They unite art rock and spirituals
Erik Lindgren used to have a facetious phrase to describe his latest musical project. He called it a "collision of cultures," and on paper, that's exactly what it sounds like.
"Extreme Spirituals" is a collaboration between Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, Lindgren's experimental chamber-art-rock ensemble, and famed bass-baritone Oral Moses. As part of Berklee College of Music's Black History Month celebration, the project comes to the Berklee Performance Center on Tuesday.
From the onset, it was a provocative pairing. Since 1980, Birdsongs has been one of Boston's leading modern-music ensembles. Also featuring Ken Field, Michael Bierylo, and Rick Scott, the group is known for its experimental fusion of disparate genres: classical, rock, jazz, punk, you name it. Meanwhile, Moses is a professor of voice and music literature at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, where he has honed his authority on the African-American musical canon while singing worldwide in various operas and recitals in a stately baritone evocative of the commanding Paul Robeson.
If you think that sounds like the odd couple, you're in good company: Moses was a little skeptical at first, too.
"When Erik first told me about his idea, I thought, 'Well, OK, Erik, that's an, um, interesting idea,' " Moses says. "Having listened to what he had done with Birdsongs, I was eager to see what he would do with the spirituals and art songs. I wondered where we could take this music and not disturb it but expand it."
Lindgren was mindful of the "audacity to mix these two seemingly unrelated genres," as he sees it, but he was convinced it could be done. He and Moses met in 1986 while Moses was in town for a summer program at Harvard. Lindgren wound up producing Moses' three albums, then got the idea for "Extreme Spirituals."
"As the collaboration unfolded, I became aware that this melting pot of musical styles created something unexpectedly magical," he says. "Hey, if we can meld art rock and spirituals, then there's no reason there can't be peace in the Middle East." (Lindgren has since revised his initial phrase describing the collaborative musical project ; now he deems it an "exciting fusion of two disparate worlds.")
The project is documented on the album "Extreme Spirituals," which collects a dozen African-American sacred songs and 19th-century art songs, including "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" and "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho." (You can hear snippets of the songs at birdsongsofthemesozoic.org.)
If you come to "Extreme Spirituals" expecting Mahalia Jackson or even the rocking Sister Rosetta Tharpe , you'll be in for a rude awakening. This isn't old-school gospel; it's avant-spirituals.
On "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child," Moses' voice, resolute as it is rich, is couched in swaths of electronic noodling. But that's nothing compared to "Amen," a tangled web of musical fragments with a quasi-hip-hop undercurrent and Moses dropped into the controlled chaos halfway through it.
Lindgren says that despite Birdsongs' experimental rock and jazz leanings, all of the music is fully notated, which jibes with Moses' background as a classically trained vocalist. There's no improvising on either side.
"The songs have a great rhythmic complexity, and getting used to that was the biggest challenge," says Moses. "But it's given me a whole new interpretation of these songs. I've learned things about these songs that I never knew before because of the arrangements."
So far, the group has performed "Extreme Spirituals" in largely secular settings -- at concert halls, in college classrooms, in Jamaica Plain's Forsyth Chapel at Forest Hills Cemetery. Performing the program in a more sacred venue is the next horizon.
"It would be exciting to bring this to the Bible Belt of rural America and witness what the general reaction would be," Lindgren says. "I seriously don't know, but fortunately we have our secret weapon, which is Oral Moses. He brings such dedication and credibility to the project that it would be hard for anyone not to see the light."
Moses shares a mutual appreciation: "I think the project is a success because of the Birdsongs' touch. They bring their style to the project, and, as you know, they have never taken the traditional path."
If it works so well, why call it "extreme"?
"People don't expect it," says Moses, "but what I admire about this project is that Erik and Michael took the same approach other composers have taken with spirituals. They've left the melody intact and composed around it. I think that's the reason it works."
The reaction, to the surprise of both Moses and Lindgren, has been overwhelmingly positive.
"I think the reason we haven't received negative feedback is that Birdsongs is working with such a compelling vocalist and all-around saint of a human being," says Lindgren.
For Moses, who has made a career out of adventurous collaborations, it proved that sometimes an ancient art form really can reinvent itself.
"Singers and performers are always looking for something new and quality to work with," he says. "We all want to be on the cutting edge, and that's what this is."
James Reed can be reached at jreed@globe.com. 
