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Keeping the Gullah culture alive
The choir practices by the ruins of a 1740 Anglican church on St. Helena’s Island before a performance at Beaufort City Hall to kick off Black History Month. The Hallelujah Singers are (from left): Stephanie Gains, Gladys Jenkins, Marilyn Weatherspoon, Sharon W. Millen, Ezhan Bush, Marlena Smalls, Christal Clements, Sandra Cannon, and Tammy Holman.
Photo by Ruta Smith
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On the silver screen
Singing isn’t Marlena Smalls’ only claim to fame. She also had a memorable cameo role in the 1994 movie Forrest Gump as Bubba Blue’s mother. Fans of the movie will remember Bubba as Forrest’s war-time buddy who dreamed of going home to make a living as a shrimp boat captain. Although she only had one speaking line, she was featured in several scenes and her fainting on the front porch remains a classic clip. Ironically, and in a poetic twist of fate, Smalls is allergic to shrimp.
Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures
It was an unusually warm January afternoon in the Lowcountry, with a brilliant blue sky, heavenly wisps of clouds and the majestic Beaufort City Hall perched at the top of town. As throngs of community members, neighbors and schoolchildren filled the lobby to hear South Carolina’s premier Gullah musical group perform a free concert to commemorate the start of Black History Month, the members of the Hallelujah Singers graced the spiral staircase like angels, replete in their brightly colored African finery. The mood matched the scene—anticipation, expectation and sheer joy. And then the music began, and the voices reached up to the heavens.
The rich and angelic harmony of the nine-member choir, led by Beaufort’s own Dr. Marlena Smalls, was powerful and palpable. With renditions of Gullah “message” songs and Negro spirituals like “Oh Mary Don’t You Weep” and “I Came to Tell You (What Jesus Said),” the music vividly brought to life the stories and struggles of the African people who arrived in the area as enslaved laborers from the 16th to the 19th centuries. The choir was immersed in the performance—swaying with the tempo, beating the banister for percussion and belting out the rich melodies.
The ever-spirited Smalls introduced several of the selections with stories of the Gullah culture and others with the history of the Hallelujah Singers. All the while insisting on pitch-perfect harmonies along the way. The audience clapped and moved to the rhythm, taking videos and erupting in applause after each song. In the end, the performance was an ebullient celebration of the Gullah culture and the Hallelujah Singers’ love and passion for sharing the story.
Rooted in tradition
South Carolina’s Lowcountry, centered around Beaufort and the Sea Islands, is the epicenter of Gullah culture. With a large population of Gullah descendants, historic locations like Penn Center (the first school in the South for freed slaves), Gullah festivals and the new Reconstruction Era National Monument, a strong commitment resonates to keeping the Gullah cultural traditions alive.
Few people have a stronger devotion to spreading the Gullah message than Marlena Smalls. Born and raised in Ohio by South Carolina natives, Smalls came to Beaufort with her six children in the early 1980s and found a sense of community that had been missing in her life. After learning more about Gullah culture, she immediately felt a deeper understanding of how the Africans who were brought to America to tend the rice fields created their own language and cultural history.
“This Gullah thing is really an African thing, so it gives us a truer picture of who we are,” explains Smalls. “And, I wanted to connect with others that we are more alike than we are different.” This realization ultimately gave her a better understanding of her background and her people. And, as her knowledge grew, she took it upon herself to spread and keep the Gullah message alive through music and education.
From a musical family of eight children, Smalls was uncomfortable with her voice as a youngster and wasn’t as confident with her talent as her siblings were. According to Smalls, “I didn’t have a ‘black’ sound. My first voice was between a Judy Garland and a Mahalia Jackson.” But, with the help of a voice coach at the age of 11, she found her voice and shared it with her church and then the world.
Smalls and her mother wanted to share their passion for music and formed the Lowcountry School for Music, where they taught piano and voice to students throughout the Beaufort area. With more than 190 students in the early years, the women were teaching gospel, blues and jazz to kids who had, in many cases, never been out of Beaufort.
With a goal to expose these students to the music of the world, Marlena Smalls arranged to take 28 of the children by train to Charleston to experience the Spoleto Festival. Not only did the trip expose the children to other forms of music, but it showed them that there was a larger world and that they had a right to see it.
Birth of a lyrical idea
The trip, including an evening concert by Nancy Wilson, was a huge success and whetted Smalls appetite to expose her students to more performances outside of Beaufort. To pay for more trips, she convinced friends and family to sing at fundraisers in the community. With their first concert in 1989 at the University of South Carolina Beaufort, the Hallelujah Singers were born.
Fifty members strong in the early days, the amateur group performed blues, folk, gospel and what Smalls calls “plantation melodies,” and started making a name for themselves. As their audience grew, they moved to the First African Baptist Church as their base. Along the way, the music also morphed into more of a testament to the Gullah community, with a focus on “work songs” and “invisible church” songs that were originally sung by the Sea Island Africans as they tended to their daily work.
“The slave songs are one of my musical bibles. The music has a lot of Africanisms,” says Smalls. While they are faith-based, work songs differ from traditional praise-and-worship gospel music. Many of the inspirational songs, like “Please Lordy”—one of Smalls’ favorites—helped spread the important message of survival of the Gullah people and their ancestry. And, according to Smalls, it reminds people that mankind is more alike than different.
During this same period, Smalls started performing solo for various local organizations and, before long, the word was out. Smalls was being asked to sing further afield, with a performance at the South Carolina Arts Commission Showcase opening doors throughout the state.
Soon, there were requests from senators and governors to perform her melodious blues, jazz and contemporary repertoire across the state and beyond, including performances at The Kennedy Center, The Smithsonian, European tours for the Queen of England, the G8 Summit, and international music festivals. The University of South Carolina even awarded her an honorary Ph.D. in music.
In addition to being the guiding force behind the Hallelujah Singers, Smalls spends her time as an educator, musician and entertainer—all with a goal to keep the Gullah message alive. She also played an integral role in the founding of the Original Gullah Festival more than 30 years ago, which today welcomes more than 35,000 people to Waterfront Park every Memorial Day weekend.
Making a joyful noise
Today, the Hallelujah Singers are made up of a dozen or so local singers—all female—that Smalls has hand-picked. Some were part of the original group and many have been performing with Smalls for more than 20 years. Others have been more recent additions. Several are siblings and family members of Smalls. However, what they all share is a commitment to the music and the message.
Many of the choir members perform for their own enjoyment. Some are from the Beaufort area and find strength and connection with their roots and want to share the history. While still others are recent transplants that are just learning about the culture and how it has shaped the community. For Tammy Holman, who grew up singing in her church, she feels that both gospel and Gullah tell a story. “For gospel, it tells the story of Jesus and salvation. For Gullah, it tells the story of where we came from and the struggle,” she says.
Performing 20 to 30 events a year for corporate functions, churches, festivals and events at Gullah-rich destinations like the Penn Center and Mitchelville—the first self-governed freedmen’s town in America—the Hallelujah Singers are still as committed to the music and the message as they were when the group assembled almost 30 years ago. The members rehearse every Monday for a few hours. Half-rehearsal, half-spiritual session, Smalls kicks off the evening with a group prayer. After some thoughts about gratitude and appreciation, as well as reminders of upcoming events, it’s time to sing.
At practices, the women start singing as though they are at a pick-up basketball game and everyone knows the rules. They know what song, who sings what part, and who comes in when. There is no sheet music—the words are from memory and the melodies and harmonies are from within. The beat is supplied by any of the members as they clap their hands, stomp their feet or simply bang on a book.
Showtime
The day of the Beaufort City Hall concert, the group had one last chance to “rehearse” at an impromptu photo shoot at the Chapel of Ease on St. Helena’s Island. With the apt setting of the ruins of a 1740 Anglican church in the heart of Beaufort’s Gullah community, the women were inspired by the shadow of their ancestors and the sun-dappled Spanish moss hanging from the 400-year-old oaks surrounding the oyster tabby façade. Their voices came alive as the photographer captured the true spirit of their sound in a magical setting.
Back in town, they changed into their African-inspired attire and watched the community fill up the two-story lobby of City Hall. As Smalls introduced the group to the standing-room-only crowd, she shared stories of how the Hallelujah Singers came about and how they celebrate all things Gullah.
And, then the music flowed—with the sounds of the struggles, joys, challenges and triumphs of the generations that came before. The meaningful words and uplifting harmonies, along with the percussion supplied by a member’s walking stick and the clapping of the crowd, enveloped the space and brought smiles to all in attendance. The crowd was moved, inspired and educated. And, in the moment, we were, in fact, more alike than we were different.
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On the silver screen
Singing isn’t Marlena Smalls’ only claim to fame. She also had a cameo role in the 1994 movie Forrest Gump.
When the movie began filming in Beaufort, Smalls was hired to arrange a gospel song called “I’ve Got A New Home,” which was featured in the film. Over lunch one afternoon, the producers asked if she would be interested in reading for the role of Bubba Blue’s mother. Fans of the movie will remember Bubba as Forrest’s war-time buddy who dreamed of going home to make a living as a shrimp boat captain.
Smalls thought they were joking. However, after some prodding, she hesitantly agreed to read and was ultimately cast in the role. Although she only had one speaking line, she was featured in several scenes and her fainting on the front porch remains a classic clip. Ironically, and in a poetic twist of fate, Smalls is allergic to shrimp.
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Shout out to the singers
For more information on the Hallelujah Singers, visit their Facebook Page or call (843) 929-4675.