English subtitles for clip: File:In Performance at the White House- The History of Gospel.webm
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1 00:00:00,900 --> 00:00:01,330 The President: (sings) Well. 2 00:00:01,980 --> 00:00:05,560 (laughter and applause) 3 00:00:10,310 --> 00:00:11,140 I hope everybody is in the 4 00:00:11,144 --> 00:00:12,174 spirit tonight. 5 00:00:12,178 --> 00:00:16,118 (applause) 6 00:00:16,116 --> 00:00:18,816 Bringing some church to the White House. 7 00:00:18,818 --> 00:00:21,918 (applause) 8 00:00:21,921 --> 00:00:23,121 Good evening, everybody. 9 00:00:23,123 --> 00:00:25,163 Audience: Good evening. 10 00:00:25,158 --> 00:00:28,058 The President: Tonight, we continue one of my favorite 11 00:00:28,061 --> 00:00:30,031 traditions here at the White House by celebrating the 12 00:00:30,029 --> 00:00:33,169 music that has helped to shape our nation. 13 00:00:33,166 --> 00:00:35,506 And over the years, we've had the quintessential 14 00:00:35,502 --> 00:00:40,512 sounds of America fill this room, from jazz to Motown, 15 00:00:40,507 --> 00:00:43,677 to blues, to country. 16 00:00:43,676 --> 00:00:45,376 So it is fitting that, tonight, 17 00:00:45,378 --> 00:00:50,848 we honor the music that influenced all those genres 18 00:00:50,850 --> 00:00:53,320 -- gospel. 19 00:00:53,319 --> 00:00:57,929 I want to start by thanking tonight's amazing 20 00:00:57,924 --> 00:01:03,664 performers: Shirley Caesar, Darlene Love, 21 00:01:03,663 --> 00:01:12,103 Rhiannon Giddens, Rance Allen, Emmylou Harris, 22 00:01:12,105 --> 00:01:17,045 Rodney Crowell, Tamela Mann, Lyle Lovett, 23 00:01:17,043 --> 00:01:19,983 and the Morgan State University Choir. 24 00:01:19,979 --> 00:01:27,349 (applause) 25 00:01:27,353 --> 00:01:29,523 And I also want to thank tonight's MC, 26 00:01:29,522 --> 00:01:31,022 Robin Roberts, who we love. 27 00:01:31,024 --> 00:01:34,064 (applause) 28 00:01:36,296 --> 00:01:38,636 Now, I've got to say, you're having a pretty good night 29 00:01:38,631 --> 00:01:41,931 when T-Bone Burnett and the Queen of Soul herself, 30 00:01:41,935 --> 00:01:44,205 Aretha Franklin, show up at your house to jam. 31 00:01:44,204 --> 00:01:46,804 (applause) 32 00:01:47,607 --> 00:01:52,177 We've got royalty here tonight. 33 00:01:52,178 --> 00:01:53,248 It's a state visit tonight. 34 00:01:53,246 --> 00:01:56,316 (laughter) 35 00:01:56,316 --> 00:01:58,956 We don't know everything about the origins of gospel, 36 00:01:58,952 --> 00:02:01,422 but we do know that this music is rooted in the 37 00:02:01,421 --> 00:02:05,421 spirituals sung by the slaves, which 38 00:02:05,425 --> 00:02:08,965 W.E.B. Du Bois called "the most beautiful expression of 39 00:02:08,962 --> 00:02:13,202 human experience born this side of the seas." 40 00:02:13,199 --> 00:02:16,839 Even though they were often forbidden to read or write 41 00:02:16,836 --> 00:02:22,276 or even speak freely, slaves were permitted to sing. 42 00:02:22,275 --> 00:02:25,415 Songs were where their dreams took flight, 43 00:02:25,411 --> 00:02:27,811 where they expressed faith and love, 44 00:02:27,814 --> 00:02:32,654 as well as pain and fear and unimaginable loss. 45 00:02:32,652 --> 00:02:36,452 Songs were also how they conveyed information -- the 46 00:02:36,456 --> 00:02:39,696 locations of safe houses for runaway slaves, 47 00:02:39,692 --> 00:02:42,992 or directions for a path towards freedom, 48 00:02:42,996 --> 00:02:47,266 buried in the coded language of divine lyrics. 49 00:02:47,267 --> 00:02:49,637 They sang songs of liberation, 50 00:02:49,636 --> 00:02:52,236 if not for their bodies in this world, 51 00:02:52,238 --> 00:02:55,438 then for their souls in the next. 52 00:02:55,441 --> 00:02:57,341 And over time, those spirituals blended with 53 00:02:57,343 --> 00:03:00,283 hymns and sacred songs to become the music of the 54 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:02,250 black church. 55 00:03:02,248 --> 00:03:04,488 In the decades after the Civil War, 56 00:03:04,484 --> 00:03:07,024 as free men and women streamed north in record 57 00:03:07,020 --> 00:03:10,690 numbers searching for a new life, 58 00:03:10,690 --> 00:03:14,730 they brought those tunes with them. 59 00:03:14,727 --> 00:03:16,427 But the gospel music we know today really started in the 60 00:03:16,429 --> 00:03:19,269 1930s, when jazz musician, Thomas A. 61 00:03:19,265 --> 00:03:23,605 Dorsey, combined the sounds of the church he grew up in 62 00:03:23,603 --> 00:03:26,303 with the jazz and blues that he loved. 63 00:03:26,306 --> 00:03:29,746 By the 1960s, gospel music had become central to the 64 00:03:29,742 --> 00:03:32,912 Civil Rights Movement -- not just through the political 65 00:03:32,912 --> 00:03:35,912 activism of legends like Mahalia Jackson and the 66 00:03:35,915 --> 00:03:39,985 Staple Singers, but through the songs themselves, 67 00:03:39,986 --> 00:03:44,126 from hymns like "Take My Hand, Precious Lord, 68 00:03:44,123 --> 00:03:46,763 " a favorite of Dr. King's, to the anthem of the 69 00:03:46,759 --> 00:03:49,559 movement, "We Shall Overcome." 70 00:03:49,562 --> 00:03:51,632 Gospel music has evolved over time, 71 00:03:51,631 --> 00:03:55,171 but its heart stays true. 72 00:03:55,168 --> 00:03:57,938 It still has an unmatched power to strike the deepest 73 00:03:57,937 --> 00:04:01,537 chord in all of us, touching people of all faiths and of 74 00:04:01,541 --> 00:04:03,441 no faith. 75 00:04:03,443 --> 00:04:06,113 As Mahalia Jackson herself once said, 76 00:04:06,112 --> 00:04:09,552 "Blues are the songs of despair, 77 00:04:09,549 --> 00:04:13,319 but gospel songs are the songs of hope." 78 00:04:13,319 --> 00:04:16,319 Hope that we might rise above our failures 79 00:04:16,322 --> 00:04:18,462 and disappointments. 80 00:04:18,458 --> 00:04:21,698 Hope that we might receive His redemption. 81 00:04:21,694 --> 00:04:24,464 Hope that, in lifting our voices together, we, too, 82 00:04:24,464 --> 00:04:27,934 might one day reach the Promised Land. 83 00:04:27,934 --> 00:04:30,174 So tonight, we will hear from musicians who helped to 84 00:04:30,169 --> 00:04:32,869 shape this singular American art form, 85 00:04:32,872 --> 00:04:36,572 and musicians who are taking gospel to great new heights. 86 00:04:36,576 --> 00:04:38,816 And to get us started, I'd like to introduce an 87 00:04:38,811 --> 00:04:42,751 extraordinary singer, a woman who reaches millions 88 00:04:42,749 --> 00:04:46,189 with her music, and preaches to her flock from her North 89 00:04:46,185 --> 00:04:48,825 Carolina pulpit every Sunday. 90 00:04:48,821 --> 00:04:51,091 Please give it up for Reverend, Doctor, 91 00:04:51,090 --> 00:04:52,990 Pastor Shirley Caesar. 92 00:04:52,992 --> 00:04:54,992 (applause)