Sunday Morning Gospel: The Haitian Gospel Quartet--Victory in Jesus

(THIS POST AND MUSIC FILE ORIGINALLY APPEARED LAST NOVEMBER. TEXT HAS BEEN SLIGHTLY MODIFIED, WITH PERMISSION FROM ME TO MYSELF.)

The Haitian Gospel Quartet's Victory in Jesus LP tells us nothing about the group--beyond the fact they're called The Haitian Gospel Quartet (or, on the cover, the "Haitian Quartet"). The back jacket is blank--no track listing, nothing. Luckily, the titles show up on the label.

And that's the whole story. Nothing on/at Google for the "Haitian Gospel Quartet." That's the way it goes, sometimes.

Great stuff. Four tracks are accompanied, the rest are a cappella. An accordian is used in one instance. A minority of titles are sung in English--the rest are in French, or so it sounds to my language-discerning software. Best non-English track of all--Power in the Blood. Followed closely by Charles Gabriel's Since Jesus Came Into My Heart. Best English-language track--probably In the Garden. I just love the way they do it.

Four or five volume surges show up on this LP (a short in the mixing board?), and I carefully volume-leveled each occurrence by splicing the files and lowering the bar thingie on the MAGIX display. The bar thingie comes in handy for that purpose.

This LP is a treat, and not only for those dying to hear Power in the Blood sung in French by a Haitian quartet. It's fun for anyone who appreciates unadorned sound documents. What do I mean by "unadorned sound documents"? Download these documents and find out. The Haitian Gospel Quartet from, um... er.... From sometime. At some church. On the Paradise Records label.

Click here to hear: Haitian Gospel Quartet--Victory in Jesus (Paradise Records 1002)

TRACKLIST

Bells Ring the Gospel
There Is Power in the Blood
In the Garden
What Shall the Harvest Be
Victory in Jesus
Pass Me Not
Master the Tempest is Raging
We Will Walk to Heaven
Since Jesus Came Into My Heart
Oh How I Love Jesus
There's Sunshine in My Soul; Amen-Amen

Some months after originally posting this, I received this very cool comment:

"This was a real treat! By the way the reed-y sound is an accordeon. I know this because I play accordeon. The bass progressions kind of sells it. Groups like this one are still very popular and can be found all over Haiti. They go about from churches to churches singing concerts on Sabbath or Sunday afternoons. Haitian is a poor people but we go through life singing; we sing with our souls, we sing about everything, mostly we sing about our creator and redeemer. Thank you for this post."

To say that it was my pleasure is an understatement. Download-wise, the original file received 840 before being deleted by Savefile (for lack of activity!).

Lee