilm,we were motivated by a common interest in theearly evolution of black vocal harmony singing.We gradually began to appreciate the broadercontext. In 1989 we inaugurated a series of fiveessays which appeared in 78 Quarterly underthe title 100 Years from Today. Our intent wasto bring to light and comment on the music-related citations we were discovering in 1890snewspapers. Those essays represent the roughbeginnings of the book at hand.

Special thanks to 78 Quarterly editor PeteWhelan for his early support and continuedcooperation; and to Ray Funk, who was in onour early black newspaper research and whoremains a valued friend and colleague.

Thanks to Dr. David Evans for friendship,advice, and a critical reading of the manuscriptwhich inspired many significant improvements.

Thanks to Wayne D. Shirley for an equallyilluminating review of the manuscript and forresponding to our many requests for copies ofsheet music and copyright deposits held by theLibrary of Congress.

Thanks to Chris Ware for the book jacket artand for his enthusiastic support of our work.

We are grateful to the Fisk University Libraryin Nashville for the use of resources and facilities,most notably their extraordinary collection ofAfrican American newspapers on microfilm andtheir incredible body of materials relating to the

Fisk Jubilee Singers. Thanks particularly to Spe-cial Collections Librarian Beth Madison Howsefor many years of assistance and kindness.

The Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane Universityin New Orleans also threw open its doors to us.We are grateful for our long-term working rela-tionship with curator Dr. Bruce Boyd Raeburnand his staff, especially Mrs. Alma Freeman,who negotiated an endless river of requests onour behalf. Thanks as well to the staff of TulanesHoward Tilton Memorial Library, especially inthe Music, Microforms, and Interlibrary Loandivisions; and to the Amistad Research Center,which is also located on the Tulane campus.

We thank the staff of the Center for PopularMusic at Middle Tennessee State University inMurfreesboro, especially Bruce Nemerov, forassistance and encouragement. The staff of theCountry Music Foundation Library in Nashville,specifically Bob Pinson, Ronnie Pugh, and Alan Stoker, were also helpful over many years.Thanks as well to the Nashville Public Library;the New Orleans Public Library, especially thestaff of the Louisiana Division; the Earl K. LongLibrary of the University of New Orleans, especi-ally Interlibrary Loan librarian Evelyn Chandler;and the Virginia State Library in Richmond,Virginia.

Thanks are due to the Portage County His-torical Society Museum in Ohio, which housesmany personal effects of Frederick and HarrietLoudin; the Detroit Public Library, which

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

houses the E. Azalia Hackley Collection, whichcontains the invaluable Leota Henson Turnerscrapbooks; Deborah W. Walk at the John &Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota,Florida; the Alabama A&M University Library,and the Scarritt-Bennett Library in Nashville.

Thanks to Rob Bird for sharing the results of his research on the 1870s New York Clipper;Lucius Edwards at Virginia State College inPetersburg, Virginia, for sharing informationfrom his collected oral history of PetersburgsAfrican American churches; Toni PassmoreAnderson for making available her research on the original Fisk Jubilee Singers; RobertCogswell for photographic services and encour-agement; Pen Bogert for sharing his research onAfrican American musical activity in Louisville,Kentucky; Ray Buckberry for sharing his researchon Ernest Hogan; Tim Brooks for sharing hisresearch on pioneer-era recordings and MichaelMontgomery for sharing sheet music from hiscollection.

Many of the documents examined for thisbook are housed in libraries outside of the UnitedStates. We were heavily dependent on researchassistance from friends and colleagues abroad,especially in pursuing the extensive nineteenth-century history of African American minstrelsand jubilee singers in Australia and New Zealand.

In Australia, help came from Gary LeGallant,who freely shared the prodigious results of manyyears of research. Gary unfailingly responded toour requests and inquiries.

In New Zealand, Tony Hale devoted manyhours to library research on our behalf, withassistance from Stuart R. Strachan at theHocken Library, University of Otago, Dunedin,and Ms. Fay Hutt at the Alexander TurnbullLibrary in Wellington.

Dr. Ross Clark of the University of Aucklandkindly responded to our questions about Maorisinging, and we were further aided by the Early

Settlers Museum in Dunedin; the NationalLibrary of Australia, Canberra, ACT; the MitchellLibrary (State Library of NSW), Sydney; and the Latrobe Library (State Library of Victoria).Thanks also to Tony Backhouse in Sydney forfriendship and facilitation; also to Chris Bourkein New Zealand and Rick Milne in Melbourne.

Dr. Viet Erlmann shared products of hisresearch into the tours of Orpheus McAdoosVirginia Jubilee Singers in South Africa. Thanksas well to Rob Allingham in South Africa, espe-cially for shared recordings. Rainer E. Lotz sharedhis research on African American musicians inEurope. We acknowledge assistance from theRoyal Library of Stockholm, Sweden. Thanksalso to Tommy Lofgren of the ScandinavianBlues Association, as well as Claes Hedman andLars Dahlgren.

Musician-friends James Bryan, Betty C.Carter, Les Muscutt, and Duck Baker were kindenough to demonstrate various pieces of 1890ssheet music for us on the fiddle, piano, banjo,and guitar, respectively, and we thank them aswell for enlightening us on various matters ofpure musicology.

Linda Abbott assisted in processing themanuscript. Others who have given valuablesupport, encouragement, and assistance overthe years include Allan Jaffe and family, BillRussell, and Richard B. Allen.

We further acknowledge the uncommon generosity of Johnny Parth, architect of the indis-pensable Document 5000 series of cd reissues,which has made available to researchers and fansthe total body of early African American recordedmusic. Finally, we acknowledge Robert M. W.Dixon, John Godrich, and Howard W. Rye, thecompilers of Blues and Gospel Records 18901943,whose painstaking discographical research is sooften taken for granted as common knowledge.

Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff, June 2001

Between January 1889 and December 1895,at least one thousand lynchings of AfricanAmericans were perpetrated in the UnitedStates.1 This was a terrible period in the historyof American race relations, yet it witnessed theemergence of ragtime and the birth of an AfricanAmerican popular entertainment industry. Outof Sight traces the events and developments, thecontradictions and redemptive energies thatcharacterized the rise of black popular music inthe midst of an American racial cataclysm.

Professional jubilee singing companies experienced wrenching changes. During 1889and 1890 heroic jubilee troupes headed by FredLoudin, Orpheus McAdoo, and Sissieretta Jonescarried the slave spiritual choruses to the publicstages of every inhabited continent. But duringthe course of the 1890s, jubilee singing fadedinto the background, while the popularity ofauthentic minstrelsy soared. For the mostpart, the public no longer cared to differentiatebetween a minstrel and a jubilee singer.

Just prior to the commercialization of rag-time, a new style of vaudevillized minstrelsyexpanded professional opportunities for a broadrange of African American performers and musi-cians. Black show-business trailblazers such asErnest Hogan, Billy McClain, and Irving Jonesbegan to redefine minstrelsy by updating itsblack vernacular elements. Moreover, AfricanAmerican women finally gained the minstrel,vaudeville, and burlesque stage and exerted an

immediate influence as dancers, singers, andcomedians. On the other hand, ragtime min-strelsy became a sinkhole for the eras great blackprima donnas, whose best efforts had failed tosecure a place on the mainstream operatic stage,on account of racial prejudice.

Within the black communities, vocal quar-tets, string bands, mandolin clubs, and brassbands were supplying music for all occasions,from funerals to serenading parties and ragdances. The black community music of thismomentous period was as eclectic as couldbe, and contained the seeds of almost everyAmerican music style that would subsequentlyemerge.Dedicatedblackmusiceducatorsdirectedthe up-and-coming generation of singers andmusicians to new high levels of proficiency andprofessionalism. Antonin Dvorks famous pro-nouncement of 1893, that the future musicof this country must be founded upon whatare called the Negro melodies, excited the pro-cess. The 1893 Worlds Columbian Expositionwas an unprecedented cultural marketplacethat helped define the terms underlying theimpending commodification of black popularmusic.

The 18891895 era in African Americanmusic has not been previously subjected tomuch scholarly consideration. By the time webegan our study, it was too late to gather oralhistory; there were no living informants. Theraw materials that we needed to reconstruct the

Introduction

circumstances of the period were buried incontemporaneous newspapers, journals, andmagazines. Out of Sight is built on thousands ofreferences to black music and entertainment,which we mined from a variety of period sources,concentrating particularly on African Americancommunity newspapers.

Black community newspapers of the 1890swere, for the most part, weekly publications ofgenerally less than ten pages. Their primarymotive was to agitate for civil rights and equalprotection under the law, but they also publi-cized and commented on the social, religious,and cultural life of their respective communi-ties, and in so doing, managed to preserve avivid representation of the dynamics of blackfolk and popular music.

The history of African American newspaperscan be traced to 1827, when Freedoms Journalwas inaugurated in New York City. By 1891there was at least one book devoted to the sub-ject, I. Garland Penns The Afro-American Pressand Its Editors.2 By Penns count, there were tenrace papers active in 1870; thirty in 1880; andby 1890 one hundred fifty-four. However, morethan a few of these papers suffered painfullyshort life-spans, and for many there are noknown surviving copies.3

For this study, we have focused primarily onsurviving runs of 18891895 editions of elevenexemplary race weeklies: the Indianapolis Free-man, the New York Age, the Cleveland Gazette,the Detroit Plaindealer, the New Orleans WeeklyPelican, the Richmond Planet, the Topeka WeeklyCall, the Kansas State Ledger, the Kansas CityAmerican Citizen, the Parsons Weekly Blade, andthe Leavenworth Herald.

The Indianapolis Freeman was an especiallygenerous supplier of music and entertainmentnews. Commencing publication on July 14,1888, it was one of the most widely distributedrace papers of the 1890s, and it was eventually

adopted as a central headquarters for news andgossip from black professional musicians andentertainers on the road. As early as 1891, blackshowmen were touting the Freeman as the Col-ored New York Clipper, the African Americanalternative to the most popular weekly main-stream entertainment trade paper of the period.

The Freeman was founded by Edward ElderCooper, a refugee from Southern slavery whosettled in Indianapolis in 1882.4 Cooper ran theFreeman from 1888 until 1892, when he soldout to George L. Knox, a fellow Indianapolisbusinessman of the most progressive ideas.Like Cooper, Knox was born in slavery, nearStatesville, Tennessee, in 1841. In 1863 he stoleaway with the Union Army. Reaching Indianain 1864, he found work as a hostler, yardman,porter, and, finally, a barber. From 1866 until1884 he ran a one-chair shop in the village ofGreenfield. Moving to Indianapolis in 1884,he worked his way up from country barber toproprietor of the fashionable Bates House andGrand Hotel barbershops, catering exclusivelyto whites.5 Knox ran the Freeman from 1892until it folded in the early-1920s.

From its inception, the Freeman was intendedto be a National Illustrated Colored Newspaper,offering a complete review of the doings of thecolored people everywhere. To reach coloredpeople everywhere, points of distribution wereestablished at barbershops, pool rooms, andother safety zones throughout black America.The edition of May 4, 1889, informed that, inMemphis: Copies of the Freeman may bebought of the agent Mr. John N. Daniel, No. 4Dupree street or at Mr. F. B. Davis barber shop,160 Poplar street or at Mrs. Woods confectionerystore, 162 Poplar street, at barber shop 139 Bealestreet, or barber shop next door to AlabamaSnack house Beale and Mulberry street or MissMaria Williams 150 Desoto street on sale everySaturday afternoon.

Introduction

In order to fulfill its promise of nationalnews coverage, the Freeman assembled a vastnetwork of community correspondents. In thisway it was able to broadcast news from placeswhich would have otherwise had no publicvoice, especially in the South, where the domi-nant society viewed black newspapers as agentsof conspiracy and rebellion. The Freemanpublished reports not only from major south-ern cities like Memphis, Houston, and Dallas,but from little country burgs like Normal,Alabama; Yazoo City, Mississippi; and VillaRica, Georgia, where a Freeman agent wasordered to get out of the town after a verynarrow escape from Judge Lynchs court. . . .The charge against me was not rape, but it wasfor trying to get subscribers for a nigger paper.That I had a narrow escape is proven by a ropebeing drawn.6

For a variety of reasons, including the ropebeing drawn, black newspaper ventures in theSouth suffered an uncommonly high mortalityrate. It was disappointing to see the survivingrun of the New Orleans Weekly Pelican come to

an end on November 23, 1889, just eleven monthsinto the period under study. Fortunately, analternative source came to light with the South-western Christian Advocate, which got its startin New Orleans in 1873 as The Organ ofNorthern Methodism in the South.

The rallying cry of Northern Methodism inthe South was Negro redemption.7 In 1884the Southwestern Christian Advocate was placedunder a black editor, Rev. Marshall W. Taylor,and when Rev. Taylor died in 1887, the editorshipfell to Rev. Aristides E. P. Albert, a Creole ofColor who had arrived in New Orleans withthe first wave of freedmen from the sugar plan-tations of St. Charles Parish.8 Rev. Albert ranthe Southwestern Christian Advocate through-out the 18891895 period.

Among the few southern race weeklies forwhich there is a substantial surviving run fromthe 1889-1895 period, the Richmond Planet waslaunched in Richmond,Virginia, in 1884. EditorJohn Mitchell Jr. was born in adjacent HenricoCounty on July 11, 1863. In 1881 he graduatedfrom the Richmond Normal and High School

Introduction

An early variation of the illustrious Freeman masthead:And Ethiopia Shall Stretch Forth Her Hand.

with high honors,and in December 1884, at agetwenty-one, Mitchell took the editorial chargeof the Planet: He was forward in denouncingoutrages upon colored people and made a spe-cialty of condemning the lynch law.9

We excavated some particularly compellingmusic-related news from the cluster of fiercelyindependent papers that operated in easternKansas. The Leavenworth Herald first hit thestreets on February 17, 1894. Its owner and edi-tor, B. K. Bruce Jr. was born to slave parents ona farm near Brunswick, Missouri, and wasnamed after his uncle Blanche Kelso Bruce,the black Reconstruction-era Senator fromMississippi.10 After graduating from KansasState University with highest honors, Bruce Jr.settled in Leavenworth to serve as the principalof a junior high school.11 In 1892 he made anear-successful attempt to gain the office ofKansas State Auditor.

Sarcasm was a favorite device of 1890s AfricanAmerican newspaper editors, and B. K. Bruce Jr.may well have been the most sarcastic of all.On March 10, 1894, he took aim at a group ofBack to Africa advocates: Have Gone to See Paand MaAfter juggling coacoanuts [sic] withAfrican apes awhile, they will sing America30 Negroes of Atlanta, Ga., started to the DarkContinent this week to cheer up Mamma Lo BengulaPapas body has been preserved in ginand the Ephriams and Susans will get to see itWell, ef heah aint de chilluns.

B. K. Bruce Jr.s editorial explorations arenoteworthy because they are the context for theearliest known printed references to pianorags. In later years, Bruce Jr. may have writtenoff his adventures in race journalism as apotential liability. His biographical sketch in the1927 edition of Whos Who in Colored Americasays nothing about his newspaper work, con-centrating instead on his subsequent career asthe only colored man in the United States or

elsewhere that teaches young white men forCommissions in the United States Army andNavy, and also prepares young men for entranceinto the Naval Academy at Annapolis and theArmy Academy at West Point.

Although black minstrel companies mademany important breakthroughs during the18891895 period, they werent entirely acceptedin the Stage columns of the African Americanpress until after 1895, when ragtime confirmedtheir legitimacy in the marketplace. We founda very different source of news about blackminstrel companies in the columns of AmericasOldest Sporting and Theatrical Journal, theNew York Clipper. The main concern of the New York Clipper was entertainment business.Its weekly Minstrel and Variety column incor-porated reports from correspondents represent-ing all sorts of traveling companies, includingauthentic African American minstrels. TheClipper also yielded a substantial amount ofinformation about black musical activities indime museums and circus sideshows.

Additional sources for this study include foreign press commentaries generated by theinternational tours of various jubilee singingtroupes, black prima donnas, and authenticminstrels of the era. These include clippingsfrom Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India,Japan, and various places in the West Indies,originally collected in scrapbooks by some ofthe artists involved. Finally, we spot-checked vari-ous mainstream American dailies for relevantcoverage of some of the major black music-related events of the period.

Our study rejects all preconceptions of whatconstitutes authentic African American music.It casts a wide net, from the street fiddler to theconcert diva. This allows the full scope of thestory to unfold, and the themes to reveal them-selves organically. The pictures which emergedont always conform to previous assumptions.

Introduction

With so much hard evidence at hand, we felt littleneed to engage in speculation. Admittedly, por-tions of this history remain incomplete; neverthe-less, Out of Sight provides fact-based conceptswhich should be useful to any future studies.

Our documentation establishes the essentialconnection among all categories of AfricanAmerican music of the period under study: folkand school-trained, sacred and secular, recre-ational and professional, etc. The strict divi-sions sometimes imagined by modern scholarssimply did not exist. There were many avenuesof intersection, and racial crossroads as well.

By the 1890s, appreciation of African Americanmusic was widespread across race lines. WhiteKansans had ample opportunity to see rags per-formed by black piano professors years beforeBen Harney put ragtime piano playing on themap in New York City, in 1896.

On May 18, 1896, the United States SupremeCourt, in its Plessy vs. Ferguson decision, ele-vated Jim Crow discrimination to the law of theland. Three months later the words rag timefirst appeared on sheet music.12 With the popu-larization of ragtime, black music suddenlybecame a medium of cultural and commercial

Introduction

Freeman, January 18, 1890.

exchange, and previously submerged musicalpractices became a tool kit for modern popularmusic. Despite serious resistance, black perform-ers made real inroads in the popular entertain-ment arena, but only by means of an iniquitousJim Crow bargain, which had consequences forone hundred years or more.

Much of what took place during the 18891895 period has remained out of sight, but not outside the pale of modern experience.Our research exposes many unsuspected late-nineteenth-century sources of modern Americancultural practices and expressions. The slangterm out of sight, for example, is popularlyassociated with the 1960s, and more particularlywith the soul music classics Out of Sight byJames Brown (1964) and Uptight by StevieWonder (1965). Modern slang dictionaries traceits origin to 1950s jazz musicians.13

In 1890, sheet music publisher Will Rossiterintroduced his latest hit, Its Way Out ofSight. In 1891 the Out O Sight Musee and

Theatre opened in Evansville, Indiana. In 1892a mainstream newspaper reviewed a concertappearance by the Fisk Jubilee Singers: In anartistic sense it was the acme of success and in the language of the galleries out of sight. In1893 a black community reporter in Richmond,Virginia, described a local production of UncleToms Cabin with a portrayal of Topsy that,using common parlance, was out of sight ;and another black reporter in Kansas City,Missouri, characterized a local performance by itinerant pianist Blind Boone as, (excuseexpression) clear out of sight.

This vernacular phrase must have existedsomewhere, over the intervening generations,until it came into vogue again in the 1960s,without any appreciable change in its heavilynuanced meaning. By extension, out of sightbecomes a metaphor for the vast, hidden poolsof contemporaneous literature which documentthe African American musical practices anddevelopments of 18891895.

Introduction

Freeman, January 18, 1890.

Taken as a whole, the collected music-relatedreferences of 18891895 give the effect of adiary, bent on everyday concerns, slowly build-ing an overview. Trends and phenomena arerevealed through a preponderance of specificdetails accumulated in weekly installments of

news, gossip, and critical commentary. Theseaccounts provide glimpses into intricate, hid-den paths of continuity from the black music ofthe years just prior to the inauguration of rag-time to twentieth-century blues, jazz, andgospel.

Introduction

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Out of Sight

18891889Chapter One

Frederick J. Loudins Fisk JubileeSingers and Their AustralasianAuditors, 18861889

The years 1889 and 1890 bore witness to a uniquemoment in the history of spiritual, or jubilee,singing, a zenith which was unfortunately short-lived. In 1889, through the dauntless agency ofLoudins Fisk Jubilee Singers, the spiritual lightfrom the slave cabins of the American South-land shone in a wild New Zealand gorge. Thefollowing year Loudins troupe gave a concert in the Taj Mahal. At the same time, McAdoosVirginia Jubilee Singers sang spirituals in thenative schools and mission stations of Zululand,South Africa, and the Tennessee Jubilee Singersgathered golden encomiums throughout theCaribbean.

The driving force behind this apogean move-ment was Frederick J. Loudin, a bass singer of phenomenal profundity and volume and a jubilee entrepreneur extraordinaire. Loudinwas born in the free state of Ohio on June 27,1842.1 He grew up in Ravenna and first experi-enced racial inequality there. After the CivilWar Loudin relocated to Memphis, and he wassinging in a church choir there in January 1875when he was recruited into the Original FiskJubilee Singers.

Loudin quickly became one of the Fisk JubileeSingers most important soloists and added hisexceptionally deep bass voice to the concertedharmony of the jubilee choruses. He also couldhave made a legitimate claim to the title orator.Throughout his career Loudin used the jubileeplatform to make public statements on the issueof civil rights. He was, in retrospect, the most

politically outspoken black entertainer of thenineteenth century.

In May 1875, just four months after Loudinhad joined, the Fisk Jubilee Singers sailed forEurope on a three-year fund-raising tour in theinterests of Fisk University. In February 1877 theywere presented to the Queen of Holland in anelaborate reception at the Hague, where manyDutch people had never before seen a blackperson. The highlight of the Fisk Jubilee Singerssecond tour of Europe was the November 4,1877, command performance before EmperorWilhelm I and the German royal family. WhenBerlins world-renowned music critics addedtheir emphatic endorsement of the Fisk JubileeSingers performances, it betokened the Euro-pean validation of African American musicalculture.

Nevertheless, when the Fisk Jubilee Singersreturned to Nashville in 1878, the adminis-trators of Fisk University concluded that thejubilee fund-raising idea had run its course, andthey unceremoniously disbanded the troupe.George L. White, the troupes director, knew the American public was still eager to hear theinternationally celebrated Fisk Jubilee Singers;in September 1879 White reorganized the JubileeSingers, entirely independent of Fisk University,but still carrying the name and still featuringFrederick J. Loudin.

As the primary singing attraction and publicspokesman for the new, independent troupe ofFisk Jubilee Singers, Loudin became the moti-vating force behind their 18791882 civilrights tours in support of the ill-fated CivilRights Bill of 1875.2 This civil rights campaignbrought Loudin into a personal relationship

with President James A. Garfield. After Garfieldsassassination and the Supreme Courts rulingthat the Civil Rights Bill of 1875 was unconsti-tutional, Loudins life seems to have changed.In late 1882 he seized the leadership of the FiskJubilee Singers from George L. White and beganhis incredible odyssey as a globe-trotting jubileesinger-manager.

In April 1884 Loudins Fisk Jubilee Singersset out on a six-year-long world tour. They spentthe first two years in England.3 On May 14, 1886,at the end of a forty-day ocean voyage from Liverpool, Loudin and his troupe landed atWilliamstown, the port of Melbourne, Australia.Touring Australia and New Zealand for the next

three years, they netted a sum equal to nearlyhalf a million contemporary U.S. dollars. Respon-sibility, credit, and proceeds all belonged toFrederick J. Loudin.

The roster of Loudins Fisk Jubilee Singerscomprised sopranos Mattie Lawrence (primadonna soloist), Belle Gibbons, Maggie Carnes,and Patti Malone; contraltos Georgie Gibbonsand Maggie E. Wilson; tenors R. B. Williams andJohn T. Lane; and bassos Loudin and OrpheusM. McAdoo; plus Loudins niece Leota Henson(nee Turner), who served as accompanist on the harmonium for the jubilee choruses and on pianoforte for secular solos. To a greatextent, the reputation that Loudins Fisk JubileeSingers had earned in Europe assured them awarm reception in Australia. On May 31, 1886,they were formally introduced to Melbourne by means of a private recital for about 150 leading citizens. According to accompanist LeotaHenson, Printed invitations were sent to themost prominent people in the city. The news-papermen were also there . . . The next day thenewspaper came with a fine account of the program and after that our concert dates camein thick and fast.4

JUNE , : Private Concert, Yesterdayafternoon a private concert by the Fisk JubileeSingers was given in the Grand hotel, under the auspices of a committee specially formed towelcome and introduce them to Australia . . .

The Dean [i.e., Melbournes chief clergy-man], in introducing the Jubilee Singers to theaudience, expressed his belief that the abolitionof slavery was the great outstanding character-istic of the nineteenth century. The Americanslaves, on their emancipation, did not turn their minds to ambition or revenge, but the firstthing they cried for was education. The servicesrendered by the Jubilee Singers to the cause ofeducation were well known, and he had greatpleasure in welcoming them to Australia.

Frederick J. Loudin, basso and proprietor of Loudins FiskJubilee Singers. (courtesy Fisk University Library, SpecialCollections)

Mr. F. J. Loudin, the musical director of theJubilee Singers, then made a few introductoryremarks. He said that if it were not for the factthat this was the first time they had been in Australia, he would not have thought it necessaryto make any speech. Had he been in Britain orGermany, or their own native America, he wouldhave been sure a large part of the audience wasfamiliar with the origin and character of themusic they were about to sing. The music wasnot the production of Handel or Haydn, or anyof the great masters, but it was the music ofnature, of a people oppressed long and sorethrough a night of bondage. The songs they sangwere principally songs sung by the slaves duringthe time of their enslavement . . .

[Following the short concert, which includedrenditions of Turn Back Pharoahs Army,Rolling through an Unfriendly World, IveBeen Redeemed, and Swing Low, Sweet Char-iot,] Mr. Loudin tendered the thanks of theJubilee Singers to the audience for their pres-ence, and for the cordiality with which they hadbeen welcomed in Melbourne. It was of no littleimportance to them coming fresh to Australiato know the kind of reception they would get.They had received letters from the colonies ofthe most cordial character, and they expected toreceive a cordial welcome. They had not beendisappointed. He thanked the committee espe-cially, and last but not least, the venerable dean,from whom he had received a long letter, nearlya year ago, encouraging the singers to visit Australia. The dean had been among the first towelcome them. (Applause).

Sir James MacBain moved a vote of thanks toMr. Loudin and the singers, expressing at thesame time the high appreciation in which theirservices were held, and bidding them heartywelcome to Australia . . . He felt it impossible to give adequate expression to the feelings withwhich he had listened to the singers. Their

music was the music of natureof nature, afterhaving triumphed over tyranny and oppression.It appealed more to the heart and the feelingsthan any classical music. Similarly in Scotland,and indeed in every country, the songs whichwere identified with the struggles and the patri-otism of the people were the most effective.Mr. Loudin and his party were the representativesof a ransomed race. Their sacred melodies andhymns could not but produce an excellenteffect. The effect of a beautiful hymn, with beau-tiful music, must be good even upon the mosthardened nature. They welcomed Mr. Loudinand his party, and gave them the right hand offellowship. They might well call them their sistersand brothers. They wished them God-speed,believing they could not fail to do an immenseamount of good. He believed their entertain-ment would be highly successful. (Applause)([Melbourne] Daily Telegraph).

Loudins Fisk Jubilee Singers gave their firstpublic concert in Melbourne on June 7, 1886, atthe town hall. Local critics were enthusiastic. JUNE , : Anyone who wishes to have asplendid and almost perfect illustration of whatexpression means in music should not fail tohear the Fisk Jubilee Singers. The singers, indi-vidually considered, have voices of excellentquality, and they sing together with the mosteven and balanced effect, with thorough sym-pathy, with accuracy of intonation, with anattentive regard to light and shade, with dynamicpower accenting each phrase and each word inaccord with the meaning thereof; and, in short,they warble with all their souls ([Melbourne]Daily Telegraph). JUNE , : The Opening Night of the FiskJubilee Singers,The Fisk Jubilee Singers struckthe Melbourne public at once. The audience onthe first night (Monday, June 7th) was immense.Large numbers paid the 5s. for the reservedseats, and money for the 3s. and lower-priced

seats was refused. But what was more, the audi-ence was delighted. His Excellency Sir H. B. Lochand Lady Loch were present, together with a good many other prominent citizens. TheHon. James Balfour, M. L. C., occupied the chair.He opened the meeting with a cordial littlespeech, in which he sketched the history ofthe singers through their various campaigns.As the sweet strains of Steal Away to Jesus stoleupon our ears it was quickly manifest that thesingers had stolen upon the affections of theirhearers. The piece closed with their impressivechanting of the Lords Prayer. After this openingnumber their success was assured; the eveningwas simply a succession of triumphs. As to time,they sang with the precision of musical machines;as to sweetness and gravity of voice, it is safe tosay that the Melbourne public have not for along time, if ever, heard eleven voices togetherso good in themselves and so harmoniouslyblended. As to purity of intonation and dis-tinctness of articulation, it would be difficult totheir being excelled in these respects. And thenthe earnestness with which they one and all singis perhaps the most captivating thing of all abouttheir performance. To me it was quite a revela-tion . . . I came away after spending the mostenjoyable musical evening that has ever fallento my lot (Christian World). JUNE , : These singers, through con-stant practice, have arrived at perfection of stylein their rendering of part-songs, so that theirmanner may be studied with advantage by allthose who are actually engaged in Melbourne incontributing to concerted harmonies of thehuman voice (Argus).

The furore that the Fisk Jubilee Singers created in Melbourne continued undiminishedfor weeks. This account appeared after theirninth performance at Melbourne Town Hall: JUNE , : There was some grumbling as to the arrangements at the doors, but the

manager explains that it was due to the fact ofthe public crushing in so long before the timeannounced for opening, and, further, that theynever anticipated having so large an audience([Melbourne] Daily Telegraph).

On June 19 the same newspaper wrote: Thesuccess of the Fisk Jubilee Singers now appear-ing at the Melbournes Town-hall is somethingunprecedented in the annals of the colony.The audiences are phenomenally large, and the enthusiasm created by the singers is extra-ordinary. Incredibly, the Jubilee Singers gavetwenty-one successful concerts at MelbourneTown Hall in twenty-three days and were able to attract packed houses in and aroundMelbourne for fully ten weeks. Finally, it wasreported: AUGUST , : There was an immense audi-ence at the last concert of the Melbourne seriesof the Jubilee Singers . . . The audience extendedover the area, balcony and south gallery, andeven the orchestra behind the singers foundoccupants . . . The last night of the Jubilees inMelbourne may be said to have fitly crowned aseries of triumphs (Christian World).

Lord H. B. Loch, governor of Victoria, andhis wife, Lady Loch, were powerful friends who were very helpful to Loudin and his troupe during their thirty-nine month sojourn in Australasia. On July 20 Loudins Fisk JubileeSingers gave a Grand Charity Concert underthe patronage of Lady Loch, in aid of the Con-valescent Home for Women, the Salvation ArmyPrison Gate Brigade, and other local charities.According to the Advertiser of August 6, 1886,the Jubilee Singers visited the Benevolent Asylum and sang to the inmates a number ofwell-known sweet melodies . . . The aged peoplelistened with a pleasure and interest whichmade their faces a study to the onlooker andmany were the grateful expressions at the closeof the service . . . One aged inmate was overheard

saying that he had not expected to have lis-tened to such music until he had reachedheaven. Throughout their Australasian tour,Loudins Fisk Jubilee Singers honored theirpublic service responsibilities with benefit con-certs, complimentary tickets for orphanages,and such.

Frederick J. Loudin was also scrupulouslyattentive to his business responsibilities.While in Melbourne, he ordered a reprinting ofJ. B. T. Marshs The Story of the Jubilee Singersand sold many copies at four shillings each.The frontispiece of the 1886 Melbourne editionnotes the completion of 125,000 copies printed.It also claims that each of the approximately 110 jubilee songs included in the volume iscopyright in the Australasian Colonies (includ-ing New Zealand and Tasmania). The sale ofthe books added significantly to concert rev-enues, and Loudins enthusiastic salesmanshipduring the intermission was a subject of pressnotice: JUNE , : The interval was occupied bythe sale of the book containing the story of theorganization and the words and music of theprincipal songs, and those who wished toadjourn outside were politely told that theywould have to repay on re-entering([Melbourne]Herald). AUGUST , : An eye for the beautiful.That is the last touch with which Jubilee Loudingives to his speech when introducing the jubileememorial book. It takes amazingly; nobodydares to refuse to buy after that ([Brisbane]Telegraph).

Leaving Melbourne on August 11, 1886, theJubilee Singers embarked on what Loudincalled our country trip;5 the newspapersreferred to it as their colonial tour.6 It wasduring this time that the Jubilee Singers visitedthe Maloga Mission Station. Loudins firstmeeting with the aboriginal people of Australia

was very memorable. He described it in a letterto the Detroit Plaindealer: JULY , : From the Antipodes, a letterfrom F. J. Loudin, dated June 11, 1888, fromBrisbane, Queensland: At Malaga [sic] we visited the mission station. We drove out for the purpose of singing to them. They were veryshy at first and were very uncommunicative. Wewere shown through their little houses, many of which they had built themselves. Quite anumber of them speak English very well. But afterwe had sung to them it seemed to be the key totheir hearts, for it regularly opened their sym-pathies. It was strange to witness the effect theold slave songs born in the Southern planta-tions of America made upon these people at theAntipodes. Many of them wept as they listenedto the weird plaintive melodies. While they sel-dom sing themselves, they seem to be exceed-ingly fond of music, more touched in fact by itthan it has ever been our privilege to witness inany other people. After the singing was overthey grasped us by the hand, many of themwith the tears streaming from their eyes, thank-ing us again and again for what to them hadbeen a great treat. When we were to leave thesettlement they all came out to bid us good bye,and as we drove away so long as we could seethe settlement, handkerchiefs, hats and handswere being waved from the treetops or fromwherever a native could hold on long enough towave his hat or hand (Detroit Plaindealer).

Loudins Fisk Jubilee Singers traveled to New South Wales, beginning their first seasonin Sydney at the YMCA hall on October 4, 1886,where they gave daily concerts through themonth of October. The first half of Novemberwas also spent singing in and around Sydney.The concerts were well attended and the presswas generally favorable. OCTOBER , : All the poetry, passion,exuberant fancy, and deep religious feeling of

the coloured races is embodied in their songs.Their music is different to the melodies of anyother race, and the wild thrilling plantation dit-ties have a fascination entirely their own . . . TheFisk Jubilee Singers have undoubtedly broughtpart singing to a very high pitch of perfection,and in addition to this the quaintness of theirplantation ballads is striking and original. Wehave seldom seen an audience so unanimous inits applause, and the Jubilee Singers should dowell in Sydney if plaudits are a fair criterion ofsuccess (Sydney Morning Herald).

The racially biased, sarcastically inclinedSydney Bulletin expressed a different opinion: OCTOBER , : The Fisk Jubilee Singers are still jubilating at the Sydney YMCA Hall.The gate money looks well, and Lord Carringtonhas promised to be present on Friday, the 15th.It might be well, however, if there was a littleless hymn bookand second-rate hymn bookat thatin the entertainment, for a dash ofprofane cussedness goes well with a Sydneyaudience ([Sydney] Bulletin).

Racial prejudice found a more palpableexpression while the troupe was in Sydney. OCTOBER , : Hotel Snobbery in Sydney,The cultured and talented and world-renownedFisk Jubilee Singers. . . have, metaphorically,had the doors of the leading hotels in Sydneyslammed in their faces, because of the colour oftheir skins . . . We could laugh, if it were not forthe humiliation of knowing that it will go forthto England and Europe that Sydney publicanshave been able to offer such insult to persons ofculture and refinement . . . We confess to beingalmost bewildered. We had thought that thebattle of civil rights for men of all colour hadbeen fought out and settled in America, and lit-tle expected to see such an exhibition of casteprejudice here ([Sydney] Christian Monitor).

Loudins Fisk Jubilee Singers opened inAuckland, New Zealand, on November 26, 1886.

Press reports make it clear they enjoyed a verylucrative engagement at the city hall, with extraconcerts being scheduled. December 4, 1886,the Singers gave a Saturday matinee at whichchildren from Aucklands orphanages wereadmitted free and all other children were admit-ted for one shilling.

Leaving Auckland after two weeks, they trav-eled overland to Napier, and then headed northalong the east coast for concerts in Gisborne atthe beginning of 1887. Turning back south alongthe coast, they stopped at Napier and Hastings,then continued to Waipawa, Waipukurau, andWoodville. The trip is described in the personaldiary of tenor singer R. B. Williams, quoted in a1991 article in a New Zealand journal:

The Fisk Jubilee Singers travelled around New Zealand by boat, train and horse drawncarriages, performing in just about every town,small or large . . . But the tour was slow going. OnJanuary 13, 1887, the troupe left Waipukurau: Wehave a ride of three hours by train to Dannevirke,then by coach 17 miles to Woodville . . . Coaching isso hard. Conversation on the way very lively andinstructive. We are in the heart of the famous 70 milesbush. Nice hall to sing inWoodville is only 15 years old.

January 14: Today we start for Palmerston[North] through the beautiful Manawatu gorge. Oh,such scenery: rugged grandeur, steep cliffs, narrowand dangerous roads. All of us in high glee. We pickferns on the way. Arrived at Palmerston sick andhot. Sing in good concert to full house.7

The Jubilee Singers tour of New Zealandreached a high note at Wellington early in Feb-ruary 1887, when a series of ten concerts at theOpera House reportedly took in an astoundingfifteen hundred pounds. The Australian maga-zine LEntre Act commented, The people whoare really making the money in New Zealandare the Fisk Jubilee Singers.8

Loudins Fisk Jubilee Singers crossed over tothe South Island, beginning their tour at Picton,then proceeded to Blenheim and Nelson, and

reached Christchurch on March 14, 1887. OnMarch 25 the local New Zealand Referee describedtheir splendid reception: Fisks Jubilee Singerscan probably claim to have received the best allround patronage accorded to any kind of travel-ling company that has visited Christchurch formany months . . . our residentsfrom the aristo-crat to the humble working manhave flockedto the Theatre Royal in large numbers, and paidtheir four, three and two shillings for admissionwillingly, and bought the book, giving the historyof the Singers, at four shillings apiece, too!

The Jubilee Singers opened a two weeksengagement in Dunedin on April 2, 1887. APRIL , : The Fisk Jubilee Singers, whohave been gathering an extraordinary amount

of current coin during their tour of NewZealand, appeared for the first time in Dunedinat the Garrison Hall on (2nd), and wereaccorded a very enthusiastic reception (OtagoWitness).

The Singers made their way to the southern-most part of the South Island, to Invercargill,where they gave four concerts at the TheatreRoyal in late May, concluding their tour ofNew Zealand. Returning to Australia, LoudinsFisk Jubilee Singers gave their first concert in Adelaide, at the YMCA Hall, on June 20,1887.

Two years later, when the Jubilee Singersarrived in New Zealand for a second tour, FredLoudin related some details of the intervening

Program, Loudins Fisk Jubilee Singers at YMCA Hall,Sydney, Australia, October 15, 1886. (courtesy FiskUniversity Library, Special Collections)

period to a reporter from the WellingtonEvening Press: FEBRUARY , (WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND):A Chat With Mr. Loudin, In the course ofa conversation yesterday with Mr. Loudin,manager and musical director of the Fisk JubileeSingers company, now performing at the OperaHouse here, a representative of the Evening Pressgleaned the following interesting particulars ofthe companys movements and experiences sincetheir last visit to this city two years ago:

From Invercargill, said Mr. Loudin, we went toAdelaide for the opening of the exhibition there,and made a stay of a month, and then foundthings so dull in South Australia that we wentround to Brisbane, where we met with wonderfulsuccess. We were unable to get a public hall largeenough there to sing in, but the proprietors of theCourier newspaper had put up a big building,divided into two or three flats, and we endeav-ored to hire one of these. At first they would not let the building for our purposes, but finallygave way, and that was the means of convertingthe particular flat in question into a public hall,now called after us, I believe, Jubilee Hall. Wehad a most pleasant time in Brisbane, the peoplebeing very hospitable. Lady Musgrove was alsovery kind to us. From there we came overland toNewcastle, but I omitted to say that while at Brisbane Sir Samuel Griffiths and the then Colo-nial Secretary took us in the yacht Lucinda to St. Helena, where the prisoners are, a trip wethoroughly enjoyed. At Newcastle we met with anew experience for us in the colonies, and onethat reminded us of our treatment in certainparts of America. The hotels would not take us in.The proprietors gave no reasons, but just refusedto have us. This was all the better for us in theend, as the leading citizens of the place openedtheir houses to us, and we were far better off thanif we had gone to an hotel. We thence went toMelbourne for some time, doing excellent

business, and also visited South-west Victoria,and next went to Tasmania (Hobart), where I wastaken really very ill indeed, and had to give upsinging with the company, who had to go onwithout me to Sydney. This was the first time,with the exception of one night at Fielding in thiscolony, that I had missed a performance with thecompany since we started 15 years ago. Our sea-son in Sydney, a most successful one, commencedjust after Easter, and lasted four weeks. We alsoperformed with like success at Bathurst and outOrange way, and then we worked along acrossthrough New South Wales and Victoria to Ade-laide again, and through South Australia, andwent to Port Augusta and Port Perry. At one ofthe small towns there we had an experience of anamusing character. We arrived on a Saturday, onthe evening of which trade is generally in fullswing. Having occasion to go out to purchasesome small article before our concert com-menced I found all the shops were closed becauseof our being in the place. At Port Augusta we vis-ited the ostrich farms, where now there are some500 birds . . . From there we went to Broken Hill,the journey being of a most interesting character.Having heard of the bad water there we tookalong with us 15 gallons of our own supply,because there was a typhoid fever scare on there.How the people at Broken Hill drink the waterthere and live I dont know. It is got from a mud-hole five miles from the town, and if you let aglass of it stand for a few moments there will be asediment at the bottom an inch thick. On thejourney there, for over 180 miles we did not crossor see a single stream of water. There is so muchdust at Broken Hill that it nearly buries you up asyou stand. There are no defined streets, and thehouses stand anyhow, with no fences aroundthem. There are two very good hotels, and aboutevery other house is a grog shanty. The pubs arenever closed on Sundays or any other time. Thepeople were very hospitable, however, although

peculiar. I went down the big mine 215 feet rightinto the lode, which is twice as wide as Cuba-street. The mine manager, Mr. Patterson, took meround and showed me the smelting process, &c.It was a marvelous sight . . . Thence we went to Melbourne for the Exhibition, and took amonths holiday, and then came on to NewZealand (Wellington Evening Press).

The Jubilee Singers carried the spirituals toremote outposts on this adventurous tour.Their audiences crossed lines of class and evennationality, attracting everyone from clergy-men and ministers of various denominations,and leading citizens seldom seen inside a the-atre to the disruptive larrikin element.9

SEPTEMBER , : The most unique, origi-nal, pleasing, elevating, and amusing entertain-ment which has been ever given in Tamworthwas started in the Oddfellows Hall, last Wed-nesday. . . the hall crowded from ceiling to floorwith an audience reaching from top to bottomof the social ladder. . . Only a few members ofthe larrikin element were heard to express out-side the hall disparaging and vulgar remarksabout the entertainment and entertainers; but,on the principle that it is unfair to expect morefrom a pig than a grunt, the opinion of thispush may be fairly discarded . . .

. . . [T]he expressions of surprise uttered by some members of the audience plainlyevinced the Arcadian simplicity in which quite anumber of our community live with regard to theworlds entertainments.Why, thats a black man?and Oh! my! theyre all blacks? were amongst theremarks heard. Verily, many of the folk who stealaway to Jesus in the solitude of their own homes,are to be envied for their simplicity of soul(Tamworth Observer). SEPTEMBER , : It is not a performancewhich appeals merely to the musical amateur orthe educated ear (though it delights both) but ittakes captive and holds entranced from start to

finish auditors of every class, age and stamp.The central Australian nigger, the street Arab,the bucolic youth from the far interior, theAfghan camel wallah, and the rudest forecastlehand, though they may not perceive and intelli-gently appreciate the musical effects of thesongs, all submit to the spell which the JubileeSingers throw over both cultured and uncul-tured auditors . . . such a musical treat is seldomindeed vouchsafed to up-country residents, andwe should imagine that few who were presentlast night can refrain from attending again(Port Augusta Dispatch).

The Jubilee Singers Australasian tour tookthem to many small towns that lacked a hall ofsufficient size to accommodate the crowds. As aresult, concerts were sometimes held in unlikelyfacilities. The following report came fromKiama, down the coast from Sydney: JUNE , : In the evening the AgriculturalPavilion, which, notwithstanding some palpableinconveniences attending the use of it, was theonly available building that could have accom-modated them, was filled with not merely thelargest audience it ever containedwhich issaying nothingbut with the largest crowd ofpeople, or very nearly so, that it was capable ofcontaining, or, as nearly as can be ascertained,about 600 persons. These came from every part ofthe south coast that was within a days drive; andthe appearance of the buggy lamps (especially atthe time the visitors were leaving the ground)extending in an unbroken line almost from thatspot to Terralong-street was in itself quite phe-nomenal (Reporter and Illawarra Journal).

In mid-April 1889, Loudins company com-pleted their second lengthy tour of New Zealand,where the jubilee songs made a lasting impres-sion. In 1942 a Wellington reporter observed:What is interesting musically to recall is thatthe [Fisk] singers were the first to introduce toNew Zealand that type of evangelical song

known as the negro spiritual, and after theydeparted it was common to hear such numbersas Steal Away, Good News, In That Morning,Swing Low Sweet Chariot, sung in some of thenon conformist churches.10

SAMETHE MAORI AND THE FISKJUBILEE SINGERS

More than one account of their tours of NewZealand dwells on the rapport betweenLoudins Fisk Jubilee Singers and the Maoris,New Zealands aboriginal people. FEBRUARY , : The Jubilee Singers Amongthe Maoris, Notwithstanding all that theJubilee [Singers] have seen during years oftravel, it was reserved for the Maoris of Grey-town to show them something new and givethem something to remember. On Saturdayafternoon the Singers went to the Papawai pahby invitation of the natives and were receivedwith a feeling akin to joy. It was evident that astrong sympathetic feeling exists between thesepeople of color. The welcome was such a gladone that the Singers soon felt at ease and scat-tered among the native women and children,chatting in a most friendly way. After inspectingsome carved slabs, which are to be used for theerection of a meeting house, the Singers wereentertained at dinner in the large building closeby. In the evening about twenty Maoris dressedin striking costumes gave a dance of welcome;this was followed by other dances of varioussignificance, and concluded with a song offarewell and dance combined. The Jubilee Singershad never seen anything of the kind before,and they were much interested in watching the grotesque attitudes and listening to the peculiarshouts of the dancers. A presentation of a matto each of the Singers concluded the exercises.The Singers expressed their warm thanks to thenatives and Mr. C. Jury, in return thanked the

singers for their kindly visit. Then the Singersgathered in a group and sang Swing Low, SweetChariot, the rich harmony telling upon nativesand Europeans with good effect. Again theysang and then concluded with a beautiful part-ing song addressed more particularly to theMaoris. The Singers returned to Greytown wellpleased with the events of the day (Wairarapa[New Zealand] Standard). DECEMBER : Loudin reports: It was a littleawkward at times, I must tell you, for when Imet a Maori on the street I was compelled to rubnoses with him, and that is a form of salutationto which I am not accustomed . . . The hearts ofthe people were touched. They came again andagain, and when we asked them the reason, theyindicated that they recognized a kinship . . . theywere quite clear that Maoris were same, point-ing to our faces. We were present at a war dancein New Zealand, and were much interested inthe proceedings. I had many interesting conver-sations with the Maoris about the lives andhopes of colored people. I spoke to them in themost forceable language at my command of theterrible dangers of fire water (Fisk Herald). JANUARY , : An Interview with Mr. Loudin, And whilst in New Zealand[Loudin] made good use of his opportunitiesboth to become acquainted with Maori charac-ter and to express his views on the manner inwhich he considered they should be treated inregard to education . . .

Mr. Loudon [sic] is a little weak on the sub-ject of the natives of New Zealand. He candidlystated that he and his party looked upon theMaoris with the greatest interest and affection,for he regarded them as brothers and sisters, asmembers of the great race of colored people ofwhich he and his friends were themselves mem-bers. This was well enough; but Mr. Loudon forgets the very marked difference between theMaoris and the American negroes. The latter are

clever, and above all they are not lazy or indolent. . . What a contrast to the natives of NewZealand! These poor creatures are still in the laststage of savagery. . . They will not work; they livein lazy luxury. . . In natural attainments, they are equally behind their American cousins. Whatcolonial can imagine a band of Maoris singingthe lovely melodies and part songs which theJubilee singers render. . .

It is all very well to talk of educating theMaori. Surely the whites are placing no restric-tions on the advancement of the native race inthat direction . . .

At any rate it is always well when an intelli-gent foreigner visits a country. . . The viewswhich they express at different times, before edu-cated audiences are sure to have some beneficialeffect. And as the leader of the band of Jubileesingers is undoubtedly in earnest in his regardfor the natives of New Zealand, he may restassured that his casual references to their condi-tion and probable future must have a great andlasting effect, both on the natives themselves, andon the people who are now their betters, but whotreat them as equals (Waipawa Mail). FEBRUARY , : A large number of thePapawai natives, with a vivid recollection of thepleasant times spent with the company on a pre-vious occasion, assembled at the Club Hotel,where they [the Jubilee Singers] were staying andpaid their respects to them in a royal manner(South Wairaraga Advocate). APRIL , : The Maoris appear to be greatlyinterested in the Fisk Jubilee Singers, and lose noopportunity of accosting and speaking to them.One old tattooed warrior, when asked his opin-ion of them, gravely replied: Oh! all the same theMaori. They say they are all their brothers fromover the water (Wanganni Chronicle). DECEMBER , : Among [Loudins] collec-tion of Australasian curios may be mentionedthe Meri-meri stone from New Zealandthis

stone is of a dark green color and is shapedsomething like the head of an ax, only thinneddown to a cutting edge on each side. It is theemblem of tribal authority among the Maoris . . . It was given to Mr. Loudin by the widow ofa Maori chief as the highest testimonial of herregard (Cleveland Gazette).

In January 1887 a Waipawa Mail reporterquestioned, What colonial can imagine a bandof Maoris singing the lovely melodies and partsongs which the Jubilee singers render? Yet,in fact, Westernized four-part harmony singingseems to have been a standard part of Maoriculture through the better part of the twentiethcentury. Maori music history has not been welldocumented; however, commercial recordingsof the Rotorua Maori Choir were made as earlyas 1929.11 These close-harmony recordings, aswell as others of more recent vintage, raisequestions as to whether the early appearance ofthe great Fisk Jubilee Singers may account, insome manner, for the enduring affinity for West-ern close-harmony singing among the Maori.

AUSTRALASIAN MUSIC APPRECIATION

The first thing a good singer has to learn when he joinsthe company is that his voice has to blend with theothers, and the harmony has to be perfect; and thesingers become extremely sensitive to the least absence of harmony. The object aimed at is to make the voicesblend into one grand wholeone beautiful volume.

Frederick J. Loudin, 1886

There are no sound recordings of LoudinsFisk Jubilee Singers. Nevertheless, solid, credi-ble conclusions can be drawn about their musicfrom literally thousands of published descrip-tions of their singing. Existing evidence supportsthe assertion that the troupe that made the18841890 world tour was the finest companyof spiritual singers ever assembled.

The Australasian daily newspapers all hadmusic critics; some were remarkably astute.Along with describing the merits of the singing,their comments sometimes identified singular-ities of African American spiritual harmonysinging which Australasians found so vitallydifferent from anything ever heard on the localboards.The most perceptive and far-seeing com-mentators noted a momentous, new approachto arranging and performing choral music. Afew saw much more than this. For at least onecritic, Loudins Fisk Jubilee spirituals beckonedlost memory, a sort of childhood days (very far back indeed) now flit before me feeling, itseems to be.

The June 5, 1886, edition of the MelbourneDaily Telegraph offered what Loudin found tobe an intelligent analysis of the Fisk songs:

A musical phrase has occurred to some raptenthusiast at a camp meeting, he has poured it outunconsciously (like Gothes harper Singing as thebirds sing), one after another of the congregationhas caught the tune; after two or three repetitionsthey have harmonised it in a ready but not roughway; like wavelets in a pool the people have joinedin the widening flood of sound till the simple noteshave grown to a mighty strain sung in perfectaccord by hundreds or thousands of rich mellowvoices. Such is the genesis of most of the tunes inthe Fisk singers repertoire. This music is, as it hasbeen perfectly defined, the music of nature. At thesame time a connoisseur recognizes that it is astandard to which musical art should in a largedegree approximate itself. It is astonishing to noticethat these untutored minstrels have unconsciouslyadopted methods which some of our greatest recentcomposers have been struggling to introduce. Takethe case of rhythm. The music of their songs exactlyfollows the words. Not only are short syllables distin-guished from long by the accent put in them, but by the value and length of the notes them-selvesshort notes to short syllables, and longernotes for long ones. Now this system is exactly whata modern influential school of Italian composershas been fighting for. As might be imagined,

it makes closer that subtle, but still powerful,connection between the sound of the music and thesense of the words, which results often in effectsstartling in their impressiveness. Many hearers maynot be able to analyse the effect of the Jubileesinging, but much of it springs from this cause.When we come to speak of the harmonising of thesongs, we are simply astonished at the effectsproduced by simple means. That we should beshows the valuable artistic mission which thesesingers perform in bringing us back to see the valueof unadorned purity in music. Here again we find acounterpart of the Fisk songs in the efforts of greatliving composers. One of the most swing effects[sic] in the whole of modern dramatic music is thefamous Ave, opening the prologue in heaven ofBoitos opera Mefistofele, where the hushed voices of the choir repeat the prayer on one drawn-out common chord. Exactly the same deviceis found in most of the songs under notice. Take theone, Ive Been Redeemed; in twelve bars, with oneexception, the only harmonic changes are from atonic to a dominant bass; and yet, with exquisitesinging, this does not become monotonous. Inanother song we find a rising scale on a pedal bass,to speak technically. This is a form which sent halfthe critics of Europe mad with delight when Mozartemployed it in Don Giovanni. And yet Americanslaves would hardly get many chances of going tothe opera to hear Don Giovanni. Just as Giottoand the great early painters used only two or threesimple colours to paint frescoes unsurpassed sincefor directness of pure feeling, so these slave singers,with the best musical means they could employ,expressed their feelings of exultation or grief in afervour which is touching, chiefly because it is sounaffected. Their efforts may be employed onmusical ideas which are common to many peoples,but they are never commonplace. Their simplicity isnot childish, but childlike. It will astonish manyreaders to learn what is really the closest analogueto this jubilee music. Not Christy minstrel songs ormodern ballads, but the most ancient Gregorianmusic of the liturgy of the Romish Church. Bothhave been the artless, unaided production ofmusically uncultivated people; both have beenfound especially well adapted for readycomprehension and easy performance by largemasses of people. At the time when slave songs

were sung by slaves it would have been hard for atraveller who shut his eyes and listened to theirmusical structure alone to know whether he waslistening to the negroes in the sugar-brake or to thechant of monks in the Lateran Basilica at Rome.This likeness to the Roman music is especiallynoticed in the song Go down Moses. Herealternate unison and harmonised passages suggestvery much the singing of the Romish choir. . .Some few of their songs are much wilder incharacter and stranger in rhythm than the greatmajority of which the above remarks are true. Suchare The Love Feast, in which most extraordinaryintervals of a seventh appear unexpectedly; orDaniel, in which the time has a certainuncouthness imparted to it by the constantavoidance of the interval of the fourth. Spaceforbids us mentioning other peculiarities of thismost interesting music. No critic can afford,however, to disregard them, and they will beinteresting if watched for by the ordinary listener,for whom they have been here pointed out. As aGerman critic has observed, it is quite possible thatsome great musician may yet do for these melodieswhat Liszt and Brahms have done for those ofHungary. . . Even here, in our own City, we maytake a lesson, from one of those Fisk singersmelodies, They led my Lord away. Here the storyis told in a recitative on one note . . . The flow andebb of the volume of sound gives a wonderful,undulating undercurrent to the harmony. The softpianissimo effect is almost indescribable. We do notexaggerate in saying that it is more like the echo ofdistant music borne towards the hearer by the wind,or like the sound which comes from a vox angelicastop placed far at the back of some great organ.With a full recollection of the three finest choirs inEurope, Mr. Leslies late choir, the Dom choir atBerlin, and the Papal at the Sistine Chapel, we assert that, in the matter of absolute accuracy ofintonation and finished graduation of tone, the Fisksingers may take their place beside them. By earnestapplication and self-sacrificing zeal bestowed onsimple musical materials, they produce an almostmagical result. To the critic, the more he knows ofmusic the more he will find their music luminouslysuggestive; the non-critical hearer will be carriedaway with delight at hearing melodies prompted by nature untaught transformed into examples

(in their way) of highest art. Perfection of perform-ance, casting a halo of irresistable charm around thesimplest and purest materialthis is the musicallesson of the Fisk Jubilee Singers.

Loudin referred to this article in an inter-view which appeared in the Daily Telegraph onOctober 3, 1887: Questioned as to the quaintmelodies of the Jubilee Singers, Mr. Loudindeclined to attempt a scientific analysis of thedifferences between their music and any other.Only in Melbourne and in Berlin has he seenthat attempted with success. In the columns ofThe Daily Telegraph a critical notice appearedof the music of the singers, which he felt to bemost philosophically correct. But for myself, Iwould not attempt it. All I know is the effect. AUGUST , : The singing of this companydefies descriptionwords are but of little serviceit must be heard that any idea of itsexcellence may be formed. Long and systematictraining has made the singers mechanically perfect, and the fact that they lose themselves inthe spirit and the sentiment of what they sing,together with the great natural ability, leavenothing to be obtained. No such concertedsinging has been heard before, and the pleasureof hearing them is intensified by the clear enun-ciation of every word (Kyneton Observer). AUGUST , (SANDHURST): The majorityof items on the programme were sacred negromelodies, and they were sung with an unsur-passed unity of voices, individual prominencebeing subordinated by the effort to accomplishthis. At times the listeners would be borne awaywith the soft murmurs of the vocalists, whensuddenly a wild continuous shout would inter-sperse it. The selections were rendered with athrilling earnestness, and they seemed to puttheir heart and soul into their execution. Wefinally say that those who have neglected theopportunity of hearing what might be properly

termed the best united singers in the world, havemissed a rare treat (Bendigo Evening News). DECEMBER , (AUCKLAND): The crowdedhouses that greet the performance of the JubileeSingers every night, are an illustration of the factthat one touch of nature shows the whole worldkin. It is a triumph of nature and common senseover conceit and conventionalism, and there is more genuine and real appreciation of thedelightsomeness of sweet sounds in a singlenight at the City Hall than in a hundred assem-blies listening to classical music (Observer). DECEMBER , (HAWKES BAY): [W]hatevermay be said, or suggested by nose-in-air or lip-in-curl, by a few, a very few, fast wedded to theEuropean style of musicthe audience weremore than satisfied, were delighted with theentertainment. The strange wailing choruses,rising and falling, told with remarkable effec-tiveness. Do they recall in us a neglected trans-mitted memory of primeval days, when oursavage progenitors sang in some such wise?Surely this is the only explanation of thethrilling effect . . . a sort of childhood days (veryfar back indeed) now flit before me feeling,it seems to be . . . We are still savages enough,the most civilized of us, to enjoy savage music,when we get it good, as the Jubilee Singers serveit out to us. We cannot understand, but we feelits power over us . . . The passages characterisedby a strange and wild weirdness can be easilydistinguished, and these are they that affect thehearer most deeply. . . one of the principal fea-tures of their special music is the neglect of allthe rules of time. Our notation marks are quiteworthless for indicating the time of any passage,and any person who undertakes to sing theJubilee hymns from the printed score will makea dreadful bosh of it (Evening News). MARCH , : Fisk Jubilee Singers, Gener-ally, the theme as it were, is enunciated and carried on either by soprano or bass . . . and the

refrain is then taken up by the other voices join-ing the background of the harmony. The effect ofthis novel style of singing it is impossible todescribe; but it is exceedingly pretty (Telegraph). MARCH , : A Chat with a Jubilee Singer,an interview with Frederick J. Loudin containedthe following: Were the harmonies you usespecially written for you?

Oh, no; the harmonies that we have are notwritten at all. The melodies and harmonies aresuch as existed among the slaves in America. Theslaves themselves made them, as the necessitiesof the time inspired them. Our people are veryemotional, and especially so in religious matters.Not being able to read, nor allowed to learn toread, they put everything into music and hymns,as they called them (Lyttelton [New Zealand]Times). APRIL , (TIMARU): The effect upon theaudience was remarkable. The applause thatfollowed the first number was the involuntaryacclamation of people whom novelty and sur-prise have for a moment dazed; but as the reper-toire was opened and re-opened, and gem aftergem was brought forth, the audience first grewdeeply attentive, then became entranced, andfinally entered into a state of sympatheticenthusiastic delight. From first to last the per-formance was a triumph (South CanterburyTimes). APRIL , : Is music more admirable as the vehicle of emotion, or as the handmaidenof cultivated taste? This is a question which wehave debated with ourselves for any number ofyears past, and we had almost arrived at a stateof equilibrium when the Fisk singers camealong and threw their weight into the scale. Themelodies of the heart leave the harmonies ofculture far in the background . . . These visitorshave spoiled us for hereafter, how shall we listenwith appreciation to the offerings of ordinarymusicians? (South Canterbury Times).

AUGUST , (TOOWOOMBA): The musicthey sing in the part-singing is not so difficult assome of the easiest glees and madrigals, but nohearer can help recognising that their singing has attained a standard of perfection. The effectsproduced by the rendition of the melodies areastonishing. There is an absolute perfection ofvocalisation; a perfectly even balance of voice;and such a correct blending of each part whetherin passages of whispering pianissimo or in thedeclamatory forte that the ear revels in sweetsounds. In the Jubilee Singers part singing, bynatural ability and by long training has reachedabsolute perfection . . . Listening one growsalmost intoxicated with the pleasure (Chronicle). DECEMBER , (MELBOURNE): Thesesingers have given us a grand lesson if we willonly acknowledge the fact and profit by it, forthey have taught us what true music is in such away which we have never before experienced inMelbourne. They have taught us also anotherand a nobler lesson, to consecrate our severalgifts and talents to the service of the Masterwho gave them and to the good of those aroundus (Spectator). FEBRUARY , (MARLBOROUGH): We havebeen gravely assured by various musical peoplethat there is nothing in the Jubilee Songs, thatit isnt music at all, and so on and so on. Thequestion then ariseswhat is it that draws vastaudiences, that holds them spell-bound, thatthrills them, and carries them away in their owndespite, that makes part singing pall upon onefor a year afterwards? It is not for us to answer.We leave those who last night crammed EwartsHall to its utmost capacity, and rewarded everyeffort of the accomplished troupe with appre-ciative applauseto answer that. Those whoheard the Fisk Singers on their former tour ofthe Colony had not forgotten them. From up-country solitudes and the backwoods, as well asfrom every home in the country, the people

have been flocking everywhere to hear theirwondrous melodies. Wherein lies their charmone cannot tell, but more captivating minstrelsywas never heard. Rude, barbaric, and quaint istheir music, but it is more; it is pregnant withthoughts, emotions, aspirations; it has the onetouch of nature which the Master assures usmakes the whole world kin. It is a music emi-nently understanded of the people. These airshave a history. Sung as they are now by a groupof gifted singers, each one and all trained as wellas gifted, they are the perfected version of theoriginal. The originals were the outpourings ofoverladen hearts, of irrepressible humour, ofdevotion, of despair; the rude utterances of slavesbending under the yoke and smarting under thedrivers whip. The songs of a nation tell its historymost eloquently, somebody says, and the songsof slavery fulfill this. One hears the rude prayer,the momentary joyousness, the firm faith of theslave; one sees as in a panorama the daily toil,the nightly rest, and the occasional camp meet-ing and the abandonment of the soul that usedto come in the intervals of labor. That is why theyare welcome, that is why, though they do notplease the fastidious, they please the people.

Last nights concert was an eminent success,the house was literally packed, and scores (theywould have been hundreds in a city) stood with-out and listened enthralled. The programme wasvaried somewhat. Mr. Loudin came forwardand said that they had decided as it was a shortseason, to give their favourite songs and theywould therefore vary the items. It is, in this case,needless to go through the programme seriatim.Only one variation we will chronicle, Brightsparkles in the churchyard, one of the mostexquisite melodies ever listened to. It is quiteimpossible to do the singers justice. The leadingsoprano, Miss Johnston, sang The song thattouched my heart, exquisitely; that adverb onlywill describe it. The voice of the principal

contralto singer is one of the richest and truestvoices ever heard. Of the bass of Mr. F. J. Loudinand Mr. McAdoo we can say nothing. They weresimply perfect. Of the choruses, when all thevoices blended like the pipes of one magnificentorgan, no more can be said than that they werethe grandest exhibitions of harmony that couldbe heard. Miss L. F. Hensons manipulation ofthe organ was splendid, hers was a true accom-paniment and on each side of her stood twodelightful singers, one with a flute-like voice. Theblending of voices was wonderfully sweet, andwas like a collection of reeds. This evening thecompany give their last concert, unless provi-dence and the Union Company enable them tostay here over Saturday. It has been generallyhoped that Mr. Loudin would to-night intro-duce into the programme Im a rollin throughan unfriendly world, and sing his masterpiece,Rocked in the cradle of the deep (MarlboroughExpress). APRIL , : The music is of such a class as to overturn all preconceived notions of whatconstitutes popular music . . . The originali-ties are such as can hardly fail to interest anymusician who has a mind susceptible of influ-ence outside his own groove (Sydney MorningHerald). JUNE , : [W]e were struck in BrightSparkles and in We Shall Walk Through TheValley, with a peculiar effect, reminding us ofPalestrina. We wonder if the negroes of Louisianaever listened to strains of the Lamentation ofJeremiah. It is not impossible that they mayhave caught the tones from some Cathedral inBaton Rouge or New Orleans (Bathhurst FreePress). JULY , : My Lord is writing all thetime, then a medley, and the song, Im rollingthrough an unfriendly world. Each of theseshowed that music had possibilities of expressionabove and beyond that commonly accepted by

ordinary critics and musicians (SheppartonNews). SEPTEMBER , (NEWCASTLE): Theireffects lie all on the surface; no analytical searchfor motif is required; they are natural; and allone has to do is listen without effort and becharmed. The music is as unforced as the laugh-ter of childrenand the negro has been veryaptly described as the ever juvenile race ofhumanity. The rolling sound waves are provo-cative of contagious excitement, and dramaticeffect and point are lent by distinct interjec-tional chords now and then, as if in individualcases excitement has risen to a pitch beyond con-trol while variety is added to effect by plaintiveand pleasing minors (Port Augusta Dispatch). MARCH , (NAPIER): The voices blendperfectly, the harmony is delightful, and thespirit of the words is expressed. There is a reso-nant quality of tone in their voices, especiallythe soprani and contralti, which gives them acharacter altogether distinct from the voices ofEuropeans (Evening News). APRIL , : The extraordinary suddenchanges in the choruses were never heard before,but in the manner they are rendered, pleases,whilst it surprises. The richness of tone resemblesnothing so much as the rolling of an organ in theinterior of a cathedral (Manawatu Herald). MAY , : The startling novelty of thestrains, the abrupt bars, the quaint periods,especially of Mr. Loudin in the rolling song, allcombined to make the concert so vitally differentfrom anything ever heard on the local boards,that the audience sat enraptured for two hours(Cootamundra Liberal). JUNE , : PointsThe Fisk lights andshades of harmony are nearly as exquisite as thelovely tints of the sky at concert last evening(Telegraph). JULY , : One hardly knows which toadmire the most: the musical perfection at which

they have arrived, or the undercurrent of reli-gious fervor which seems to inspire each chorus.Every now and again there is a deep ring almostof sublimity and pathos in both the words andmusic, and then there comes, in striking con-trast, some humorous incident of modulation orexpression which shows in a marked degree fromwhen both had their origin ([Rockhampton]Morning Herald).

MINSTRELSY AND LOUDINS FISKJUBILEE SINGERS

Loudins Fisk Jubilee Singers were the first com-pany of jubilee singers to appear in Australiaand New Zealand, but not the first troupe ofAfrican American entertainers to appear there.Apparently, the first to arrive were CorbynsGeorgia Minstrels, who landed in Sydney onDecember 6, 1876. In June 1877 they presentedThe Octoroon at the Bijou Theater in Melbourne,featuring slave songs, champion tambourin-ist, . . . negro choruses, real plantation walk-round, etc.12 Corbyns Minstrels were followedalmost immediately by Charles B. Hickss Geor-gia Minstrels, who had made their first bigimpression in Indianapolis and Chicago in1865. As Hicks related:

In Chicago it was a big thing, and on the returnof the western armies from the wars, under Shermanand Sheridan, we did an immense business. InAugust, 1866, we went to Boston; then to HalifaxNova Scotia, St. Johns, New Brunswick, arriving inNew York in 1868, in which year we sailed in thesteamer Etna, for Liverpool, where we playedunder the management of Sam Hague. Afterwardsvisited the provinces: Ireland, Scotland, and Wales,Hamburg, Dresden, Vienna, Berlin, &c . . .

After a prosperous tour extending over threeyears, we returned to America in 1872. We thenworked all the States and visited Canada; then gotback to California, and after a long stay in that State, started off for a New Zealand and Australiantour.13

JULY , : The Georgia Minstrels,Mr. Hicks singing of that plaintive melody,Massas in the cold, cold ground, has beenreceived with very hearty applause, and the bari-tone of the company, Mr. Matlock, evokes veryenthusiastic plaudits by his genuine minstrelsy.Mr. Bowman has also a very pleasing voice. JudgeCaruso with his side-splitting stump speech,elicits roars of laughter nightly,14 and the othermembers of the Company contribute their shareto the general excellence of the entertainments.The dancing and tumbling must be seen to be thoroughly appreciated (Wellington [New Zealand] Advertiser).

Charles B. Hickss Original Georgia Minstrelshad a long, successful run at Queens Theater inSydney in 1878, presenting a dramatization ofUncle Toms Cabin. The troupe consisted offifteen black male performers, including Hicks,Judge Crusoe, John R. Matlock, Andrew Jackson, Hosie Easton, R. B. Lewis, TaylorBrown, Billy Saunders, John Morton, JimmyMills, Billy Wilson, D. A. Bowman, Keenan,Thomas, and Harris. In 1888, while LoudinsFisk Jubilee Singers were still in the country,Charles B. Hicks returned to the Antipodes with the Hicks-Sawyer Minstrels.

Many Australasian commentators could onlyconceive of the Fisk Jubilee Singers entertain-ment as a different kind of minstrelsy. Therewasnt always malicious intent in such com-mentaries, but when the spirituals w