UNC Charlotte professor brings composer to digital age

UNC CHARLOTTE

UNC Charlotte associate professor of classical and contemporary voice Sequina DuBose is reviving Margaret Bonds' archived works to a digital audience with "Bonds Unsung: Revival of an American Legacy."

Vocalist and scholar Sequina DuBose is bringing the works of composer Margaret Bonds to the digital age.

Alongside pianist Gregory Thompson, DuBose, associate professor of classical and contemporary voice at UNC Charlotte, is bringing Bonds’ archived works to audiences with her new album, “Bonds Unsung: Revival of an American Legacy,” including pieces from the unfinished musical “Bitter Laurel.” The 18-track album released by Albany Records can be streamed through digital platforms.

DuBose focuses on hybrid vocal literature, music that combines elements of different genres, including classical music, jazz, and spirituals. Her interest led her to study the works of Bonds (1913-1972) and composer Florence Price.

The making of the album began after DuBose attended a lecture by musicologist John Michael Cooper about Bonds’ work. During the lecture, Cooper discussed pieces that DuBose had never heard before. She discovered Bonds had written unpublished spirituals, jazz arrangements and a musical called “Bitter Laurel.”

“He started talking about all of this music that I had never heard of,” DuBose said. “I was flabbergasted because I wasn't considering myself a Bonds expert, but I thought that I knew all of her rep.”

With support from UNC Charlotte and Queens University of Charlotte, DuBose worked with Cooper and composer Christopher Washington to develop the musical’s score, which had not been fully realized. “Bitter Laurel” tells the story of Elizabeth Keckley, an enslaved woman who worked her way to freedom through her work as a seamstress. She later became a seamstress for first lady Mary Todd Lincoln.

“She wrote the whole musical,” DuBose said. “It’s in songs. We have songs, and we have lead sheets, and we have a complete libretto. Most of the work’s done, but it hasn’t been orchestrated, and it has to be fully scored.” 

DuBose said the importance of getting Bonds’ work into streaming is deeper than just having it published. It’s also about correcting an artistic injustice. Bonds composed more than 400 works, fewer than half which were published during her lifetime.

Margaret Bonds (1913-1972) composed more than 400 works, but fewer than half were published during her lifetime.

The album closes with “Note on Commercial Theater,” which DuBose hopes listeners remember.

“It’s like this seizure of ownership of the culture and the music and this self-autonomy that's professed by the end of the piece,” she said. “I was just like, ‘this is powerful. ‘She infuses blues elements in the song. It's technically an art song, but it has this blues element too.” “That's the last song on the album. That’s what I want them to walk away with hearing – we’re taking it back. We are reclaiming our story.”

DuBose said her goal is to let Bonds speak through her and to create the pieces as accurately and authentically as possible.

“It’s kind of like this calling to make sure that this music is not just on the playlist and in the ears of audiences, but it needs to be in the vocal studios,” she said. “It needs to be in academic institutions. Young people need to learn about this.” 

DuBose said every listener will find something to connect with on the album because Bonds’ work is not one-dimensional.

“Her music is really a vessel for whatever it is that you're supposed to hear and feel and need and be moved by, you're going to receive it,” DuBose said. “Because it’s just that broad and that diverse, I think it has the ability to touch us all in a very human way.” 

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