Nadine Benjamin: Songs of Joy

Tonight’s protagonists offer a programme of songs and poems that celebrate the richness and joy of black and mixed-heritage experiences.

Some time ago, through the initiative of Elizabeth de Brito, we started a conversation on the subject of joy in song. We all had a particular interest in the art songs of African heritage and mixed-heritage composers, Elizabeth through her work on The Daffodil Perspective (an online classical radio show with a focus on gender equity), Nadine and I through our performances; and all of us through research and our relationships with living composers. Though we had an experience of the complex stories of African and mixed-heritage people, we had often seen our lives, as people of colour, portrayed in the mainstream arts only through suffering. We wanted to change that perspective.

We started a conversation on joy. Some of the associations that emerged were:

Michael: ‘Joy can be catharsis. That means, it’s not always nice things that are said or done – but things that are true from the source from which they emanate.’

Michael: ‘Joy is the spiritual – the song in the strange land. The song created from the various parts of me slammed together through catastrophe. Zerrissen, the German word for “torn” (asunder), suggests for me that there is a possibility of this destruction revealing light.’

Nadine: ‘The subject of joy is a complex one but by no means complicated. The joys of living, learning and moving through adversity all have different levels of expression. Finding a way to harmonise the stories being told while making space to include all voices was challenging but between us we found a way to unpick the deeper messages within them.’

Caroline: ‘… Nitin Sawnhey, recounting his travels in India, remembered seeing a group of very poor young boys – so poor – without proper clothes or proper shoes playing football (without a proper ball!), and yet in that moment they had the biggest smiles he had ever seen … without all the trappings … these young boys were still finding fun, enjoyment and laughter.

‘I think it’s wonderful that amid immense suffering and oppression – across the ages and which still continues today – we can find these times of joy through a rich culture, love, music, dance, relationships, nature, our dreams and aspirations and so much more!’

Elizabeth: ‘The Daffodil Perspective is about joy and light and equity, so I wanted something to continue that message in this concert. In our work and world there is often a narrative of negativity: it can be difficult not to look at the politics and virtue signalling and not feel sorrow.

‘I wanted something to focus on black and mixed-race stories through the lens of joy, their experience of joy.’

Joy is multifaceted for us, and we wanted to share that.

The music

Since before Tudor times Africans have participated in the making of music in Europe. There is the image of ‘John Blanke the blacke Trumpet’ in the court of Henry VIII in the Westminster Tournament Roll – whose story is fleshed out in Miranda Kaufmann’s Black Tudors: The Untold Story.

Later, came the 18th-century composer and abolitionist, Ignatius Sancho in England, Joseph Bologne, Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges, in France and George Bridgetower, who was born in Poland but settled in England. In the same century, spirituals and work songs arose through the experiences of enslaved Africans in the American colonies, where they often played instruments among themselves, for entertainment in cities, and on plantations. The celebrated fiddler, George Walker from Virginia is one such example.

With the influence of religious revivals and conversions to Christianity, some of the songs developed into the Negro spiritual, and often served as coded messages for communication and abolitionist movements. After the American Civil War (1861–5), many educational institutions were established to school formerly enslaved African Americans. At one such, Fisk School (Fisk University), there was a need to raise funds to support the work of the college. The Fisk Jubilee Singers set off on their international journey to raise money for the school and, equally importantly, to disseminate the songs of the slaves – the spirituals. They sang in private audiences for the Earl of Shaftsbury, Queen Victoria, the Prime Minister William Gladstone and Kaiser Wilhelm. They and other ‘jubilee’ groups performed in various cities throughout the UK, US, Europe, South Africa and Australia. These songs were to be influential to the many composers in Europe and the Americas, but especially those of the African diaspora.

The year 1898 saw the hugely successful premiere of Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast by the Afro-British composer (of mixed English and Sierra Leonean heritage), Samuel Coleridge-Taylor; he subsequently toured it to the United States on three occasions. Coleridge-Taylor was greatly influenced by the poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, the writer-philosopher, W E B Dubois, Dvořak and Brahms. He was impressed by his visits to the States and the music of African Americans. He later made the acquaintance of Harry T Burleigh, a celebrated African American composer whose songs were performed by the most famous singers of the early 20th century, including Marian Anderson, Alma Gluck, Roland Hayes, John McCormack and Paul Robeson. The two composers corresponded regularly; Burleigh had also been a protege of Dvořak and had taught him about African American music. Both Burleigh and Coleridge-Taylor were revered internationally.

In 1916 Burleigh penned the popular art song arrangement of the spiritual Deep River. It was to inspire the creativity of a whole generation of composers who flourished during the period of the Harlem and Chicago Renaissances, Pan Africanism, the Black Arts Movements – and still today.

In this recital we explore some of the songs (of joy) by the composers directly influenced by Burleigh and Coleridge-Taylor, others who will have indirectly benefitted from their legacies and still more who have found their inspiration in the multifarious sources of cultures from Africa, the Caribbean Islands, Europe, Asia and other cultures from around the world.

The pieces in tonight’s programme take in the burgeoning of song through the Harlem and Chicago Renaissances and beyond, through the lush songs of Florence Price, the lively and dramatic texts and accompaniments of Undine Smith Moore, and the intricate harmonies and social commentary of Margaret Bonds. In the UK, the short-lived legacy of Coleridge-Taylor, through his daughter, Avril Coleridge-Taylor, and Amanda Ira Aldridge, daughter of the celebrated 19th-century tragedian, Ira Aldridge. Both women were of mixed African and European heritage and composed both classical and popular music – the popular songs under the sobriquets, Peter Riley and Montague Ring, respectively.

There is still much research to be done on their output and the works of many of the mid-century composers from the African continent and the wider diaspora. Some major scholarship has begun with Professor Olabode Omojola, Professor Christine Gangelhoff, Professor Felicia Sandler, Bongani Ndodana-Breen, Michael Harper (RNCM), Professor Darryl Taylor of the African-American Art Song Alliance, and Professor Louise Toppin of the African Diaspora Project.

In the US, the diasporic song continued to thrive, but in Britain it seems to have skipped a generation. So the second half of our programme is focused on living composers and the lively creations influenced by the rhythms and lives on the continent of Africa, Europe and in the Caribbean, sometimes transferred and replanted in various parts of the world. The list includes the songs of Innocent Ndubuisi Okechukwu (Nigeria), Shirley Thompson (Britain), Cleophas Adderley (The Bahamas), Errollyn Wallen (Belize), Dominique Le Gendre (Trinidad), Franz Hepburn (The Bahamas), Tebogo Monnakgotla (Sweden), Ella Jarmin-Pinto (Britain), Roderick Williams (Britain), Tom Randall (USA) and Hannah Kendall (Britain). Not forgetting a flourishing new generation in the US either: Maria Thompson Corley (Canada), Richard Thompson (born in Scotland but US-based), Sylvia Hollifield (USA) and Rosephanye Powell (USA).

The poetry

For us, this is the thread of joy running through the whole narrative of the African diaspora. Whether self-produced, as in the actual poetry from the pen of African- or mixed-heritage composers, or borrowed from other cultures (as in the texts of some of the songs), they relate the tales of so many joys. The poetry we have chosen exemplifies the lives of the people from the many places and facets of the diaspora, as if refracting light through a stained glass window of our collective stories.

We are excited to bring this programme to you as a celebration of these composers and poets and their lived experiences. As we share with you their stories, we also tell our own in real time, making room for further exploration and understanding in the joy of being human.

Programme and performers

Betty Jackson King In the Springtime
Innocent Ndubuisi Okechukwu Ome N’Ala
Margaret Bonds Dream Variation
Rosephanye Powell Songs for the People
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor 'The Rainbow-Child' from Songs of Sun and Shade
Sylvia Hollifield In Time of Silver Rain
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor 'This is the Island of Gardens' from Songs of Sun and Shade
Tebogo Monnakgotla Images lunaires
Undine Smith Moore Watch and Pray
Jacqueline Hairston Dormi, Jesu
Errollyn Wallen My Feet May Take A Little While
Traditional, arr Undine Smith Moore Come Down Angels
Undine Smith Moore Love Let the Wind Cry How I Adore Thee
Harry T Burleigh Elysium

Amanda Ira Aldridge Fickle Singers
Richard Thompson Black Pierrot
Avril Coleridge-Taylor Sleeping and Waking
Maria Thompson Corley My Heart is Awake
Ella Jarman-Pinto This Little Rose
Florence Price Night
Barbara Sherill & Byron Motley Mae’s Rent Party
R Nathaniel Dett The Ordering of Moses
Shirley Thompson Precious Skies
Dominique Le Gendre Agua, dónde vas?
Roderick Williams Love
Hannah Kendall 'In a Great Silence' from The Knife of Dawn
Cleophas Adderley Nassau Harbour
Franz Hepburn Yes
Tom Randle Turn Around
Errollyn Wallen Peace on Earth

Woven between the songs is poetry read by Michael Harper

Nadine Benjamin soprano
Caroline Jaya-Ratnam piano
Michael Harper speaker
Elizabeth de Brito co-curator

Texts and translations

In the Springtime.
The only pretty ringtime
When birds do sing
Hey ding-a-din ding
Sweet lovers love the spring.

from As You Like It by William Shakespeare
(1564–1616)

Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)
Cornstalk Fiddle
When the corn’s all cut and the bright stalks
shine
Like the burnished spears of a field of gold;
When the field-mice rich on the nubbins dine,
And the frost comes white and the wind
blows cold;
Then its heigho fellows and hi-diddle-diddle,
For the time is ripe for the corn-stalk fiddle.

And you take a stalk that is straight and long,
With an expert eye to its worthy points,
And you think of the bubbling strains of song
That are bound between its pithy joints –
Then you cut out strings, with a bridge in the
middle,
With a corn-stalk bow for a corn-stalk fiddle.

Then the strains that grow as you draw the
bow
O’er the yielding strings with a practised
hand!
And the music’s flow never loud but low
Is the concert note of a fairy band.
Oh, your dainty songs are a misty riddle
To the simple sweets of the corn-stalk fiddle.

When the eve comes on and our work is done
And the sun drops down with a tender
glance,
With their hearts all prime for the harmless
fun,
Come the neighbor girls for the evening’s
dance,
And they wait for the well-known twist and
twiddle,
More time than tune – from the corn-stalk
fiddle.

Then brother Jabez takes the bow,
While Ned stands off with Susan Bland,
Then Henry stops by Milly Snow
And John takes Nellie Jones’s hand,
While I pair off with Mandy Biddle,
And scrape, scrape, scrape goes the corn-stalk
fiddle.

‘Salute your partners’, comes the call,
‘All join hands and circle round’,
‘Grand train back’, and ‘Balance all’,
Footsteps lightly spurn the ground,
‘Take your lady and balance down the middle’
To the merry strains of the corn-stalk fiddle.

So the night goes on and the dance is o’er,
And the merry girls are homeward gone,
But I see it all in my sleep once more,
And I dream till the very break of dawn
Of an impish dance on a red-hot griddle
To the screech and scrape of a corn-stalk fiddle.

In time of silver rain
The earth
Puts forth new life again,
Green grasses grow
And flowers lift their heads,
And over all the plain
The wonder spreads
Of life, of life, of life!
In time of silver rain
The butterflies lift silken wings
To catch a rainbow cry,
And trees put forth
New leaves to sing
In joy beneath the sky
As down the roadway passing boys
And girls go singing, too,
In time of silver rain
When spring
And life are new.

Langston Hughes

Clair de lune, clair de lune et après?
Ne bois trop le lait qui fuit du pis de cette
chienne
qui aboie dans les ruines du ciel
comme pour appeler du fond du désert de
la nuit.
son innombrable progéniture dont
s’ouvrent les yeux en myriades d’étoiles.

Clair de lune, clair de lune et après?
Le vent lui-même est laiteux
qui ébranle les ombres sculptées sur le sol
et augmente le nombre des âmes visibles de
toutes les choses
qui semblent fuir l’aboiement silencieux
mais résonnant partout.

Clair de lune, clair de lune et après?
Vois-tu ces oiseaux pacifiques
qui grandissent au coeur du paysage
fantomatique?

Ils paissent l’ombre, ils picorrent la nuit.
De quoi donc leur jabot sera-t-il rempli
lorsque deviendront des chants dans le leur
les épis de riz et de maïs ravis parles coqs?

Clair de lune, clair de lune-et après?
Moi, je ne suis plus assez jeune
pour chercher une soeur lunaire dehors
après les rondes infantines:
Je tiendrai mes enfants dans mes bras
jusqu’a ce qu’il s’endorment,
et il est des livres que je lirai avec ma femme

jusqu’ à ce que la lune change
et devienne pour nous elle-même
en l’attente de l’aube
qui nous surprendra aux rives du sommeil.

Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo (1901/3–37)

Moonlight, moonlight, and after
don’t drink too much milk leaking from this
female dog’s udder
who barks in the ruins of the sky
as if to call from the depths of the desert
of night.
Her innumerable offspring, including
open their eyes into myriads of stars.

Moonlight, moonlight, and after?
The wind itself is milky
that shakes the shadows carved on the ground
and increases the number of visible souls of
all things
that seem to flee the silent bark
but resonating everywhere.

Moonlight, moonlight, and after?
Do you see these peaceful birds
growing in the heart of the ghostly
landscape?

They graze in the shade, they peck at night.
What will their crop be filled with?
when became songs in theirs
the ears of rice and corn delighted by the roosters?

Moonlight, moonlight, and after?
Me, I’m not young enough anymore
to look for a moon sister
outside after infant rounds:
I will hold my children in my arms
until they fall asleep
and-these are the books that I will read with my wife

until the moon changes
and become for ourselves
waiting for dawn
which will surprise us on the shores of sleep.

Dormi, Jesus
Dormi, Jesu. Mater ridet
Quae tam dulcem somnum videt,
Dormi, Jesu, dormi Jesu, blandule.
Dormi, Jesu, dormi Jesu, dormi Jesu blandule.
Dormi, Jesu, dormi Jesu, dormi Jesu blandule.

Si non dormis, Mater plorat,
Inter fila cantans orat,
Blande, veni, blande, veni somnule.
Dormi, Jesu, dormi Jesu, blandule.
Dormi, Jesu, dormi Jesu, dormi Jesu blandule.
Dormi, Jesu, dormi Jesu, dormi Jesu blandule.

Lullaby from Chile as sung by the Araucanian Indians

Sleep, Jesus.
Your mother she smiles:
It is such a sweet sleep she watches,
Sleep, Jesus, Jesus, sleep, gentle.
Sleep, Jesus, Jesus, sleep, sleep so gently Jesus.
Sleep, Jesus, Jesus, sleep, sleep so gently Jesus.

If you are not sleeping, [your] mother cries
Among the praises that she sings, she prays,
Quietly, go on sweetly to sleep.
Sleep, Jesus, Jesus, sleep, so gently.
Sleep, Jesus, Jesus, sleep, sleep so gently Jesus.
Sleep, Jesus, Jesus, sleep, sleep so gently Jesus.

Translation © Bertram Kottmann

I
my lover is a woman
& when i hold her
feel her warmth
i feel good
feel safe
then – i never think of
my family’s voices
never hear my sisters say
bulldaggers, queers, funny
come see us, but don’t
bring your friends
it’s ok with us,
but don’t tell mama
it’d break her heart
never feel my father
turn in his grave
never hear my mother cry
Lord, what kind of child is this?

II
my lover’s hair is blonde
& when it rubs across my face
it feels soft
feels like a thousand fingers
touch my skin & hold me
and i feel good
then – i never think of the little boy
who spat & called me nigger
never think of the policemen
who kicked my body & said crawl
never think of Black bodies
hanging in trees or filled
with bullet holes
never hear my sisters say
white folks hair stinks
don’t trust any of them
never feel my father
turn in his grave
never hear my mother talk
of her backache after scrubbing floors
never hear her cry
Lord, what kind of child is this?

III
my lover’s eyes are blue
& when she looks at me
i float in a warm lake
feel my muscles go weak with want
feel good
feel safe
then – i never think of the blue
eyes that have glared at me
moved three stools away from me
in a bar
never hear my sisters rage
of syphilitic Black men as
guinea pigs
rage of sterilised children
watch them just stop in an
intersection to scare the old
white bitch
never feel my father turn
in his grave
never remember my mother
teaching me the yes sirs & ma’ams
to keep me alive
never hear my mother cry
Lord, what kind of child is this?

IV
& when we go to a gay bar
& my people shun me because i crossed
the line
& her people look to see what’s
wrong with her
what defect
drove her to me
& when we walk the streets
of this city
forget and touch
or hold hands
& the people
stare, glare, frown, & taunt
at those queers
i remember
every word taught me
every word said to me
every deed done to me
& then i hate
i look at my lover
& for an instant
doubt
then – i hold her hand tighter
& i can hear my mother cry.
Lord, what kind of child is this?

My heart is awake,
Roused with the exhilarating melody
My brain seeks to ignore
in its quest for sleep’s sweet stasis
My heart’s sparks are frequently
Foolish and futile.
My brain, cold water in hand,
Basks a moment in warm embers’ glow,
And smiles.

Maria Thompson Corley

Underneath these skies so precious
We together make our journey

Over hills and gentle waters,
We find troubles and we find joy!
We all find joy.

Underneath these skies so pleasant
We are one with all around us.

We are blessed beyond all measure.
We are loved today and always.
Ah!

Crackling leaves under foot.
Sun shining through the whispering trees.
Oh, how I love days like this!
Let it last forever more.

Birds dancing here, dancing there
They have no care of what tomorrow may
bring.
Show me the way little bird.
Let your sweet song touch my heart,
through and through.

Let your sweet song touch my trembling heart.
Let us all live well today!
Let us all dance to the beat.
Let us all sing your sweet song!

Underneath these skies so precious
We together make our journey
Over hills and gentle waters,
We find troubles and all find joy.

Underneath these skies so precious
We are one with all around us.
We are blessed beyond all measure
We are loved today and always.
Ah!

Let us shout and praise,
We are here today.
Let us sing,
Let bells ring.
Beneath these skies, Let’s Sing!

Shirley Thompson

Whenever there’s danger,
When you’re facing fear
When darkness surrounds you
And the road’s unclear,
When courage is tested
And strength is waning
And when your spirit falters
And you feel all hope is fading,
Just turn around
I am always near.

There’s hope for the future,
And the strength we’ve found
By standing together
We’re on common ground.
Bright days lie in waiting
A new beginning,
We’ll put the past behind us
And embrace this time of healing!

Turn around
We can always turn around,
Turn around,
I can hear you when you’re calling,
Turn around, turn around,
I will catch you when you’re falling,

Turn around, turn around,
When you need someone,
Really need someone
I’m there.

Though you may feel sorrow
Though you may feel pain,
With trust in tomorrow,
There’s so much to gain.

And shoulder to shoulder
We are invincible,
Rising higher than before
Unafraid what’s to come!

Let’s turn around
See what we’ve found,
Love will abound
When we turn around
We can turn around
Just turn around
Turn around.

Tom Randle

Artist biographies

British lyric soprano Nadine Benjamin is a versatile artist who is in increasing demand on the operatic stage and the concert platform. She is also developing renown as an exponent of song, in particular Verdi, Richard Strauss and contemporary American song.

She made her Royal Opera House debut in 2020 as a soprano soloist in A New Dark Age and her Glyndebourne Festival Opera debut in 2021 in the title-role of Luisa Miller. She was an ENO Harewood Artist from 2018 to 2020 and made her debut with the company as Clara (Porgy and Bess), followed by Musetta (La bohème), Laura (Luisa Miller), Gerhilde (The Valkyrie) and Mimi (La bohème).

Her roles to date also include the title-role in Aida, Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly), Countess (The Marriage of Figaro) and Nadia (Tippett’s The Ice Break) with Birmingham Opera Company; Desdemona (Otello) and the title-role in Tosca with Everybody Can! Opera; Mother/Witch (Hansel and Gretel) for Scottish Opera; Tosca and the Countess for English Touring Opera; Ermyntrude (Mascagni’s Isabeau) and Amelia (Un ballo in maschera) with Opera Holland Park; and Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus) with Iford Arts.

In 2018 she released her debut solo album Love and Prayer and, more recently, Emergence, featuring settings of poems by Emily Dickinson, in collaboration with Nicole Panizza.

Forthcoming engagements this season include a Shakespeare evening at St James’s, Piccadilly; Elgar’s Coronation Ode with the Waynflete Singers; Mozart’s Requiem with the Bath Festival Orchestra; the role of the Mother (Jeanine Tesori’s Blue) at ENO; Strauss’s Four Last Songs with the Worthing Symphony Orchestra and a tour of well-loved arias with WNO conducted by Matthew Kofi Waldren.

She is a mentor, certified High Performance Coach and Mind Coach, and founded her opera and mentorship programme Everybody Can! in 2015 to provide a platform to encourage and support others in recognising and achieving their own visions.

She was made an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2021.

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Nadine Benjamin: Songs of Joy

Details

Programme and performers

Programme and performers

Texts and translations

In the Springtime

Black Joy

Ome N’Ala

Dream Variations

Songs for the People

Cornstalk Fiddle

The Rainbow Child

In Time of Silver Rain

This is the Island of Gardens

Apple and Mango

Images lunaires

Common Dust

Watch and Pray

Dormi, Jesu

Still I Rise

My Feet May Take A Little While

Come Down Angels

Love Let the Wind Cry How I Adore Thee

My lover is a Woman

Elysium

Fickle Singers

Black Pierrot

Between the Dee and the Don

Sleeping and Waking

My Heart is Awake

This Little Rose

Night

Madam and the Rent Man

Mae's Rent Party

A Portable Paradise

The Ordering of Moses

Precious Skies

Agua, dónde vas?

Love

In a Great Silence

The British

Nassau Harbour

Alive

Yes

Turn Around

I Love Home

Peace on Earth

Artist biographies

Nadine Benjamin

Caroline Jaya-Ratnam

Michael Harper

Elizabeth de Brito

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