Description
“Open the Window” originated on the Sea Islands of Georgia and South Carolina, as “Heist the Window, Hoah.” It has its roots in enslaved Africans who were brought from Sierra Leone to work the rice fields. This is a recording of the McIntosh County Shouters, singing another song in a similar style to give you an idea of the nature and power of this music (with commentary from the documentary “Jubilee”):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtYh-L173KU
From the 1929 film “St. Louis Blues” Mahalia Jackson and Pearl Bailey sing “Heist the Window, Noah,” the Sea Island Spiritual that inspired “Open the Window” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shMqAAH6oAw
Bi-lingual Spanish/English version with Lisset & Judith Rodés & Mick Kinney https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfuvi821yug&list=PLRhQuQHc-lE4iG04UcWND1Kyt4Py2RyWd&index=12
Elise & Lea Morris w/ Sing Language https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-DmsSuY-5o
Elise & Mick “Open the Window” w/Something Else @ Local Color, Springville AL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W290ehd4EEg
Rising Appalachia sings Open the Window leading into “Wider Circles” ~ Live in Berlin 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-UAVHoCbHg
Lydia Violet Hartoonian sings “Open the Window” as a mash up with the Persian song “Majnoon Naboodom” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYoZ7kB54nc
