Spiritual (music)

A spiritual is an African American song, usually with a Christian religious text. Originally monophonic and a cappella, these songs are antecedents of the blues. The terms Negro spiritual, Black spiritual, and African-American spiritual are all synonyms; in the 19th century the term jubilee was more common (at least among African-Americans; whites often called them slave songs). Some musicologists call them African-American folk songs.

Samples

• of "My Good Lord Done Been Here" spiritual song from the Library of Congress' John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip; performed by Aunt Florida Hampton on May 29, 1939, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. P.W. Tartt in Livingston, Alabama
• - "Roll the Old Chariot Along" spiritual and sea shanty from the Library of Congress' Gordon Collection; performed by unknown persons in the Bay Area of California in the early 1920s
• - "Deep Down in My Heart" - Spiritual from the Library of Congress' Gordon Collection; performed by W. M. Givens in Darien, Georgia, on about March 19, 1926