16 October 2009

IPC Choir Perform for The Ethnic Council of Manawatu's "Rainbow Praise" Concert

A Valuable Experience of Singing in Harmony

By Shirley Ghozalli. Edited by Moira Blake.

First formation to sing the Coventry Carol, with Gillian Claridge as the conductor

Second formation to sing a round, Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning

Café time after the performance

Performing in public is not uncommon for the IPC Choir. They usually perform annually at the Sakura Festival and at special events at IPC around Christmas time. But it was a novelty to be able to perform at an event organized by The Ethnic Council of Manawatu.

"Rainbow Praise", with its catch phrase "Many People Many Songs", took place in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit on Broadway Avenue, Palmerston North, on Sunday, 11th October, from 2 until 4 pm. As stated in the invitation to the event, it brought together people of different ethnicities and cultures to enjoy and share their particular songs of praise as well as for charity. The guests brought in cans of food to be donated to Palmerston North Foodbank or plates of afternoon tea to share.

Beside the IPC Choir, over a dozen groups from Palmerston North's multi-ethnic community participated in the event. Among them were the Russian Cultural and Heritage Choir, the Tokelau Community Choir, the Chinese Congregational Central Baptist choir, and the African United Praise group. Each group performed 2 songs of praise, some including dancers in traditional clothes.

The IPC Choir currently consists of 9 people with IPC lecturers Gillian Claridge as the conductor and Peter Chan as the pianist. For this occasion, the choir prepared 2 songs: Coventry Carol and Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning.

Coventry Carol is an English song dating from 16th century. Singing this song in soprano, alto, and tenor voices was quite challenging but the resulting harmony was very beautiful. The second song, Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning, is a song born out of slavery, with secret messages of hope and freedom. Because this is a round, the choir was divided into 2 groups with the first group starting singing the first part and the second group starting this first part while the first group continued with the second part, and continuing like that until the end of the song. For an extra measure, the choir used thumping feet and snapping fingers to create the steady beat for the song. They also ended the song with a "Shh!" to emphasize the secret in the message. Loud applause filled the church right after the silence of the "Shh!"

At the end of the performance, Gillian Claridge accepted a Certificate of Participation for IPC Choir. All of the choir members felt very proud to be there and this is reflected in a comment from Thi Bich Ngan (Tina) Nguyen, a first year student from Vietnam. "I absolutely love music and I couldn't believe that I was singing in a church at a very big event when I have been here for just 7 weeks! We all practised and had lots of fun. Through IPC Choir, I had a chance to join in an event and to learn more about the music of other countries." With a smile, she added "Join the IPC Choir if you love music!"

The performances were recorded and are to be put onto DVDs which could be ordered from The Ethnic Council of Manawatu for NZ$10.00, with the money going to charity.

<Back  |  ^Top