“On down through the ages, gospel is good news,” musical pioneer Thomas Dorsey says at the beginning of the riveting 1983 documentary, Say Amen, Somebody.
If Say Amen does nothing more than introduce us to Dorsey, a Chicago-based music director who died in 1993, it will have done its duty. But it does so much more than that, bringing you into churches, homes and gatherings of African American singers and helping us understand the important connection between faith and music.
We meet a towering figure, Mother Willie Mae Ford Smith, who died in 1994, dressed in white and leading an ecstatic choir. Say Amen is filled with such performances, with singing and playing that rivals that of the finest touring musicians. Smith says at one point that the singers are “anointed singers,” meaning they have a calling.
Later we see Smith coaching a young singer. He’s tight, and not quite on pitch, and her advice is unconventional: “You can’t be a pretty mouth and sing.” She demonstrates, in a full-throated baritone, how she holds tones in her mouth, “like a piano.”
If you are a gospel aficionado, you’ll appreciate this intimate portrait, which screens at UW Cinematheque on Sept. 14. But even if you are unfamiliar with the genre, or a non-believer, you will appreciate seeing people experiencing joy and community through music.
You will also see firsthand accounts of the struggles, especially of women, to balance work, church, music and families. At one point, Smith even argues on camera with her own grandson about whether women should preach from the pulpit. And Smith’s family reminisces about the glory days when its matriarch traveled the country with an entourage, performing at revivals. Today, she has been all but forgotten outside of the inner circle.
The end of the movie captures a glorious reunion when Dorsey and Smith come together to hold court at the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses. People sing, wail, cry and faint from the emotion of it all. Dorsey is old and frail by this time, and his voice is worn, but he’s such a compelling figure, conducting with vigor and opening a channel to religious fervor.
As Smith says about Dorsey, “I believe that Mr. Dorsey has accomplished what he set out to do. And when God gets ready for the time clock to stop, there won’t be no more Dorsey. But the things he done will live on. And I believe in what one of his songs says: ‘Remember me not just for me but for the work I’ve done.’”
Director George T. Nierenberg and producer Karen Nierenberg have done a great service by shining a spotlight on performers who should be recognized for their great achievements.
