Let My Prayer Arise! Music in the Experience of African American Orthodox Christians
Broadcast date: May 21, 2021
On March 5, 2021 we began a conversation. Co-sponsored by the world-class vocal ensemble Cappella Romana and our own Institute of Sacred Arts, we brought together some key voices to help identify some bridges. A typical experience of Orthodox Christian liturgy will often bear stronger or weaker traces of Byzantine, Slavic, and/or Middle-Eastern church-music traditions. What happens in North America, especially for people with no particular ties to those cultures and their aesthetics? That question has been raised for more than a century for thousands of Western converts; it is raised in a particular way for an increasing number of African Americans bringing themselves and their histories to the Orthodox Church. What resonates, and why? What kind of exchange is possible?
Participating in this discussion with me are (clockwise from upper right, in the photo above):
Dr. Shawn “Thunder” Wallace is director of Jazz Studies an associate professor of saxophone at Ohio State University - fluent in multiple musical traditions, Dr Thunder has composed an Orthodox Vespers service in the style of Black Gospel music. He was my conversation partner for an episode of Luminous, premiering June 4, 2021.
Fr. Turbo Qualls is the Dean of Chapters for the national chapter of The Fellowship of St. Moses the Black. He has lectured in various parts of the United States in regard to the work of evangelization and cultural outreach within the United States, and priest at St. Mary of Egypt, Serbian Orthodox Church in Kansas City Missouri.
Mother Katherine Weston has been a nun for 32 years and the superior of the St. Xenia Monastic Community in Indianapolis for most of that time. She also has a private counseling practice where she specializes in trauma-informed care, and is a founding member and the President of the Fellowship of St. Moses the Black, as well as being a regular speaker at the Fellowship Annual Conference. She has published five books based on these presentations.
The conversation is moderated by Drs Robert Saler (Christian Theological Seminary) and Alexander Lingas (Artistic Director, Cappella Romana).