Internationally acclaimed Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman embarks on a musical and personal journey in the 90-minute TV series Songs of Freedom, which explores music that emerged from Africa through the slave trade.
Along the way, she collaborates with Canadian and Cameroonian musicians to find the deeper meanings in these historical songs, and also digs deeper into her own genealogy as well. We spoke with Brueggergosman about the series.
Q How did Songs of Freedom start?
A We were looking for a project that could not only celebrate Black History Month but also showcase a genre of repertoire, in this case Gospel and Spiritual, that would educate the audience and educate myself. What helped to hang it together was following my own genealogy, which is essentially the trajectory as is told in The Book of Negroes. Chronicling is the soundtrack of that journey, which is essentially Songs of Freedom.
Q You have the remix campaign going on as well. Why was it that you specifically chose the song Motherless Child?
A It’s a song that’s heart-wrenching. It’s meant to also create a sense of hope because in the end, we all have felt that same intense loneliness. The disconnection between a mother and child I could imagine to be one of the most heartbreaking experiences, and yet, that is exactly the experiences of slaves, war and oppression. I feel like a remix is an opportunity for a musician to reimagine something.
Q What was the selection process like for the rest of the songs?
A We wanted to reflect the steps of the journey, placing particular emphasis on the spiritual tradition of the United States as it migrated north to Nova Scotia. The bulk of the repertoire is spiritual, dressed up in ways depending on who I was privileged enough to collaborate with–whether it was the classically trained Ebenezar English Choir in Cameroon, or Marko Simmonds and the Nova Scotia mass choir. It’s amazing to see these songs in the hands of different musicians for whom it might be a new experience tackling this kind of repertoire, but sometimes not because when you think of This Little Light of Mine or He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands, people know these songs. They’re very engrained in North American culture because they’re engrained in our history.
Q You collaborated with musicians both in Canada and in Cameroon. How would you say that both of these experiences differ and compare?
A What was very interesting was the irony of being with a black gospel choir in Nova Scotia, which for me was a very foreign experience, then going all the way to Cameroon and collaborating with a Cameroonian choir that was trained and exercised as the classical Western choral tradition. The handling of the repertoire is also something that was very powerful because the locations can’t help but colour how you sing it. You’re on the shores of Cameroon where hundreds of thousands of people were ripped from the land and forced into slavery, taken away with the chance they’ll never return. To be able to go back to that place and claim victory, in a way, was an experience I’ll never forget.
Q In the end of it all, what would you say is the most important thing you’ve learned?
A I think it’s the importance of maintaining one’s connection to more than the past. It’s overly simplistic to say that to know your history means to know your future but if you can’t interpret it– the impact it had and the ripple effect is of your own actions– you’re always going to blindly, selfishly make decisions that you ignorantly believe don’t affect others. As we enter Black History Month, it’s a month that focuses on a specific history but it’s very Canadian and is also a part of all of our history.
