Part of Doctober and Music City Mondays
Mon, Oct 12 at 8:00pm: Post-screening discussion with co-director Matt Hinton, moderated by NPR Music critic and correspondent Ann Powers | BUY TICKETS
The first feature documentary to explore the history, music and traditions of Sacred Harp singing, this 2006 film has now been remastered and re-edited for a new audience. This haunting music has survived over 200 years tucked away from sight in the rural deep South and occurs mostly at community singing events, which typically include anywhere from a dozen to a couple of hundred singers. Sacred Harp singers begin each song by intoning syllables which are represented by specific “shapenotes” in their hymnal. To the casual observer, it is some foreign, unintelligible language, but to the Sacred Harp singers, it is the key that unlocks mysteries — songs of both beauty and sorrow, of life and of death, songs that cause feet to stomp and tears to flow, often at the same time. AWAKE, MY SOUL aired nationwide on PBS in 2008 and was featured in TIME, Paste Magazine, the New York Times, Pitchfork, SPIN and on NPR.
“Spectacular…. Get enough people singing weird harmonies at the top of their voices and you start feeling a little sorry for the devil.” —Joe Dempsey, Washington City Paper
“Features some of the most raucous group vocals that have been recorded.” —Pitchfork
