Martin Luther King, Jr. grew up listening to and singing church songs and saw gospel and folk music as natural tools to further the civil rights movement.
We walked away acknowledging that Dr. King’s dream was still a work in progress and I walked away with a renewed confidence in the impact of his life’s work.
In this hour-long special, WQXR host Terrance McKnight interweaves musical examples with Dr. King's own speeches and sermons to illustrate the powerful place that music held in his work — and examines how the musical community responded to and participated in Dr. King's cause.
"She approached me with tears in her eyes. After introducing herself, the woman began telling me that she and her mother recently listened to “A Beautiful Symphony of Brotherhood” for the fifth consecutive year. It had become their King Holiday tradition. She told me how much they enjoyed the music and how much they learned. Hers was the response that I had hoped for. What I wasn’t prepared for was the discomfort I would experience from such a public outpouring of emotion. In that moment, the entire saga of America’s racial divisions raced through my mind like pop ups on a computer screen. As she weepingly described the details of the documentary, somewhere in my consciousness was the thought that some security officer or administrator at the Miller Theater might approach us to be sure she was okay. No one came, we were both okay. We walked away acknowledging that Dr. King’s dream was still a work in progress and I walked away with a renewed confidence in the impact of his life’s work. I also walked away with a renewed commitment to continue sharing stories and music that bring us closer to the ‘Beloved Community’ of Dr. King’s dream."Terrance McKnight
Program
Precious Lord Take My Hand (Spiritual)
"Soon, One Mornin'" (Spiritual)
Steiner: "Tara's Theme" from Gone With the Wind
Schubert: Ave Maria
Grieg: "Brothers, Sing On,"
"Lonesome Trail Blues" performed by Bumble Bee Slim
"Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)" performed by Billie Holiday
"One O'Clock Jump" by Count Basie and His Orchestra
Schumann: Der Nussbaum, No. 3, Op. 25
Charpentier: "Depuis le jour," from Louise
Martini: "Plasir D'Amour"
Chawick: Symphony No. 2 in B-Flat, Op. 21
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-Flat, Op. 83
Donizetti: "Regnava del silencio," from Lucia di Lammermoor
"The Alabama Bus," performed by Brother Will Hairston
"Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round" (Spiritual)
"We Shall Not Be Moved" (Spiritual)
"Elijah Rock" (arr. J Hairston)
"Black," from Black, Brown, Beige by Duke Ellington
"King Fit de Battle of Alabama" by Duke Ellington
"The Oldest Established (Permanent Floating Crap Game in New York," from Guys and Dolls, performed by Frank Loesser
"Amen" performed by Otis Redding
"We Shall Overcome," performed by Pete Seeger
"Only a pawn in their game" by Bob Dylan
"Oh Freedom" by Odetta
"Alabama" by John Coltrane
"Freedom Day" from Freedom Now Suite by Max Roach
"Fables of Faubus" by Charles Mingus
"Change is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke
"People Get Ready" by Curtis Mayfield
"Keep Your Eyes on the Prize" (Spiritual)
"There is a Balm in Gilead" (Spiritual)
"Precious Lord Take My Hand" (Spiritual)
The Passion of Martin Luther King by Nicholas Flagello
Symphony No. 1 (Homage to M. Luther King) by Leonardo Balada