Physical description:

16 audio tapes (TCA-0133G/K. TTA-0133E/K. TCD-0133A/D).

101 black and white contact prints and negatives.

7 items (in part copies).

Date:

2 October 1990.

RESTRICTION;

This collection may be used only with the permission of the Center director or audio archivist.

Provenance:

These audio tapes were produced by Center audio archivist Bruce Nemerov with assistance from David Thibodeau of the Recording Industry Management department. The photographs were taken by Robert Cogswell, director of the Folk Arts Program of the Tennessee Arts Commission.

Agency history:

On 2 October 1990 the Center for Popular Music, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro TN sponsored a seminar on vocal harmony traditions in southern Africa and the American South entitled "Singing in Two Worlds". Participants included Doug Seroff, researcher and promoter of traditional black gospel music; Joseph Shabalala, founder and leader of Ladysmith Black Mambazo; Dr. Dale Cockrell, chair of the music department at the College of William and Mary; black gospel singers the Birmingham Sunlights; and Dr. Rawn Spearman, professor of music at the University of Lowell (MA).

That evening the Center and the Middle Tennessee State University Special Events Committee cosponsored an on-campus concert by Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the Birmingham Sunlights and the Princely Players.

Scope and content:

This group consists of digital cassette (TCD-0133A/B) and analog cassette (TCA-0133G/K) and reel-to-reel (TTA-0133E/G) audio tapes of the seminar; digital cassette (TCD-0133C/D) and analog reel-to-reel (TTA-0133I/K) audio tapes of the concert; black and white contact prints of both events; clippings (copies) announcing/reviewing the events; and a seminar/concert flyer.

Location:

Audio visual materials are filed first by format, then by tape number in the audio visual archives. Manuscripts are filed by accession number with other manuscript groups. Photographs and slides are filed in the subject photograph file under black music.

Related material:

Reference-use analog cassette audio tape copies of the portions of the seminar and concert for which the Center has permission to copy have been filed with commercial audio tapes.

On the day before these events Black Mambazo appeared in workshops and a concert in Birmingham AL which included some of the performers who appeared in Murfreesboro. Records, including audio tapes, of these events are described under the program title "Home of the Heroes".

For additional information on groups participating in these two programs see the names on individual groups in the biographical vertical file. See also audio recordings and other materials documenting black harmony singing lent for copying by Doug Seroff which are described under his name.

Administrative records generated by these two events remain with the Center office files.