Funeral Doom Spiritual

Funeral Doom Spiritual is a song of mourning for what Anthony Paul Farley calls “the motionless movement of death through slavery, segregation, and neo-segregation.” This new monodrama composed by M. Lamar and Hunter Hunt-Hendrix draws on themes of apocalypse, end times, and rapture found in Negro Spirituals, what Lamar calls “Doom Spirituals.” It explores radical historical expressions and futuristic longings for destruction of the white supremacist world order. Taking place a century into the future, the piece features the male soprano Lamar on piano, accompanied by two basses, two contrabasses, and electronics, enveloped in immersive light and video.

Funeral Doom Spiritual is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Photos by Jill Steinberg.