Oh, Watch The Stars
Parts: SAA / SAT / SATB + (optional) chordal instrument accompaniment
Pages: 3 Pgs with Cover (SAA / SAT) — 4 Pgs with Cover (SATB)
Description: 3:29 – Traditional Carolina Sea Islands Song
I first encountered this beauty through Ruth Crawford Seeger’s ‘American Folk Songs for Christmas Songbook’ (1953). I built the vocal harmonies looking for that feeling of stillness and mystery that comes from standing outside under a big night sky. Some of the unusual chords came from interacting with an abstract, bell-like soundscape created by Seamus Egan as we recorded it for his ‘Good Winter’ album with Kaïa Kater in November, 2022.
This spiritual was first recorded and transcribed in 1925 by Sierra Leonean musician/scholar, Nicholas G.J. Ballanta (1893-1962) in the ‘Saint Helena Island Spirituals’ Songbook. Published in New York by G.Schirmer, most of the songs were collected and transcribed by Ballanta as he visited Penn Normal, Industrial and Agricultural School, Saint Helena Island, Beaufort County, South Carolina. The version Ballanta transcribed is attributed to Virginia Brown.