Soon I Will Be Done - Timothy Amukele

"April 5th 2022: Tenor Edward Washington II sings Timothy Amukele's Soon I Will Be Done with Robert Troeger at the piano in the beautiful church St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Wheeling, West Virginia for a benefit concert for Ukraine. This style of Tim Amukele's music requires a mix of good understanding in contemporary musical expression, a strong connection to African American spirituals, and effective classical training. I believe the effect is a musical language that speaks the language of the heart (beyond words). The complexity of singing of a future living in God's joy in heaven, while on Earth surrounded by destruction, despair, desperation, and depression is deeply stirring and powerful and expressed most powerfully in music created in the plantation fields by the slaves. Internalizing or drawing from Negro Spirituals is important; as well as honoring the people/musicians who created it. May we all do better in treating each other well! "Soon I will be done with the trouble of the world. I'm going home to live with God. There'll be no more weeping and a-wailing. I'm going to live with God."