Easter Anthem at the Golden Gate

The first recordings & photos are trickling in from last weekend's Golden Gate Sacred Harp Convention.


Here's William Billings' Easter Anthem, 236 in the big book, recorded by Will from Kalamazoo. Sorry it's over-driven, but we're singing real loud in a medium-sized old room.

Easter Anthem
William Billings (1746~1800)

The Lord is ris'n indeed! Hallelujah!
Now is Christ risen from the dead,
And become the first fruits of them that slept.
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.

And did He rise? Did He rise?
Hear it, ye nations! Hear it, O ye dead!
He rose, He rose, He burst the bars of death
And triumphed o'er the grave.

Then I rose,
Then first Humanity triumphant
Passed the crystal ports of light,
And seized Eternal Youth.

Hail, all immortal hail, hail.
Heaven all lavish of strange gifts to man,
Thine's all the glory,
Man's the boundless bliss.

I will post more later, as I weed thru for gems. The whole afternoon can be heard here.