![]() Unfolding without benefit of narration, the documentary allows those who helped break the color barrier, and those who followed in their wake, to relate the story in their own fashion. The program charts the complex history of black Americans and their struggles to enter the musical mainstream. That image stands at the center of a new documentary, "Aida’s Brothers and Sisters Black Voices in Opera", which will be shown on wednesday in PBS’s "Great performances" series. The scene is indelible: the modest but unbowed contralto, standing at the temple to the Great Emancipator, singing "America". hall, she sang instead at the Lincoln Memorial, to a crowd of 75,000 on Easter Sunday. ![]() Anderson did not meekly accept the injustice. lt would, in fact, light a slow-burning fuse, one that set off an explosion in late 1955 when another black woman – Rosa Parks – refused to move to the back of a Montgomery, Ala. Yet this single act of discrimination would have an impact far beyond the capital‘s cultural life. By barring Marian Anderson from singing at Constitution Hall simply because she was black, the Daughters of the American Revolution were merely following Washington custom. It must have seemed like such an inconsequential decision back in 1939. (by David Mermelstein – New York Times: February 13, 2000) Opening the Gates for Black Opera Singers The film also tries to give an answer to the the question: Are we really colourdeaf?Ĭinematography: Wedigo von Schultzendorff, Craig BradenĪ co-production with BR, SWR, WDR, DRS, TSR, NRK, YLE and WNET/Thirteen Historical and contemporary film extracts and specially produced film sequences demonstrate the richness and variety of black singing. The great African-American singers express their views, as do opera company directors and critics. This story stretches from the first successes of the bass Paul Robeson, who all his life regarded his voice as an instrument of liberation, to the young singing pupils of the Harlem School of Arts, who identify themselves with their origins in rejuvenated pride. The film tells the story of classic black singing against the background of black emancipation in politics and society. Directed by Jan Schmidt-Garre, Marieke Schroeder
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