Still on the Journey
Sweet Honey in the Rock's 20th anniversary album
Review by Carla Gorton
"Viva South Africa, Viva!" Hundreds of concert goers were on their feet with their fists in the air. The echo resounded through the Perth Concert Hall during Sweet Honey's last visit to Australia two years ago.
Their tour this time, following on the ANC election victory in South Africa, will most certainly again be a celebration of struggle and commitment. Expect the melding of a musical experience and a political rally.
The tour and recently released album Still on the Journey mark 20 years of this unique a cappella group. The selection in the new album spans the African American traditions of jazz, congregational, gospel, folk R&B and rap. "A Tribute" celebrates the history of Sweet Honey in the Rock and the 21 women who have been part of the group's line-up since its formation in 1973. It is a rap song in the same mould as "(Women Should Be) A Priority" with its gutsy feminist politics and dancy beat.
The album features traditional African American spirituals, but opens with a more contemporary "spiritual" by Sweet Honey member Ysaye Maria Barnwell:
You know the troubles of the world
Fill our hears with rage
From Soweto to Stonewall
Birmingham and LA
We're searching for hope
That lies within ourselves
As we fight against misogyny,
Race hatred and AIDS.
One of Barnwell's other compositions, "No Mirrors", could not fail to strike a chord with women and people of colour whose self-esteem is undermined daily by sexist and racist images in society.
Many of the tracks tell the history of African American struggles in the United States. "Sojourner's Battle Hymn" rediscovers the lyrics created during the Civil War by the great fighter, Sojourner Truth, for the First Michigan Regiment of Coloured Soldiers. Another traces the story of Gloria Rackley, a schoolteacher and leader of the civil rights movement in South Carolina, who, while pregnant, was arrested in the white waiting room of her local hospital when she refused to move to the Negro waiting room.
Still on the Journey is a wonderful addition to recordings by Sweet Honey in the Rock, but most of the enjoyment in listening to this album for me was the anticipation of hearing these five wonderful women perform live next week in Australia.
Tour dates:
Friday, May 20: Perth Concert Hall
Saturday, May 21: Adelaide Town Hall
Tuesday, May 24: Brisbane Concert Hall
Thursday, May 26: Melbourne Concert Hall
Friday, May 27: Canberra Royal Theatre
Saturday, May 28: Sydney Convention Centre Auditorium