Review: Show draws ‘amazing crowd'
As choir director/conductor David Burchell said, the event drew "an amazing crowd", packing Knox Church upstairs and down.
The Dunedin Jazz Quintet of Bill Martin (piano), Carl Woodward (drums), Nick Cornish (saxophone), Andy Lynch (bass) and Alex Burchell (percussion) provided splendid accompaniment and a reminder of the interlinking of jazz and Africa.
The 60-strong choir opened with an unaccompanied rendition of the opening of the Gospel of St John, The Word was God, by Afro-American Rosephanye Powell.
Then came three well-harmonised spirituals by Auckland-based David Hamilton, the best-known of which was In the Garden.
The Dunedin Children's Choir then took the stage with Eru Timoko Ihaka's waiata Ehara I te mea and Dunedinite Sue Mepham's 1914, the latter a moving reminder of the fact that of 10,000 horses sent to World War 1, only four returned.
The children's choir, formed two years ago, is led by Natasha Manowitz, Susan Frame and Helen Rutherford, who are to be congratulated on their work.
The youngsters, some of whom are as young as nine, are to be commended for the aplomb with which they performed.
Uplifting Congolese folk song Banaha introduced African music before the main event, Zimbe! Come Sing the Songs of Africa, utilising both choirs.
The work is an arrangement of songs from all over Africa and encompasses a wide variety, including the humorous drinking song Vamudara, two wedding songs and the slow-moving funeral hymn, Thuma mina.
The opening Njooni! Zimbe! is reprised halfway through and then used again as the finale.
Catherine Schroder added to the experience with her dances in the centre aisle.
Africa's troubled history was reflected in a lullaby for imprisoned sons and We Shall Not Give Up the Fight, of which the bouncy rhythm had the audience clapping along.
The young voices impressed in Siyahamba, a Zulu song of worship, before Freedom is Coming, a rip-roaring song of hope in the spiritual and political senses, in which saxophonist Nick Cornish excelled.
The standing ovation was an appropriate tribute to all involved in a blood-stirring concert that was a midwinter gift.
CITY CHOIR DUNEDIN PRESENTS
Zimbe! Come Sing the Songs of Africa
Saturday, July 12
Knox Church
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