Available from Morning Star Music Publishing at www.morningstarmusic.com or 800-647-2117 "Were You there?" is one of six Traditional Spirituals Eli originally arranged for Solo Voice and Piano. The origin of the spiritual is generally accredited to the Christian Slaves who sang about the message of Jesus Christ and the Good News as well as a way to share their difficult conditions of slavery with each other. To honor the traditions of the Spiritual, the song marries the text and melody of the Traditional Spiritual with the colors and harmonies found in a more contemporary era. In this song, the accompaniment takes on an important role as a soloist with it's own unique melody drawn from the original. The accompaniment adds a tonal subtext to the words and emotions
shared by the choir to achieve a rich, emotional offering to this traditional spiritual.
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