Halifax has lost an important voice: Debby Jones, in her late 50s, passed away on Saturday. She had cancer.

Jones had been a member of the a cappella quartet Four the Moment in the '80s, a group that made its debut at an anti-Klu Klux Klan rally and sang about political and social issues for the next couple of decades.

Their music borrowed from soul, gospel, blues and protest songs, but also heavily from the experience of Black Nova Scotian women and their history. "Their music is a powerful fusion of social protest and history – singing, expressing the struggle, resistance, and solidarity of people of colour, women and workers," according to this description from Eyelevel Gallery. From CBC:

Debby Jones joined the group of three other women in 1982 and performed until 1988. The singers travelled across Canada, playing Vancouver's Expo 86 and the 1988 Calgary Olympics.

The opening scene of local filmmaker Sylvia Hamilton's 1989 film "Black Mother, Black Daughter" contains a performance by Four The Moment, including Debbie Jones. The singing is beautiful, and continues as a theme throughout the film:

(Four the Moment performances by Delvina Bernard, Debby Jones, Andrea Currie and Kim Bernard-Morris. Songs by Delvina Bernard)

Many of Debby and Four the Moment's performances are not available online, but Hamilton (a former professor of mine) says anyone interested in hearing more of her voice can search the local libraries or look for another film: "Against the Tides: The Jones Family (Hymn To Freedom Series)," which so far is available on VHS at Halifax Public Libraries (at the North Branch).