Lawrence McKiver, the founder and former leader of the McIntosh County Shouters, a Georgia-based music group known as the last remaining American vestige of the West African ring shouting tradition, passed away on March 25th at the age of 97. Mckiver, a native of the Gullah Geechee region in the Coastal South, died in his nursing home in St. Simons Island, Georgia.

In spite of the passing of the groups last surviving original member, the McIntosh Country Shouters continue to spread their music and heritage.

“The McIntosh County Shouters are practitioners of the ring shout, a performance tradition that dates back to the Civil War with roots in West African tradition,” said Tina Lilly of the Georgia Council of Arts at a performance at the Library of Congress. With each performance they give listeners “a snippet of life as it was on a Georgia plantation a hundred and fifty years ago.”

Created during times of slavery, the ring shout incorporates many aspects of Christian faith within it. Following the abolishment of slavery after the Civil War it was carried on by freed slaves in the Coastal South where it has remained until this day.

The ring shout is characterized by call-and-response singing, percussive clapping and stomping, and circular step movements. The songster, McKiver’s former role, initiates the singing, which is then responded to by the stick man, who beats a syncopated rhythm on the ground, and the clappers/shouters, who chant and clap while moving circularly. Contrary to it’s name, the tradition contains little shouting.

The McIntosh Country Shouters was founded in 1980 in Townsend, GA, and has since been nationally recognized numerous times. In 1993 the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) awarded the group a National Heritage Fellowship, and in 2010 they were honored by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for their work in carrying on a longstanding African musical tradition.

The group continues to tour the country and perform their uniquely traditional form of music. In continuing the legacy begun by Lawrence McKiver they hope that they can help their heritage and culture to endure.

–Cristiano Lima