Lowcountry Collaborators Celebrate Gullah Culture and Pride at the Spoleto Festival USA
In what is a celebration of South Carolina Gullah music, the much-acclaimed album “Lowcountry” was performed live at the Spoleto Festival USA. The multi-artist performance took place at 9 p.m. on June 2 at the College of Charleston’s Cistern Yard and featured over 20 musicians.
Composer Matt White, who chairs the jazz studies program at the University of South Carolina School of Music, led the performance, bringing his 2023 album Lowcountry to life. He and his fellow musicians, including tenor saxophonist Chris Potter and Grammy-award winning drummer Quentin E. Baxter, aimed to honor and preserve Gullah language and culture as they performed in front of a live audience. White expressed, “I’ve done a lot of cool things in my career, but I think I’m most proud of performing this live because of the significance of it, and how it talks about a lot of the relationships that I’ve developed since I moved to South Carolina.”
Gullah Cultural Preservation in Lowcountry
White first came in contact with Gullah culture through his research alongside Coastal Carolina musicologist Eric Crawford. The two visited Saint Helena Island, a sea-island hub for Gullah communities, whose roots trace back to Central and Western Africa. Somewhere along the journey, the Gullah elders expressed their fear of their oral tradition being lost with the passage of time.
“Lowcountry” grew out of a drive to safeguard these traditions. White and Crawford would travel to the islands to record stories and songs from the Gullah elders, later editing and returning them as part of the preservation effort. In 2019, the Guggenheim Fellowship for music composition provided the funds needed for White to orchestrate these songs and tell their stories in a new light.
A Blend of Old and New in Charleston
“Lowcountry” teamed up with Gullah elders and Saint Helena natives Gracie Gadsen, Rosa Murray, and Joseph Murray on vocals. Notably, Ron Daise, a Saint Helena Island native better known for his role on the Nickelodeon TV show “Gullah Gullah Island”, narrated the album and helped listeners relate to the music and its narrative. Daise highlighted the importance of revisioning Gullah culture through modern music: “Now with today’s youth and young adults there is a renewed interest and pride in the culture, and that’s why the Lowcountry album and groups like Ranky Tanky are important.”
Lowcountry Performance at the Spoleto Festival USA
The sheer logistics and number of performers involved in “Lowcountry” initially seemed to make a life performance unfeasible. However, the Spoleto Festival USA made it possible to unite the collaborative efforts of various artists in a single stage.
The album, deeply rooted in Gullah culture, boasted a level of spontaneity, as the performance may include songs omitted from the original album or even entirely new compositions featuring all three vocal singers: Gadsen, Murray, and Murray.
The performance at the Spoleto Festival marked a milestone in the journey of cultural and musical preservation, highlighting the current vitality of Gullah communities in South Carolina. The event stands as a testament of evolution where the past is interwoven with the present, and culture is both celebrated and protected through music.
Charleston’s Lowcountry takes center stage in one of the most significant music festivals in the United States, illustrating the power and depth of music as a preserver of cultural heritage.
