Los Angeles Colored Chorus Program No. 79

The exact date of this episode is unknown. We've filled in the date above with a placeholder. What we actually have on record is: 1938-uu-uu.

This presentation of the Works Progress Administration and the Federal Music Project features the Los Angeles Colored Chorus singing traditional African Spiritual music as well as secular arrangements.

The program begins with a choral accompaniment to a recitation of Hamlet's soliloquy "To Be Or Not To Be." Next, we hear "The Chariots' Done Come and Swing Low," referred to as a "swing spiritual" by the announcer.

After this song, he describes the employment of women affected by the Works Progress Administration, "The depression left thousands of Women in desperate need, many of whom had no training or skill other than the skills they learned in their own homes: cooking, sewing, and housekeeping." These women have been employed in similar labor such as cooking school lunches or sewing garments for victims of floods and droughts.

The music program continues with "Raise a Ruckus Tonight," "Someone Stole Gabriel's Horn" and concludes with "St. Louis Blues."

Recorded between 1935 and 1938.

Audio courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives WNYC Collection

WNYC archives id: 150508
Municipal archives id: LT5431