Who: Connie Rule, Spirituals Project Executive Director
Rule is the New Jersey- reared, barrel-racing daughter of a German-Irish mother and an African-American-Cherokee father and says when she was growing up she had nothing to say when the topic of slavery was raised. Today, she’s got plenty to talk about. As executive director of The Spirituals Project at the University of Denver she spends most of her time figuring out ways to help make accessible to modern ears the songs American slaves used to raise their spirits, record their histories and as coded communications directing people to the Underground Railroad. The project offers workshops and lectures, but its most visible means of outreach is a 75-voice choir. Although she does not sing, Rule says she is happy to stand in the wings and listen to the songs that provided the foundation for blues, jazz, gospel, 1960s war protest songs and, most recently, rap and hip-hop. – Dana Coffield, Denver Post Staff Writer
Shouldn’t The Spirituals Project be in a city like Atlanta or Washington, D.C.? People don’t expect it to be in Denver, but because technology is available, we’re able to be here. Dr. Arthur Jones founded the project in 1997 with the goal of creating a documentary film that was to speak in large part about the historical context and cultural contributions of African-American ancestors who used the spirituals to survive the inhumanity of slavery.
How did the choir rise from that idea? In 1999, they started thinking “We should be singing this music.” They held an all-call and 45 people showed up. We also do a visiting artist series, inviting people from around the country and small ensemble groups, who, unlike our community choir, are trained at the highest possible level. In 2004, we had the Fisk Jubilee Singers, from Fisk University in Nashville. They are credited with laying the foundation for having spirituals take on a level of public awareness outside of the African-American slave experience.
Spirituals were used by war protesters in the 1960s. How do they work today? We were recently in Washington, D.C., giving a workshop to Boys and Girls Clubs in Anacostia, which is a tough neighborhood. They didn’t want to hear about 200 years ago, and slaves and slavery, so we started looking at the Black Eyed Peas’ song “Where Is the Love?” If you look at the words of that song, they talk about some of the things the spirituals did. They name a problem and ask what we can do about it. Once you name it and own it, you can claim what you’re going to do about it. In much of the music today, they’re saying “This is what’s going on and this is how I’m going to deal with it.”
So the idea of the spiritual doesn’t belong only to old, black Americans? We intentionally are multi-racial and multi-generational. Our youngest singer just went off to college in the fall, she was 18. We also have some singers in their mid-80s. At our big concert last fall, I stood back and looked at the choir and saw a variety of ages and skin tones, and hair colors and hairstyles. I look at it as the tapestry of our community. We have singers who are Asian, white, black Latino, Jewish, Baptist, Mennonite and even an atheist. If you ask 10 people in the choir why they sing, every one will have a little bit different perspective. But the theme will be the same: This is powerful music that uplifts me and makes me happy.
ANGELS IN THE ARCHITECTURE
Hear The Spirituals Project in concert Saturday at 7 p.m. at Cameron United Methodist Church, 1600 S. Pearl St., Denver. Tickets are $25, or $20 for members of Historic Denver Inc. The concert will be followed by a wine and cheese reception and silent auction benefiting Historic Denver’s Sacred Landmarks Preservation Program. RSVP to Nicole Hernandez at 303-534-5288, ext. 16.
