Inflecting Orthodox Music with African-American Spirituals — Jaime Rall

A Case Study for Incorporating Local, Non-Orthodox Traditions into Liturgical Compositions

In recent years, Orthodox thinkers and liturgical composers have begun the work of identifying possible synergies between traditional African American spirituality, as it emerged out of the suffering of slavery, and the practices and beliefs of the Orthodox Church. These developments have, in part, been associated with the Fellowship of St. Moses the Black, a pan-Orthodox body that since 1997 has made efforts to equip Orthodox Christians for the ministry of racial reconciliation and to share the Orthodox Christian faith with African Americans and other people of color. In 2022, the Fellowship’s publishing arm released Jubilation: Cultures of Sacred Music, a collection of essays reflecting on the rich heritage of African American worship music from an Orthodox Christian worldview. Among other topics, the book identified several composers who have written Orthodox liturgical music inspired by African American traditions. These composers include Abbess Katherine Weston, who has created a spirituals-based setting of the Divine Liturgy called the Jubilee Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom; Dr. Shawn “Thunder” Wallace, who in 2020 showcased “How Sweet the Sound,” a setting of Orthodox Vespers in the style of black Gospel music; and Nazo Zakkak and Benedict Sheehan, who have both used themes, textures, and melodic fragments from African American music in their compositions.

These developments have been inspiring, while also raising questions for the would-be liturgical composer. What are the implications of incorporating elements of local, non-Orthodox musical traditions into Orthodox liturgical music? Why do it (or why not)? How would one assess whether a particular source of musical expression is suitable to draw on for Orthodox liturgical use, and by what criteria? And how, in practical terms, might a composer effectively integrate features from diverse musical traditions into compositions that continue to serve their sacred functions for the worshiping Orthodox community in the context of the liturgical rite?

The current project offers some preliminary answers to these questions. In doing so, it first provides a broader consideration of liturgical music in the context of Orthodox mission and ministry, and suggests some possible guidelines for assessing whether a local musical tradition is appropriate for adaptation to liturgical use. As an applied case study, it then presents two new and experimental compositions, each of which takes a different approach to incorporating identifiable elements of African American spirituals into Orthodox liturgical music, and outlines how the foregoing research and analysis informed those compositional choices. The project’s overall aim is to offer additional options for liturgical music that are in continuity with existing traditions of sacred singing in the Orthodox Church, while also welcoming a broader diversity of Americans into our worship and communities.

The Potential of Liturgical Music for Supporting Orthodox Mission and Ministry

Since the Orthodox Church in America was granted autocephaly in 1970, there has been ongoing discussion as to whether the local church in North America should develop its own distinct style and repertoire of liturgical music, including a local system of eight tones. Yet, as Alexander Lingas has argued, the assumption that liturgical music is and should be a marker of ethnic or national particularity—an assumption that can underlie arguments on both sides, either for uniquely American forms of Orthodox music or for strict adherence to the musical traditions that immigrants brought here from their ancestral churches abroad—is not borne out by the long history of liturgical music, but rather is linked to nationalist narratives that only took hold in the modern era. Before that, although there were regional and local variants in liturgical music, musical developments also moved freely across borders, even between East and West, and among different traditions there were deep continuities and mutual recognition.