field-holler

noun

1. a cry employing falsetto, portamento, and sudden changes of pitch, used in African-American work songs, later integrated into the techniques of the blues

Example Sentences

They offered field-holler call-and-response in “Water Fountain,” and they became a unified sisterhood in “Manchild,” which bluntly declares: “Not gonna say yes when what I really mean is no/Not gonna say no unless you know I mean it/I mean it/Don’t beat upon my body.”

From New York Times