🎙 Episode 6: Music as Memory: Dr. Fredara Hadley on Culture, Spirituals, and Du Bois (Part 1)

Description:
In this powerful episode, we sit down with ethnomusicologist Fredara Hadley following the premiere of W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel with a Cause. Together, we explore the deep relationship between music, history, and the Black experience—uncovering how sound carries memory, identity, and truth across generations.
From field hollers and spirituals to the groundbreaking work of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, Dr. Hadley unpacks how Black music has always been more than sound—it is survival, storytelling, and cultural preservation.
This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation.

In This Episode, We Explore:
* What it means to be an ethnomusicologist and why music cannot be separated from culture
* The evolution of Black music—from field calls and work songs to spirituals and early gospel
* How music served as catharsis, healing, and community-building after enslavement
* The regional differences in Black musical traditions across the United States
* How W.E.B. Du Bois first encountered spirituals and called them “sorrow songs”
* The role of the Fisk University and the Jubilee Singers in preserving and globalizing spirituals
* Why arranging spirituals helped both fund Black education and preserve musical traditions
* The concept of Black music as a site of conjuring, memory, and world-making

Watch episode here: https://youtu.be/Ip-USqYBVYQ

Resources / Links:
* Watch the trailer https://youtu.be/5kMsik6rDQM?si=0Xm2f...
* Transcript is available here https://www.buzzsprout.com/2598323/ep...
* Stay connected https://linktr.ee/ritacoburnmedia

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