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Dr. Margaret Pleasant Douroux
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GALA - Gospel Archiving in Los Angeles June 2004 - May 2005 A UCLA in LA funded Partnership with the Heritage Music Foundation Click here to view video from GALA View a list of LA gospel music and spiritual materials available in the Archive View GALA flyer here and read about GALA in UCLA Magazine here and here Read L.A. Times article about Margaret Pleasent Douroux (Heritage Music Foundation Director) here Click here for information about the Azusa Street Centennial Celebration: April 25-29, 2006 "The circuitous route that took [gospel] music to its present popularity became a major thoroughfare in the first decade of the twentieth century" (Horace Boyer, "African American Gospel Music" in African Americans and the Bible, 2000). A highly influential -- and often overlooked -- stopover on gospel's "circuitous route" was Los Angeles. Between 1906 and 1909 seminal moorings for gospel were planted in Los Angeles at 312 Azusa Street, address of the Apostolic Faith Gospel Mission. As Boyer writes, "on April 9, 1906, Jennie Evans … spoke in tongues" at the Mission "and African American sacred music was changed forever." Speaking in tongues, a manifestation of being imbued with the Holy Ghost, led to singing one's own song and giving voice to one's own testimony. Boyer notes this, in turn, "served as the inspiration and the catalyst for a catalogue of improvised songs based on the 'call and response' practice, with a singing style of robust delivery, filled with hollers and moans." In the 1930s and 1940s, major churches and choirs were established by pioneer gospel musicians and preachers who moved from the South and Midwest to the West Coast: for example, John L. Branham, James Earle Hines, and Gwendolyn Cooper Lightner at Saint Paul Baptist; Arthur A. Peters and Thurston Frazier at Victory Baptist; Earl A. Pleasant and Frazier at Mount Moriah Baptist; Eugene D. Smallwood at Opportunity Baptist; and William J. Taylor at Grace Memorial Church of God in Christ (COGIC). In addition, Saint Paul's Echoes of Eden, in 1947, became the first African-American church choir in the United States to make a commercial gospel recording (Capitol Records 40018 and 40076) and Victory Baptist, in the 1950s, was one of the first churches to have its own weekly television program (Channel KTTV, Channel 11). Due to the legacy established by these pioneers,
Los Angeles emerged as a national center for gospel in the 1950s
and 1960s. By the mid-1960s, not only had established gospel artists
such as James Cleveland, Bessie Griffin, and Clara Ward settled
in Los Angeles to take advantage of opportunities in churches
and the expanding gospel music industry (radio, recordings, and
television), but numerous community choirs, quartets, and small
groups had formed. Los Angeles natives who had made contributions
to gospel (Albert A. Goodson, Margaret Pleasant Douroux and Andraé
Crouch) also began to have an impact on the national front. In
fact, Crouch, along with Oakland-based gospel musician Edwin Hawkins,
became a major forerunner in the development of contemporary gospel,
a style that first started in California in the late 1960s before
spreading to other parts of the United States. In short, gospel
would not be what it is today without Los Angeles. Despite its history and current role, LA is often overlooked as a center for gospel. Even Angelenos do not realize how important their city is when it comes to gospel and, vice versa, how important Gospel is to their city. To raise awareness of LA gospel, document a unique history that slips away with each passing year, and detail the enormous influence gospel has on a pantheon of other musical styles, the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive and the Heritage Music Foundation, or HMF, are partnering together this year. Known as Gospel Archiving in Los Angeles (GALA), this yearlong collaborative project will pair the Archive's resources and expertise with HMF's stature and reputation in LA's gospel music community. GALA has five main objectives.
ABOUT THE HERITAGE MUSIC FOUNDATION Other factors that have influenced our decision to partner with HMF include a recommendation from UCLA professor and gospel expert Dr. Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje, the research interests of several UCLA ethnomusicology graduate students, and as mentioned above, the significant though often overlooked significance of Los Angeles gospel music. Additionally, by documenting key figures in the LA Gospel community, GALA will highlight alternative role models for African American and other LA area youth. OUTCOMES, SUSTAINABILITY, and BEYOND Finally, we believe that GALA and AFAMILA -- our recently completed UCLA in LA project -- will act as models for future collaborative endeavors between the Ethnomusicology Archive and other LA non-profit music organizations. In particular, with the establishment of our CBO server, we envision a network of partnerships, not only between the Ethnomusicology Archive and these organizations, but also between the community organizations themselves. As community organizations begin to document and upload their own performances beyond the length of the grant cycle, and deposit the originals recordings into the Archive, then we have surely succeeded in both bringing UCLA and LA closer together and increasing the Archive's stature as a repository of locally-produced/world-class research materials. If you interested in learning more and/or helping us out with GALA, contact the Archive for more information: (310) 825-1695 or archive@arts.ucla.edu |
