The Story of Gospel Music
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: James Cleveland, Sister Rosetta TharpeBrand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-01-18
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: BBC Warner
Movie Reviews of The Story of Gospel Music
Movie Review: Everyone gets a swing at it (almost).
Summary: 4 Stars
Overall, a good balance of information and inspiration. Some of the "talking heads" are overused, others underused. The same goes for the performers. Some is familiar footage (especially Mahalia); some less so (Rosetta Tharpe). The film gives the viewer just enough of the Pentecostal, "Sanctified" tradition of gospel music-making to bring credibility and color to the words of the consulted authorities. Too much emphasis on emotive, collective singing would have worn thin just as quickly as too much intellectualizing. Perhaps there's excessive recitation of familiar history by formally attired expert-types, familiar ground about oppression and its positive outcomes (in story and song), though the film does manage to single out some of the key igniters and keepers of the flame.
The biggest disappointment is the failure to identify speakers and, in some instances, even performers and arresting performances! (What were the filmmakers thinking?) Most will have no trouble recognizing Mahalia, James Cleveland, Sister Rosetta, Shirley Caesar, but it can become frustrating having to backtrack (in vain) to identify certain individuals. The story could have used better titling and more provocative questions (Gospel's relation to pop music? To the evolution of jazz? Its drift away from clear elocution and close harmonies? Its increasing reliance on synthesizers, hard funk, glitz and glitter, and the often surreal confluence of the sacred and secular, the ultra modern and primitive, the spiritual and sexual).
Nevertheless, it's an overview and a start, with some occasionally surprising, delightful moments of spontaneity and originality. The "authorities"--theologians, historians, sociologists, ministers of music, etc.-- are in themselves performers (more so, in this film, than the musicians), clearly enjoying the opportunity to expound on a favorite subject (and relishing their role in the film). They're at times almost as much fun to hear as the music (esp. the guy at the piano, filmed with numerous Gothic candles as backlighting)--almost. Overall, the project could have used a stronger, larger role for the Holy Ghost. Maybe the director feared that, unlike the other performers and participants, S/He would insist on a credit.
But upon reflection, the undeniable "physicality" of Gospel music can in itself become wearing after awhile. When one has accumulated a generous sum of years, conceded to frailties once assumed to be the business only of "others," and moreover discovered the profound consolations of artful elegy (whether in Shakespeare or Wordsworth, Verdi or Ellington), the cheerleading associated with Gospel music (and holy rollers of any stripe) can begin to sound increasingly hollow. The presence of "the spirit" is no less welcome, but in the ineffable, mystic sense of "receiving" rather than "getting" it. No amount of emotionalism or calisthenics can match the action over which we as humans have no control: God's reaching down in manifestation of a divine and truly miraculous Grace.
Summary of The Story of Gospel Music
From mahalia jackson to aretha franklin to shirley caesar these performances offer a fascinating look into the origins of gospel music. Vintage recordings and modern performances highlight this song-filled history of an american art form. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 06/28/2005 Run time: 90 minutesThe Good News is abundant throughout The Story of Gospel Music, an absorbing, BBC-produced look at the past and present of this vibrant black American music. Gospel, a joyous sound that's both viscerally and spiritually uplifting, has been around for centuries, so it's no easy task to provide an overview in a mere 90 minutes; indeed, many of the artists featured here are deserving of (and some, in fact, have) entire documentaries of their own. But the producers of The Story of Gospel Music have done a creditable job of it, by way of the usual parade of talking heads (many are highly entertaining and informative, but oddly, and annoyingly, nary a one of them is identified), music excerpts, and film clips. A reasonably thorough history is offered, including gospel's African and English origins, the development of the call and response tradition (still readily apparent in rap music today), the inevitable co-opting and dilution of the music by whites, etc. There are also segments devoted to various gospel legends, including Thomas Dorsey, Rev, James Cleveland, and the amazing Sister Rosetta Tharpe, a superb guitarist who, like others before and since (cf. Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, and Aretha Franklin), played music that was both sanctified and "satanic" (i.e., jazz and blues) throughout her career. As is the case with so many products of this kind, the brevity of the musical performances is disappointing. However, this one has a saving grace, so to speak, in the form of two lengthy performances found in the bonus material, one a recital by the great Mahalia Jackson (from '64), and the other a British television appearance by Shirley Caesar (from '84). --Sam Graham
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