The Washington State Shape Note singing convention is this weekend.
If ya don't know anything about Shape Note Singing, you can find out more here. and the above link.
This will be my, I think, 4th time hitting up the WA state convention. But it'll be the first time I go for both days. I'm pretty excited. Although, i'm a little wary of getting up at the crack of dawn on both a Saturday and a Sunday, and making some food early.
It's pretty great - they always get some singers from Alabama to be treated like rockstars, and Last year in the morning I sat next to a Nun the whole time from Lopez Island. A Nun y'all! So we've got what started as a mainly protestant form of congregational singing - and catholics, even Nuns show up. And don't get me started on all the fantastic singers from Portland. Those people are FIENDS for the Sacred Harp. Word on the street is they sing regularly, EVERY day. ain't that something? and how many wiccans and poly-religious folk are in that number? ska-tillions of them. Folks can get tripped up by the overt religious nature of the texts that are sung. but the text of Sacred Harp tunes are light years away from your standard hymm texts. Sacred Harp tunes are the Nietzsche of christian liturgy. It's all about hardship and struggle, and missing friends and family. To me, it barely even seems like it's any kind of christian in nature - but that might be willful deception on my part. Regardless, the singing strikes a chord in a lot of people, including atheists. And for some in the South, hell, even up here too, Sacred Harp Singing - becomes their church. It's almost like this strange analog to Sufism, in the way it is part of a tradition, but is also outside the mainstream, and has a vastly different agenda from the mainstream.
I'm at work so I've got to run.
As for bringing food for the dinner-on-the-grounds potluck: I'm thinking Cornbread as some point. and maybe some pinto beans. Vegetarian sides are still hard to come by at these things, even way up here in seattle.
Word.
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2 comments:
You be so cultured, man. Sounds awesome. It's hard to imagine, here in the bible belt, how cool some things that you spend your whole life running away from can actually be in the right context.
Yeah Mang,
And the thing is, this style of singing actually kinda played out and was absent in South Carolina untill like, 5 years ago. Now, just like in the west and north and all, there are regular singings... but in the "libral" "urban" enclaves of Spartanburg, Columbia, and Charleston.
Even when I was in Charleston there weren't anybody singing shape note.
It is cool in the right context. I'ma write up today's events a lil later.
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