Sacred Sounds of San Francisco: Program 2
Sunday Service Listening Session 
Sunday, December 15, 2024 | 3:00-5:00 p.m. 
Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, 232 Randolph St, San Francisco, CA 94132 
Free and open to the public 
For more information about Sacred Sounds of San Francisco: Program 1, visit www.sfartscommission.org [2]

Sacred Sounds of San Francisco is a new sound project in two-parts by 2023 artist-in-residence Tossie Long that seeks to capture and preserve the sound of one of San Francisco’s enduring black churches. Join sound artist Tossie Long and collaborators for a Sunday church service at the Bethel Missionary Baptist Church. Instead of a sermon, visitors are treated to an immersive sound experience inspired by the church’s history, people, and musical traditions. 

In 2023, Long was one of four artists-in-residence selected to participate in the San Francisco Arts Commission's Artist-in-Residence program at the San Francisco Public Library. During her ten-week residency at SFPL, Long spent much of her time conducting research in the San Francisco History Center, the African American Center, and the Arcane Knowledge collection and it was here where she found the inspiration for this project. Sacred Sounds of San Francisco focuses on developing new interpretations of gospel songs originally brought by the church members from the South, blending historical and contemporary influences and integrating elements of Afrofuturism. This approach envisions the gospel music tradition not as a static relic of the past, but as a living, evolving expression that bridges ancestral roots with future possibilities. 

Sacred Sounds of San Francisco culminates in two significant programs—a performance and live recording session with the choir members of the Bethel Missionary Baptist Church and an in-person listening session of the recordings and soundscapes Long and her collaborators created in response to the church, it’s history and musical traditions. 

About the Artist

Generational San Franciscan Tossie Long (she/her) is a multi-hyphenate, multi-lingual, Grammy nominated international performing artist, producer, director, and facilitator who speaks to the intersections of sound, culture, and sociopolitical edges spanning from Rock and Roll vocals to Afrofuturist immersive productions. Nicknamed "Bone Rattler,'' Long is a practitioner of ceremonial music from around the world with a focus on diasporic cosmology. As an ethnomusicologist, she has voyaged to Ayiti, Cuba, Benin, Nigeria, Brazil, and New Orleans to trace the migration of Vodou for a holistic investigation of the music in its cultural contexts. Long is currently working on Red Clay Sound Haus (RCSH), an immersive sound-centric project.  She does not perform for the sake of performing, but rather to challenge and to experiment with how far she can push her perceived limits. 

Project partners

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