BRATTLEBORO — Ten years ago, when The African Children's Choir gave a concert in Barry, Wales, the young Emily Gronow got so excited that she wanted to join the choir.
She didn't. However, the choir came back again last March, and she fell in love with it all over again.
If Gronow was now too old to become a singing member of the choir, she found that she could be part of the organization in another way, as its tour leader. Because she considers her three big interests in life to be music, faith, and children, the job was perfect fit for her, she says.
“I would like to sing with the choir still, but they won't let me,” Gronow says with a laugh.
This month, Gronow is bringing The African Children's Choir to southern Vermont.
On Friday, April 24, at 7 p.m., Agape Christian Fellowship will present the African Children's Choir at Brattleboro Union High School.
Composed of African children, aged 7 to 10 years, The African Children's Choir will perform a program featuring well-loved children's songs, hand clapping, traditional spirituals, and contemporary tunes. The concert is free and open to all, but donations will be taken at the performance to support the African Children's Choir programs, such as education, care and relief, and development programs.
Hosting this group of young singers for southern Vermont is a perfect fit for the Christian Fellowship, because Agape is a non-denominational community church with a strong international contingent. The church has built relationships with students from all over the world who come to study in Brattleboro.
Over the past 20 years, The African Children's Choir has appeared in thousands of concerts around the world, including performances at the Pentagon and the United Nations. It has performed before presidents, heads of state, and most recently the Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth II, for her diamond jubilee.
The choir has sung alongside artists such as Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Keith Urban, Mariah Carey, and Michael W. Smith. Most recently, The African Children's Choir recorded some tracks with Sarah Hickman for a CD, Love Is a Journey. They will also have a small role in the upcoming movie, Pan, from Warner Bros. Pictures, starring Hugh Jackman.
The African Children's Choir is a nonprofit humanitarian and relief organization dedicated to helping Africa's most vulnerable children today so they can help Africa tomorrow. Many of the singers have lost one or both parents through the devastation of war, famine, and disease.
In the midst of a bloody civil war, the first choir was formed in 1984. Members were selected from orphaned and vulnerable children in the Kampala and Luwero areas of Uganda.
They immediately impressed audiences with their vibrancy and outstanding musical talent, and quickly became the spokespeople for the plight of the many thousands of vulnerable children like them in Uganda. The funds they earned through donations provided for their own support and education and more.
To date, more than 1,000 children have been through the choir program and the funds they have generated have provided the opportunity of education and hope for many thousands like them in some of the most desperate and needy areas of Africa.
“People volunteer to help The African Children's Choir by becoming contacts for the village communities,” Gronow says. “Children are assessed for both their musical and academic abilities. Who gets into the choir is dependent on who is neediest, as well as those who would benefit the most from from the experience.”
The primary goal of The African Children's Choir is to raise awareness of the need of destitute and orphaned children in Africa and to raise funds for continued development and support of The African Children's Choir Programs.
The choir's international educational endeavor provides unique training for the children. Once choir members have completed a concert tour, they return to their homelands with the tools necessary for bettering their future.
“Music for Life, the parent organization for The African Children's Choir, develops the choir, and also works with education and has outreach in the community,” says Gronow.
Music for Life's (MFL) purpose is to help create new leadership for tomorrow's Africa by focusing on education. Working in seven African countries - Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa - MFL has educated more than 52,000 children and has had an impact on the lives of more than 100,000 people through its relief and development programs during its history.
MFL runs its program in 12 centers where it works with approximately 50 children in each center. These children have either been orphaned by AIDS, or have parents who can no longer care for and provide for them, or who are in the care of aged grandparents who are unable to effectively care for them. Music for Life centers provides music, dance, life skills, as well as nutrition and education. Many of the centers are actually based in schools.
The African Children's Choir Primary Schools have been developed for children that have all been on tour. The schools build upon the experiences these children have had while performing and continue to further develop these children's talents and abilities while providing the support of a family. In addition, Music for Life runs Community Primary Schools that assists children not in the choir and their communities.
“The choir on the 2015 tour is made up of nine boys and nine girls, all from villages in Uganda,” Gronow says.
All participants being Ugandan is not typical, and tour members often come from all over Africa. Children usually perform only on one tour, and a new group is formed for the next.
The choir performs 90 percent of the time in churches, but also appears in theaters and its members participate in workshops. They end up giving around 200 performances while on tour.
“The choir performs about four times in a week,” says Gronow.
Over the years The African Children Choir has toured the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. This year, the tour originated in the eastern United States.
“We have been going around New England lately,” says Gronow. “ Then we will be heading to Canada, working across the country from east to west. The final leg of the tour will be eight weeks in the UK.”
The choir sings both traditional gospel and less familiar African tribal songs.
“But everything the choir sings conveys their faith in the gospel,” adds Gronow. “Through the gospel, the choir brings a message of hope and positivity. With so much that is written negatively about Africa, this provides an alternative vision, for outsiders and for Africans themselves.”
At the end of the tour, the children return to The African Choir Primary School to continue their education. Gronow says, “Ultimately, these 18 students will go home so that their villages can benefit from what they have learned.”