Nashville’s Fisk Jubilee Singers

“The Fisk Jubilee Singers are a student musical group from Fisk University dedicated to the performance and preservation of the African spiritual. Some early spirituals were work songs, used by enslaved peoples as an outlet during harsh labour; others were songs of hope and Christianity.

The African spiritual is important because it’s a mixture of the Western classical canon and the expression and creativity of the Black experience.there would be no other type of expressive music without it – no country, no jazz, no gospel.

Nashville’s Fisk Jubilee Singers were really the world’s first touring pop sensation too – from the 1870s on, they crossed oceans to perform.they’re the reason Nashville is known as ‘Music City’.when Queenvictoria saw them perform, she said they must be from a ‘City of Music’.

To hear a concert, be sure to check out our website (fiskjubileesingers.org).we recently had our solo debut at the Grand Ole Opry and we’ve performed at the Ryman Auditorium and Schermerhorn Symphony Center.

I’d also recommend the National Museum of African American Music, which focuses on the musical contributions of African Americans, from gospel to hip hop. It’s really interactive: you can put on headphones, become a rapper and record a track.” Dr G Preston Wilson, Jr is director of the Fisk Jubilee Singers in Nashville,tennessee, and was a member of the group from 2006 to 2010.

From Cuba to Nashville (this page; clockwise from top left) The bars of Calle Ocho in Miami’s Little Havana are a great place to hear Cuban music; Dr G Preston Wilson, Jr believes the African spiritual underpins many modern music genres; a lively parade along Miami’s Calle Ocho; Emily Estefan has inherited her mother Gloria’s gift for music