wfn.org | BWNS --Windows open to Baha'i gospel music

[Bahá'í World News Service <bwns@bwc.org>]

Baha'i World News Service
See story with photographs http://www.bahaiworldnews.org
For more information, contact editor@bahaiworldnews.org

Windows open to Baha'i gospel music
STUTTGART, Germany, 21 September 2004 (BWNS) -- Residents here flung open
their windows to listen to gospel-style music being sung on the streets below
by an international Baha'i choir.

The choir had completed a concert in an historic church and continued
outside,
as its director Van Gilmer later explained.

"The audience followed the choir out of the church to the sidewalks as it
continued to sing -- people opened their windows to enjoy the impromptu
concert we gave," he said.

That enthusiastic response by the citizens of this southern German city was
replicated in different ways across Europe this northern summer.

Audiences in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, as well as
in Germany, gave standing ovations to the Baha'i Gospel Choir, which included
103 members of many different backgrounds and  from 12 countries including
Barbados, Bermuda, Canada, Uganda, and the United States.

"There was no concert where the audiences did not stand up and sway, clap,
and
even stomp their feet for encores," said Mr. Gilmer, who said the singers
were
often as affected by the music as the audience.

"This is often true with gospel when the depths of one's beliefs are captured
in the expression of the music," he said.

Choir member Tahirih Olinga of Uganda agreed. "Gospel music is very
uplifting," Ms. Olinga said.

"The spirituals, the words, and the style of the songs are very powerful.
They
had a big impact on us and the audiences as well."

Ms. Olinga said that as well as enjoying the music, the audiences appeared to
be inspired by the message of their songs -- the Baha'i principles of peace
and unity.

"The power of God's word bound us together as a choir and also with the
audience," she said.

The group's repertoire comprised 14 items -- gospel songs and spirituals, as
well as Baha'i writings put to music in the gospel style.

Each one-and a-half-hour performance started with the Baha'i song "We Have
Come to Sing Praises," and then the choir went on singing other well-known
gospel songs including "I'm so Glad," "If We Ever Needed Love," and "Amazing
Grace."

The concerts finished with "Love Me That I May Love Thee," the last verse of
which the choir sang in the language of the country in which it was
performing.

The choir gave six concerts in four countries, finishing with a performance
in
the Baha'i House of Worship in Langenhain, Germany.

Although this was the first tour of the Baha'i Gospel Choir, some members
were
in the gospel choir that sang at the Baha'i World Congress in New York in
1992
and 10 years later at the Baha'i Festival of Arts, also in New York.

Among those in the 2004 Baha'i Gospel Choir who had sung in the 2002
performance were professional musicians Joyce Garrett, and Patrick Lundy, who
are not Baha'is.

Dr. Garrett, well-known in gospel circles in the United States, was the
musical director of the tour. She is a member of the Naval Academy Gospel
Choir and the Eastern High School Choir, which has won international awards.

Founder of the Ministers of Music choir, Mr. Lundy, is an accomplished
pianist
and the director of several gospel choirs. He was the assistant music
director
during the tour.

Another choir member was veteran drummer Lester Saucer, who regularly
performs
with leading gospel groups in the United States.

Mr. Gilmer has sung gospel as part of the repertoire of another Baha'i choir,
"Voices of Baha," in Asia, North America, and Europe.

(Photos by Vic Voytek.)

For a report of a concert by "Voices of Baha" see
http://news.bahai.org/story.cfm?storyid=235