My name is Sauda Burch and I've been with the choir for two and a half years. I joined Voices of Freedom because I love to sing for the ancestors. I have always been pulled to the spirituals, to the Yoruba songs for the ancestors and to sacred music. I was very excited to explore the linkages between my ancestors on the African continent and my ancestors in the United States. The choir is a channel for me to do that with people who understand the importance of maintaining our rich and vast cultural heritage.
I am especially drawn to our performance of ringshout songs from the Gullah people in South Carolina. The ringshout is both spiritual and secular, both worship and resistance. The shouts include singing, "shouting" and percussion (clapping and sticking/staffing) which makes it particularly dramatic and participatory.
I am especially drawn to our performance of ringshout songs from the Gullah people in South Carolina. The ringshout is both spiritual and secular, both worship and resistance. The shouts include singing, "shouting" and percussion (clapping and sticking/staffing) which makes it particularly dramatic and participatory.