The Fisk Jubilee Singers.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XX, Issue 2032, 18 February 1887, Page 2

The Fisk Jubilee Singers.

Tonight at the Town Hall, Grey town, the Fisk Jubilee Singers make their first appear.acoe in this part of the Wairarapa. The troupe (says a contemporary) as is pretty generally known, is composed of ladies and gentlemen who have either keen glares themselves or are born of enslaved parents. The great and praiseworthy object the troupe have in view, and the success with which they have been met wherever they have played in Europe or America are also well known. Starting out in 1871, in the face of indignities which one could hardly believe to have been put upon them in Democratic America, were there not numerous authenticated instances of the feeling entertained in that country for the negro blood, the Fisk Jubilee Minstrels have achieved a success which is little short of marvellous. They started out, as it is putin a published history, to “ sing the money ont of tbe people's pockets," with which to carry on tbe work of education and culture. They did more than this, for, if the newspapers of the great cities of tbe world are to be believed, they sang their way into the people’s hearts. Once fairly started—once known, perhaps, we should say—the Jubilee Singers were established, and tbe upward (financial) road was as easy a way for them as the descent which Sybil described to Eneas. It must not be supposed, however, that their entertainment is not of itself sufficient to warrant success, apart from the objects of the tour. In Sydney the singers recently gave a very successful series of performances, and the Herald devotes a considerable amount of space to a eulogy of the entertainments. In Wellington they have crowded the Opera House nightly. The solos and the choruses are said to be beautifully sung, and the performance is pronounced a musical treat. For the most part the songs sung are those of slavery days, some secular, others sacred ; but in tbe programme there will be found a number of popular ballads, &c.