FIFTH OPENING – The Sitka seine boats Hukilau and Rose Lee pump herring aboard this afternoon at the end of Deep Inlet during the fifth opening in the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery. The opening was being held in two locations beginning at 11 a.m. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
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Daily Sitka Sentinel
Sacred Harp Music Singers Convene in Sitka
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Sacred harp singer Elene Stovall was just 12 when she appeared at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival with a group of sacred harp singers from northwest Alabama.
Elene Stovall sings as a 12-year-old with a group of sacred harp singers in 1964 on the WCPC-AM Sacred Harp Hour in Houston, Miss. The show is still broadcast Sunday mornings. (Photo provided)
“It was one of those trips you never forget,” said Stovall, who arrived in Sitka Wednesday for this weekend’s 7th Annual Alaska Sacred Harp Convention. The event starts Friday with a “singing school” with Stovall as instructor.
Recalling the 1964 Newport Festival, Stovall said that her group of 32 singers went on stage just after Peter, Paul and Mary.
“I was old enough to know they were a good group,” Stovall said. “We waited our turn, and there were thousands of people. ... We would stand up on stage – they would interview us. We sang several songs – I don’t remember what we sang.”
Stovall is a fourth-generation sacred harp singer from Birmingham, Ala. Kari Lundgren, who organized the convention, said she feels lucky to have Stovall here, to help carry on the tradition of sacred harp singing. And also in getting the chance to connect with someone who introduced a larger audience to this tradition.
“What makes it neat is it’s a living piece of history,” Lundgren said. “Fifty years ago, at the outset of the folk revival, it was a renewal of this tradition in the northern realm of the U.S.”
What followed was the spread of sacred harp singing to the secular community, Lundgren said.
Sitka’s Sacred Harp Convention kicks off 7 p.m. Friday with the “singing school” at St. Peter’s by-the-Sea See House.
“That’s part of the tradition,” Lundgren said.
On Saturday the all-day sing will start at 9 a.m. in the Del Shirley Room of Allen Hall, a second-story room known for its outstanding acoustics. The “dinner on the grounds” – the sacred heart term for potluck – will be held at noon, followed by more singing till 4 p.m. The day’s events will conclude with a social event at 7 p.m. at Stevenson Hall.
All events are free and open to the public.
“People are invited to come and go and just listen,” Lundgren said.
Lundgren said the convention in Sitka is becoming more well-known, in particular for its potluck, which features a lot of Alaskan foods.
“We’re on the map as having the most unique dinner-on-the-grounds,” she said. “We serve very Alaska subsistence foods – beach asparagus, herring egg salad, obviously fish and some venison. We try to keep it unique and keep it local.”
She is expecting this convention to be the biggest in Sitka’s sacred harp convention history, with about 17 singers coming in from out of town, including one from Poland. About 30 people are expected to participate in the all-day sing.
Sacred harp – also called shape-note singing – is a tradition of a cappella sacred choral music that originated in colonial New England, and migrated to the south, whose populations kept the tradition. The name is derived from “The Sacred Harp” cited in Wikipedia as a “ubiquitous and historically important tunebook.” Stovall said the group this weekend will be using the 1991 revised edition.
The term “sacred harp” refers to the human voice — that is, the musical instrument you were given at birth, according to the sacred harp singing webpage fasola.org.
Lundgren said that while the tradition of sacred harp singing has its roots in religious traditions, participants today run the gamut.
“There’s people who sing sacred harp music but don’t go to church,” she said. “And there’s people who sing sacred harp music and go to church all the time. We never talk politics, or religion, and you wouldn’t know who is who by the spirit of the group. You wouldn’t know who’s in it for what reason at any moment in time.”
Stovall said today she is pleased to be in Sitka, and continuing to share her lifelong and multi-generational tradition with others.
“I’m hoping to instill in people the rich heritage,” she said. “There is so much history in Alaska. And sacred harp singing has so much rich history. I like to see it carried on in the same way that I learned.”
Stovall was born in Haleyville, Ala., and started going to sings when she was “in diapers.” She started joining the sings when she was two years old, and still sings with groups on most weekends.
Stovall is something of a celebrity in the world of sacred harp, Lundgren said. She is one of 50 singers from all over the country whose voices were heard in the soundtrack to the 2003 film “Cold Mountain.” Stovall said the two songs in “Cold Mountain” were No. 47 from the Sacred Harp book, “Idumea,” and No. 282, “I’m Going Home,” which was sung by the congregation in a church scene in the film. She also sang at the film’s premiere.
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20 YEARS AGO
March 2004
Matthew C. Hunter of Sitka recently returned from Cuba as part of a St. Olaf College International and Off-Campus Studies program. Hunter, a junior physics major at St. Olaf College, is the son of Robert and Kim Hunter of Sitka.
50 YEARS AGO
March 1974
Eighth graders have returned from a visit to Juneau to see the Legislature. They had worked for it since Christmas vacation ... Clarice Johnson’s idea of a “White Elephant” sales was chosen as the best money-maker; Joe Roth won the political cartoon assignment; highest government test scorers were Ken Armstrong, Joanna Hearn, Linda Montgomery, Lisa Henry, Calvin Taylor and David Licari .....