THE ARTS | Reshaping ideas, expressing identity
03 April 2008
Martin Luther King Jr.: A Life Remembered in Words and Song
New tribute aims to illuminate civil rights leader’s lasting achievements
Washington -- A new book and CD, issued in tribute to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., are helping to teach U.S. schoolchildren about the history of their nation’s civil rights movement from its earliest days in the 1950s to the present, emphasizing the movement’s ongoing commitment to equality, justice and racial reconciliation.
The book (titled Voices: Reflections on an American Icon Through Words and Song) and the companion CD (Voices: A Choral Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.) represent a collaborative effort between Dalmatian Press, a publishing firm specializing in children’s books, and the Choral Arts Society of Washington, an ensemble recognized as one of the major symphonic chorus groups in the United States.
Commemorating the 40th anniversary of King’s death, the book and CD are inspired by the spirituals, hymns and gospel songs that sustained marchers and protesters of the 1950s and 1960s as they endured attacks, arrests and harassment in the struggle to secure civil rights for all Americans. (See “Martin Luther King’s Dream Lives on 40 Years After His Death.”)
King’s service to his country was formally recognized by the creation of a national holiday in his honor in 1986, but the Choral Arts Society of Washington has been celebrating his legacy from the very beginning. The group participated in a memorial program honoring King on April 4, 1969 -- one year after he was assassinated. Since then, the society regularly has performed and recorded choral music in remembrance of King, so there was a wealth of material to draw upon for the new CD. According to Joseph Holt, the society’s associate music director, the varied tempo of the CD’s 17 selections deliberately evokes the poetry and musical cadence of King’s soaring oratory.
“In 1998, we issued a CD that offered highlights of our first 10 years of Martin Luther King musical tributes,” he recalled. “We then went back and identified performances that were highlights of the following 10 years, and combined the highlights from both periods.” The result is Voices, a stirring anthology that includes beloved spirituals such as “Deep River” and “The Storm Is Passing Over,” the jazz-inflected “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” (a particular favorite of King’s) and the foot-stomping spiritual “Rock-a My Soul,” featuring the vocals of tenor soloist Amon Alexander.
Because the Choral Arts Society has joined forces with other musical artists on different occasions, “we wanted to have a variety of groups and conductors represented that had worked with us over the years,” Holt said. “The basic flavor of the tribute is the African-American spiritual, a genre that is strongly represented on the CD. Also, the performers cover a wide spectrum -- they all are of different ages, races and backgrounds,” in keeping with King’s philosophy of brotherhood and tolerance.
Holt credited Deb Murphy, the director of publishing at Dalmatian Press, as “the creative genius” behind the Voices project. Murphy knew the board chair of the Choral Arts Society, and their conversations sparked the idea for producing a book and CD. “Dalmatian Press approached us,” Holt explained. “They wanted to publish a book tribute [to King], and they wanted a CD to accompany it.” The publishing house “provided most of the funding for the book, and the Choral Arts Society provided the funding for the CD,” he added.
Voices: Reflections on an American Icon Through Words and Song tells King’s story through his own words, the recollections of people who knew him, and previously published writings about the civil rights movement. The book is richly illustrated with photographs -- of King, of other major figures (for example, civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks and India’s Mahatma Gandhi, whose philosophy of nonviolent resistance influenced King’s own approach to fighting injustice), and of marchers, demonstrators, police with attack dogs, and mourners gathering to pay respects after King’s assassination.
Divided into five sections -- Discord (1954-1959), Crescendo (1960-1963), March Toward Harmony (1964-1967), Elegy (1968-1969) and Symphony of Brotherhood (1970-present) -- the book traces the arc of King’s life and the movement he led, structuring its narrative along the lines of an orchestral piece. By amplifying a musical theme, the book closely integrates its message with the CD’s choral tribute, said Holt. As the book’s introduction states: “King … considered music to be the soul of the [civil rights] movement.”
Choral Arts Society soprano Jan Childress, who wrote the CD’s liner notes, observed: “No one better appreciated the galvanizing power of music than Martin Luther King Jr., who frequently invited prominent artists to perform” at his rallies and marches.
The book and CD have been distributed to public schools in Washington, and arrangements are under way to distribute the package to other school districts around the United States. In addition, coordinating lesson plans are being made available to teachers and schools.
When students listen to the CD and read the book, said Holt, “I hope they’ll realize” that improving the United States’ civil rights record “is an ongoing process; it’s not over.” King once remarked that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” Holt said. “The Voices project reminds us that King challenged his country to live up to its most treasured ideals, and I would hope that at a certain point, we’d learn that we’re all in this together.”
For more information, see the Choral Arts Society of Washington Web site.
See also “Martin Luther King’s Dream Lives on 40 Years After His Death” and Black History Month.
Listen to excerpt from King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.
"Free at Last" - Martin Luther King Jr.