midweek madness - holly springs sacred harp convention

In Southern Protestant areas in the United States, an old and beautiful form of music thrives, held as sacred to those who convene to sing it. Sacred Harp music derives its name from the shape note book from which the songs are sung ("shape note" is a term which refers to the identification of notes based on their degree in a scale using shapes such as triangles, squares, and diamonds for "fa, la, and mi" respectively), and is sung entirely a cappella.

Holly Springs Sacred Harp Convention - "Stratfield" (mp3|2.03MB)

This mp3 is from the recently released soundtrack of Awake, My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp, a 2006 documentary which follows the tradition of Sacred Harp singing as it continues to pervade churches and organisations in the rural South. It's a beautiful piece. The human voice truly is the most lovely instrument.