First Listen: Reimagined "Lift Every Voice and Sing" gets Grammy nod

 

Veterans of the Civil Rights era recall the singing of the venerable anthem "Lift Every Voice and Sing" at nearly every march, rally or strategy meeting. It is a hopeful plea for equality.  Now known as the Black National Anthem in the U.S, it was dubbed the Negro National Anthem in 1919 by the NAACP. As time went by and the fervor of black activism waned, the song too became a vestige of prior generations. While old-guard organizations like the NAACP continued the tradition of singing the poem turned song at their gatherings, "Lift Every voice" had lost its voice. 2020 brought with it a global pandemic which disproportionately impacted Blacks followed by the murder of George Floyd captured on video for the world to see fueling global protests and recognition that Black Lives Matter.

 

In the summer of 2020, Jarrett Johnson, a credited songwriter with Quincy Jones, Michael Bublé and others, won the NAACP "Lift Every Voice and Sing" competition and the opportunity to have his version performed at the Virtual March on Washington celebrating the 57th Anniversary of the march. It was then he and his friend Alvin Chea realised they had something special in their new arrangement of the song which inspired them both as children. Written as a poem by James Weldon Johnson and set to music by his brother J. Rosamond Johnson in 1905, it was first sung at a birthday celebration  for Abraham Lincoln.