AMAZING GRACE!

What an amazing evening it was yesterday! At my son’s (much appreciated) diligence, we went to see the Soweto Gospel Choir performing at St. Paul’s Cathedral. It was a memorable event on many accounts, not least because it was my first time in St. Paul’s Cathedral – I’d been around it, had stood and sat at its doorsteps, had meals at its surroundings, but had never been inside it – mainly because for most of the time I’ve been around it (I used to work nearby) it was closed to the public.



Asimbonanga/Biko

It was also remarkable in that the last time I’d been in a church it was at St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, for an operatic performance of Handel’s Messiah about one and a half years ago. I couldn’t stop myself from musing at the irony of having been to a church in South Africa for a performance of a European composer’s music and being for the first time to St. Paul’s in London for the Soweto Gospel Choir! I couldn’t avoid to notice either how, though still in huge minority, there were much more black people at St. Paul’s yesterday than there were at St. George’s…



Lelilungelo Ngelakho

Well, I can only repeat myself: it was just amazing! The cathedral, which is at least ten times bigger than St. George’s, was filled to the brim, even with tens of extra seating places … the choir, which I hadn’t properly seen or heard before, was at what you are only left to believe it's their best performance – leaving you wondering whether they were rehearsed to the most minute pitch and previously unheard or unthought of variations of the standard soprano, alto, contralto, tenor or baritone, husky and rusty yet clear, powerful and heavenly voices, colourful intonations, polyphonic harmonies, banding and disbanding to banding all over again within the same tune, graceful gesture, thoughtful dance and minimal percussion beat, or if their outstanding performance was just enhanced by the setting: this was a cathedral after all! – something you become unequivocally aware of when back at home you play “Blessed” on your humble CD player…



Masigiye'bo

Here’s how the performance, integrated in the City of London Festival, was presented: ’Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)…’ One of the most instantly recognisable hymns ever created is the musical heart of this spectacular evening of solo and choral song and dance by the Soweto Gospel Choir. Following their triumph in the 2005 Festival, the Choir are warmly welcomed back to St. Paul’s Cathedral as recent Grammy Award winners for the ‘best traditional World Music’ category for their album Blessed. Their programme celebrates a double anniversary: 200 years since the parliamentary abolition of the Atlantic slave trade and 200 years since the death of Amazing Grace’s author, John Newton.*



Thapelo

But, as soon as they start their ‘presentation’, the Choir quickly “rest assures you” that they are not up there just for Amazing Grace, which they only deliver after opening with Asimbonanga/Biko and a few other resounding numbers, including less pious traditional ‘township’ and liberation songs, to close with Oh Happy Day! And just short of two hours later, you leave the Cathedral to a clear sky night with the most profound sense that this was an evening to cherish for the rest of your life.



Nkosi Sikelel'iAfrika

*Born in London in 1725, Newton first went to sea at the age of 11 with his father, a merchant navy commander. Press-ganged into the Royal Navy, Newton deserted and was captured, flogged, and transferred to service on a slave ship, eventually rising to command one of these himself. On 10 May 1748, at sea during a ferocious storm, he cried out ‘Lord, have mercy upon us’ – recording later in his journal that his ship was saved, and with it his own soul. Leaving the slave trade, he was ordained as a minister in 1760 and became a leading abolitionist, also writing the several hundred hymns that included Amazing Grace. Newton was rector of St. Mary Woolnoth at the heart of the City of London at the time of his death, a few months after the passing of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act which perfectly rounded off his life’s work: he had been one of William Wilberforce most important mentors.

What an amazing evening it was yesterday! At my son’s (much appreciated) diligence, we went to see the Soweto Gospel Choir performing at St. Paul’s Cathedral. It was a memorable event on many accounts, not least because it was my first time in St. Paul’s Cathedral – I’d been around it, had stood and sat at its doorsteps, had meals at its surroundings, but had never been inside it – mainly because for most of the time I’ve been around it (I used to work nearby) it was closed to the public.



Asimbonanga/Biko

It was also remarkable in that the last time I’d been in a church it was at St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, for an operatic performance of Handel’s Messiah about one and a half years ago. I couldn’t stop myself from musing at the irony of having been to a church in South Africa for a performance of a European composer’s music and being for the first time to St. Paul’s in London for the Soweto Gospel Choir! I couldn’t avoid to notice either how, though still in huge minority, there were much more black people at St. Paul’s yesterday than there were at St. George’s…



Lelilungelo Ngelakho

Well, I can only repeat myself: it was just amazing! The cathedral, which is at least ten times bigger than St. George’s, was filled to the brim, even with tens of extra seating places … the choir, which I hadn’t properly seen or heard before, was at what you are only left to believe it's their best performance – leaving you wondering whether they were rehearsed to the most minute pitch and previously unheard or unthought of variations of the standard soprano, alto, contralto, tenor or baritone, husky and rusty yet clear, powerful and heavenly voices, colourful intonations, polyphonic harmonies, banding and disbanding to banding all over again within the same tune, graceful gesture, thoughtful dance and minimal percussion beat, or if their outstanding performance was just enhanced by the setting: this was a cathedral after all! – something you become unequivocally aware of when back at home you play “Blessed” on your humble CD player…



Masigiye'bo

Here’s how the performance, integrated in the City of London Festival, was presented: ’Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)…’ One of the most instantly recognisable hymns ever created is the musical heart of this spectacular evening of solo and choral song and dance by the Soweto Gospel Choir. Following their triumph in the 2005 Festival, the Choir are warmly welcomed back to St. Paul’s Cathedral as recent Grammy Award winners for the ‘best traditional World Music’ category for their album Blessed. Their programme celebrates a double anniversary: 200 years since the parliamentary abolition of the Atlantic slave trade and 200 years since the death of Amazing Grace’s author, John Newton.*



Thapelo

But, as soon as they start their ‘presentation’, the Choir quickly “rest assures you” that they are not up there just for Amazing Grace, which they only deliver after opening with Asimbonanga/Biko and a few other resounding numbers, including less pious traditional ‘township’ and liberation songs, to close with Oh Happy Day! And just short of two hours later, you leave the Cathedral to a clear sky night with the most profound sense that this was an evening to cherish for the rest of your life.



Nkosi Sikelel'iAfrika

*Born in London in 1725, Newton first went to sea at the age of 11 with his father, a merchant navy commander. Press-ganged into the Royal Navy, Newton deserted and was captured, flogged, and transferred to service on a slave ship, eventually rising to command one of these himself. On 10 May 1748, at sea during a ferocious storm, he cried out ‘Lord, have mercy upon us’ – recording later in his journal that his ship was saved, and with it his own soul. Leaving the slave trade, he was ordained as a minister in 1760 and became a leading abolitionist, also writing the several hundred hymns that included Amazing Grace. Newton was rector of St. Mary Woolnoth at the heart of the City of London at the time of his death, a few months after the passing of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act which perfectly rounded off his life’s work: he had been one of William Wilberforce most important mentors.