IF THERE were any complaints from patrons of Choir Fest 2004 at Stella Maris school grounds on Sunday, it would have been that the function went on too long.
Starting just after 5:00 p.m., the festival, which comprised 14 acts, ended at 10:00 p.m.
Alvin Slaughter, American music minister, recording artist and friend of Jamaica which he has been visiting for 12 years was on stage at the time. He'd been for 50 minutes and reportedly was willing to continue, except that Stella Maris Prep School Principal, Sister Mary Augustine, insisted on a 10 o'clock cut-off. She had to consider the neighbours.
The principal who, along with the Prep School PTA president, Patricia Sutherland, hosted the event, had earlier informed the large crowd of parents, children and friends of the school that the festival was aimed at raising money to build an Olympic-size swimming pool on the grounds.
After the event, vice-principal Pat Peryer told The Gleaner that the planners were 'quite pleased' with the function, which put them 'well on the way' toward achieving the objective.
Before the festival started, there was an innovative, audience-judged 'sing off' among four choirs for prizes from sponsors. Taking part in the competition were Life of Jamaica Chorale, Escarpment Road Youth Choir, Jamaica Vocal Ensemble and Manchester Parish Choir. Coincidentally, they placed in the reverse order of their performances, with the Manchester Choir winning.
The festival segment of the evening began with the Catholic Combined Mass Choir. Their singing and movement suggested that the members must have 'combined' only minutes before.
While that choir's performance left a lot to be desired, the others who followed got steadily better.
Second up on stage was Grand Cayman's Jesus and Me Youth Chorale, a sincere-looking seven-member ensemble from, what we heard, a larger 45-member choir.
The 30-odd strong Portmore Vision Choir in blue and silver robes were next. Led by a dynamic conductor, the choir delivered Omnipotent, a complex gospel number full of dramatic pauses and flourishes. Enthusiastic applause and cheers was their reward.
Sons and Daughters, a choir of about 20, were as enthusiastic and even more controlled, including the member who started 'testifying'. They were followed by a dance group, Rock Dancers, with six young women who danced with large lengths of black, green and gold cloth. Not surprisingly and it drew much applause the dance climaxed with the material being used to form the Jamaican flag.
The Kingston College Chapel Choir delivered three beautifully controlled items, one of them in the classical vein. The other two were Negro Spirituals, You Can't Go to Heaven in a Rockin' Chair and I Got a Crown up in the Kingdom.
After Junior Hearing Hearts, a children's 'choir', which did not sing but instead acted out a taped song, performed, the Rock Choir, from Church on the Rock, delivered several pleasing gospel songs.
The festival segment climaxed with Kencot Seventh-Day Adventist Choir which, at full-strength, consists of about 90 members. About half of those were on stage to deliver a number of powerful items, the last one being an African gospel song.
A break followed then Slaughter, the evening's chief performer, came bouncing onto the stage. An artiste who travels all over the world every year to sing his praise songs, Slaughter had the audience on their feet and rocking with him from his first song, Shout. In his 50-minute set, he was backed by singers from choirs which had performed earlier.
The choir festival resulted from a collaboration between Tommy Cowan's Glory Music and the Stella Maris Preparatory School's Parent Teachers Association. Patron was Catholic Archbishop of Kingston, the Most Rev. Laurence Burke.
Mr. Cowan told the audience that his vision for the future was of choirs from all over the world coming to Jamaica 'to praise God', while PTA president Sutherland said, "We hope we'll have many more like this... and it's going to get bigger and better."
No doubt, the hundreds who enjoyed Sunday's Choir Fest share her hope.
