Julie Giroux's Vigils Keep

Program Notes
Vigils Keep is not a theme and variation based on Wayfaring Stranger, nor is it a collection of Sacred Harp Songs. It is an original celebration of southern Life and tradition, a tradition of generations steeped in hard physical work, tests of the human spirit and for many, black and white alike, poverty.

The Melody of Wayfaring Stranger spiritually weaves through Vigils Keep like faith has woven through southern history, holding everything together. All the rest of the notes are inspired by stories, family, the southern way of life and its music. It is my attempt at drawing a musical picture of what the south looks and sounds like both then and now.

Personal Background on Vigils Keep:

When Johnnie and I discussed the possible thematic background for this commission, many ideas
were set on the table. One of them was "Sacred Harp Music," them and variations or something of that nature. I must admit at first, I was not too keen to the idea. One, because of its spiritual and religious foundation, which tends to scare off performers and publishers alike and two, because it has been done before. The genuine adoration Johnnie displayed for the music and my lack of any real knowledge of the genre forced me to research the matter in depth.

After many hours of research, which included purchasing the 1991 edition of the "Sacred Harp," honestly I was still not convinced. Then I purchased CD's. Not just any recordings mind you, these were the real deal. A 4 CD collection recorded on September 12, 1959 in Fyffe Alabama at the annual United Sacred Harp Musical Association Singing Convention recorded by the critically acclaimed Alan Lomax. I popped the first CD in and set about on my usually listening ritual... *which means I turn it up full blast and start cleaning house.*

About 6 tunes into the CD I became emotionally overwhelmed. So much in fact, I sat down and weeped. Suddenly I was flooded with images of my Grandmother sitting on her front porch with a small accordian singing hymns in the middle of the day when it was too hot to work in the garden, stories of my mothers childhood, 10 children in a 2 room shack, walking miles to school in homemade dresses sewn from cotton sacks in all types of weather. The poverty, the sickness which many
times went untreated because there was no money for a doctor and the never ending "poor white trash" label that my Mothers family carried. The youngest of those 10 children being the first to graduate from college, one of my Uncles.

All these things so many people share in their Southern Family history, myself included was all summed up in those recordings.Generations of Southerners enduring life and poverty held together with the belief and Faith that is so perfectly captured in the lyrics of Sacred Harp #457, Wayfaring Stranger verse 1 & 2: