View source for Bahamian Rhyming Spiritual

{{Short description|Music genre}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox music genre
| name              = Bahamian Rhyming Spiritual
| stylistic_origins = {{hlist|[[Spirituals]]}}
| cultural_origins  = [[Afro-Bahamians]]
| instruments       = Vocals
| derivatives       = {{hlist|[[gospel music]]}}
}}
'''Bahamian rhyming spiritual''' is a religious genre of music found in the [[Bahamas]], and also the songs, usually [[spiritual (music)|spiritual]]s, and vocal-style within that genre. Rhyming does not refer to [[rhyme]] but to [[Verse (poetry)|verse]], the rhymer, or [[lead-singer]], singing the couplets of the verses against the sung background of the repeated [[refrain|chorus]]. Rhyming was most popular during the [[sponge fishing]] of the 1930s (the sponges having been killed by a fungus), and Peter Elliot is considered the best rhymer.
Generally songs are structured verse-chorus-verse form, where the chorus is the goal of the verse, but in a rhyming spiritual the chorus becomes the [[accompaniment]] to the verse. The verse progresses over the chorus and eventually coincides, often with the rhymer dropping out for the last few words of the chorus. Usually there are three voices which make up the songs; the rhymer doing the melody, the bass which does a very low tone accompaniment, and the falsetto performing high pitches.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nonesuch.com/albums/the-bahamas-the-real-bahamas-in-music-and-song|title = Nonesuch Records the Bahamas: The Real Bahamas in Music and Song}}</ref>
==Discography==
*''The Real Bahamas in Music and Song'' (1996/2003), recorded by Peter K. Siegel and Jody Stecher in 1965. [[Nonesuch Records|Nonesuch]] Explorer Series: H-72013/79725-2.
*''The Real Bahamas, Volume II'' (1978/2003), recorded by Peter K. Siegel and Jody Stecher in 1965. Nonesuch Explorer Series: H-72078/79733-2.
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rhyming Spiritual}}
[[Category:Caribbean music genres]]
[[Category:Christian music genres]]
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