Stay up to date on what’s happening at the archive!   Sign up for the CFA newsletter >

Stay up to date on what’s happening at the archive!   Sign up for the CFA newsletter >

Go to the Homepage Open Menu Mobile
Close Mobile Panel

Singing Streams: Roots of Gospel and Blues

March 15, 2008 from 7-9pm

Sonny Terry: Shoutin’ The Blues

Yasha Aginsky, 1969, 16mm, 5 minutes
Shot at an Oakland Motel on Sonny Terry’s birthday, this single-shot film highlights the magnetic personality of the veteran singer and harmonica player. Sonny recounts the story of how he came to have a part in the hit Broadway Musical Finian’s Rainbow and plays a song from the production for which the film is named – Shoutin’ The Blues.

The Sun’s Gonna Shine
Les Blank, 1969, 16mm, 10 minutes
This imagining of Lightnin’ Hopkins childhood and his desire to escape working in the cotton fields is a remembrance of both the comfort of his hometown of Centerville, Texas as well as his desire to hit the road. Through Hopkins’ narration and performances, as well as dramatized scenes of him as a young boy, the film reveals the relationship between his music and the land from which it came.

Black Delta Religion
Bill Ferris, Josette Ferris, 1973, 8mm/16mm, 14 minutes
Beautifully filmed on grainy Super 8, Black Delta Religion brings us inside the Baptist Church rituals of the Mississippi delta. It’s an intense world, filled with fiery preachers and parishioners inhabited by the Holy Spirit. The soundtrack of deeply felt, mostly a cappella gospel can only be described as “close to the source”.

A Singing Stream: A Black Family Chronicle
Tom Davenport, 1986, 16mm, 57 minutes
The film that inspired this program recounts the story of North Carolina’s Landis family and the gospel music that has held them together. Centered around a family reunion, the film includes inspiring performances and remembrances from multiple generations, including family matriarch Bertha Landis.

Program and notes by Andy Resek

COOKIES

This site uses cookies to enhance your site experience. For more information read our Privacy Policy .