First Advisor
Pedro Ferbel-Azcarate
Date of Award
Spring 6-12-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Social Justice and the Arts and University Honors
Department
Music & Theater
Language
English
Subjects
South Africa, African Diaspora, Spirituals, uHadi, amaXhosa, Gospel
DOI
10.15760/honors.1856
Abstract
An exploration of the spirituality and the sacredness of music—and especially singing—through recording my own interpretations of spirituals and songs of the uHadi. It is also a poetic inquiry into how imagery of the river is used in spirituals as a pathway to freedom and liberation, and how the singing of spirituals is hope embodied. And it is a reflection of how my experience of the uHadi and my friends of the Ibuyambo ensemble changed me. The process of working on this project also feels like I am connecting to myself—and others—more deeply through singing. And ultimately, I hope for the songs as well as the writing to be felt as a love letter to the city and people that I met in Cape Town, Table Mountain, and Xhosa music. As well as a love letter to the Afro-Diasporic experience and people in the Americas.
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/44790
Recommended Citation
Geselle, Matisse, "Singing as Liberation: Spiritual Imagination and an Embodied Practice of Hope Through Spirituals and Songs of the uHadi" (2026). University Honors Theses. Paper 1819.
https://doi.org/10.15760/honors.1856
Included in
Africana Studies Commons, African Languages and Societies Commons, Ethnomusicology Commons, Music Performance Commons