Headlines, North America

/ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC-U.S.: African Choir Unites International Singers in Harlem

Gabriel Packard

NEW YORK, Aug 26 2003 (IPS) - A joke making the rounds about the New York African Chorus goes something like this.

Two Japanese, a Brazilian, a Nigerian, a South African, a Jamaican, a Puerto Rican, some Americans and a Cameroonian walk into a tall building in New York. The Nigerian says to the others, "OK, are you ready to start rehearsing African music?” To which the Cameroonian replies, "Music? I thought this was the U.N."

The New York branch of the African Chorus counts eight nationalities among its 15 members. The Harlem-based Chorus performs a range of music by African composers, including opera, classical, traditional and popular music, such as highlife and Afropop.

Although the musical scope is wide, the cultural scope is even wider.

The focus is on the "cultural background of the songs, and their social contexts", says Joyce Adewume, the group’s founder, director, conductor and choreographer.

"It’s all-embracing," adds Adewume, a native Nigerian and former professor of music and dance at the Nigerian Universities of Uyo, Nigeria, and Obafemi Awolowo. "We want (the chorus members) to experience the music, not just to absorb it like a lecture.."

Chorus members accompany the pieces with African gestures or dances, and the group is in the process of assembling a band that will play on traditional African instruments.

African American Chorus member Gloria Amouzou, whose husband is from the West African country of Togo, echoes Adewume’s sentiments.

"The music lets us experience a different culture: we hear it, we read about it, and now we’re living it," says Amouzou, who goes straight from the weekly Wednesday evening rehearsal to work a night shift followed by a day shift as a nursing administrator at a Harlem hospital.

She says that she also likes the opportunity to use the African dialects that her husband is teaching her.

The group includes a number of native Africans – such as Cele Stin, a 37-year-old artist from Cameroon – who are often called upon to advise the group about pronunciation or cultural background. But for most members, it is their first brush with African languages.

"Yes, of course it’s difficult to sing in African language," says Hideshi Omachi, who has developed his own technique to help him with the unfamiliar words. "I think of the words as sounds," he explains.

Although they have to audition to get into the group, knowing how to read music is not a requirement. "To join, you just need a love of music, an interest in learning African music and dance," says Adewume, who is still looking for new members.

She started the New York branch of the African Chorus in July 2002, modelling it on the original African Chorus, based in St. Louis in the state of Missouri. That group was established in 1994 by Fred "FredO" Onovwerosuoke, a Ghanian composer, conductor, and scholar of African music.

Onovwerosuoke, founder of the African Chorus project and now serving his 10th season as artistic director of the St. Louis group, is one of the most consulted authorities on African choral music. He has lectured at the World Symposium, the Toronto International Choral Festival, the Coro Municipal Juiz de Fora in Brazil, and other festivals around the world.

"I had joined the St. Louis African Chorus," says Adewume in an interview. "And I thought it would be a wonderful thing to establish in New York. I tried to get FredO to come to New York. He wouldn’t, but he liked the idea."

So Adewume started the New York African Chorus herself, making it the country’s third after St. Louis and New Orleans. There are also plans to create choruses in Florida and Canada.

"Right now (the New York branch) is privately funded," says Adewume. "We’re working on getting grants and members pay 10 dollars a month. We also accept donations."

A year after the group’s first rehearsal, they were preparing for "The Gathering," their first major concert, Aug. 16, at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Harlem.