Event: In Harmony: Gospel Quartet Training and Concert
Time: Saturday, Nov. 5, 2011, 1 p.m.- 7 p.m
Event Type: Training Seminar/Concert
Location: Discovery Alabama Event Center at WaterMark Place-Bessemer
Cost: Free
Event Website: www.alabamafolklife.org
Sponsor: Alabama Folklife
Contact: Mary Allison Haynie at alabamafolklife@att.net at 334-242-4076
Info: 1:00 p.m.: Lecture by author and independent researcher, Doug Seroff, whose work with African American gospel quartets includes the 1980 landmark Birmingham Quartet Reunion. In collaboration with Lynn Abbott, he has written two books, Out of Sight: The Rise of African American Popular Music, 1889-1895 and Ragged but Right: Black Traveling Shows, "Coon Songs," and the Dark Pathway to Blues and Jazz, published by the University Press of Mississippi in 2002.
2:15 p.m.: Documentary Film by Robert Clem. The Jefferson County Sound profiles five Alabama quartets who are still performing today: The Blind Boys of Alabama, Fairfield Four (based in Nashville but led by Jefferson County native Isaac Freeman), Four Eagles, Delta-Aires and Birmingham Sunlights. The film includes concert footage of all five groups – including the Sunlights in their NEA Award concert in 2009 -- as well as interviews, rehearsals and daily life of these very dedicated artists – a tribute to Alabama’s historic contribution to quartet music.
Robert Clem graduated from Anniston High School and Birmingham-Southern College and later received an M.F.A. from NYU Graduate Film School. He has been a fellow at the Sundance Institute writer/director’s lab and his films include Company K; Big Jim Folsom: The Two Faces of Populism; Eugene Walter: Last of the Bohemians; Malbis Plantation: From Greece to America, and In the Wake of the Assassins.
3:30 p.m. Roundtable Discussion featuring members of the group, The Pillars.
5: 30 p.m.-7:00 p.m. Concert featuring The Birmingham Sunlights and The Pillars