Clap your hands, say yeah

You don't have to love the lord to get down in the aisles with Ireland's growing gospel music choirs - but it helps

THE SISTER ACTmovies had developed a devout following among sixth-year students of St Joseph's school in Stanhope Street, Dublin by the time they began preparing for their graduation mass in 1996. "The students didn't want to sing the usual staid songs and hymns that were being suggested," recalls Franciscan Brother Richard Hendrick, one of the Capuchin friars who helped the students to coordinate the event.

"They had seen the Sister Actmovies and they wanted to do something different, something they could connect with. That was how it all started."

Back then, this country was “a gospel music wasteland” says Hendrick, as a host of choirs, bands and solo singers warm up their vocal chords and iron their gowns for the first International Gospel Festival being held in Dublin’s new Convention Centre this Saturday.

His Stanhope Street students, who would later become the Dublin Gospel Choir, went down a storm at the graduation mass 15 years ago, in scenes that would have had Whoopi Goldberg and her wimple swaying in the aisles.

Following this early success, they formed the St Mary of the Angels Choir, named after the church where they rehearsed in inner-city Dublin. “It took us a year to prepare for one concert, there was a lot of work to be done,” says Hendrick. That debut concert attracted 1,200 young people and encouraged the choir to take their own brand of gospel to churches and secular venues around Ireland.

With its roots in the songs of praise sung by African slaves in the cotton fields and plantations of America, gospel music has broadened to encompass everything from reggae to jazz, infused with the genre’s soulful Christian message.

In Ireland, over the past decade, developments such as the influx of African evangelical churches and the spread of gospel music through the mainstream churches, have led to a thriving community of gospel groups and choirs. The Discovery Gospel Choir, who also feature at the festival, have performed in Mountjoy Prison, Stormont and shared stages with the likes of Stevie Wonder. The Dublin Gospel Choir has almost become a household name, and they make regular appearances at weddings and corporate events. They are the only act to have performed at every Electric Picnic, where they do a Sunday morning service on the main stage.

This community is vibrant enough to have sustained three gospel gatherings in recent years, including a Gospel Workshop Festival run by the Dublin Gospel Choir, the Gospel Rising festival in Ennis, and now the Dublin International Gospel Festival, which has been co-ordinated by the Metro Éireannnewspaper as part of its 10-year celebrations. In addition to the Dublin Gospel Choir, it will feature solo singer Shaz Oye, the Discovery Gospel Choir, Sinéad O'Connor and the Redeemed Christian Church of God Praise Choir. Workshops on the day will include a history of gospel music and a seminar on "faith and race".

John Crofton, general manager of the Dublin Gospel Choir, says Irish audiences can be a bit turned off by the “praise the lord” element of gospel music. “We tend to keep the preaching element for the church performances. When we do secular venues we stick to the singing. The music has its own way of preaching. And some audiences don’t want to pay €20 to hear someone tell them to ‘praise the lord’.”

For other church choirs who rarely perform for audiences outside of their own congregations, the preaching element is paramount. “Music is a very important part of worship,” says Pastor Coo of the Redeemed Christian Church in Ballyfermot, Dublin. “It’s about ushering people into the very presence of God, the music is equally as important as the sermon.”

Crofton adds that while the immigrant community here is well used to the jubilant, arms aloft, physical displays that accompany gospel services, Irish audiences can take a bit more persuasion.

“At our twice monthly gospel Mass in Church Street [in Dublin] we never have a problem with the foreigners who come, but you see all the Irish people who have been coming to the Mass for years standing there, afraid to move,” he laughs.

“I think it’s ingrained in us Catholics, you stand up when you are told to stand up, kneel when you are told to kneel. I suppose we’ve been trying to break that mould and the gospel festival is a way to bring it to even more people.”

The gospel top five . . .

. . . according to the Dublin Gospel Choir

Oh Happy Day

“We’d be in trouble if we didn’t do that one”

Higher and Higher

“Always gets audiences, even shy Irish ones, on their feet”

Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

“Over the years it’s remained popular, everyone knows it and loves it.”

The Ark

“A little known song by the London Community Gospel Choir, a big gospel anthem for us which goes down really well”

My Life, My Love, My All

“The ultimate gospel song, a slow powerful ballad, incredible words and music”

www.dublingospelmusicfestival.com

* The New Ross Piano Festival will take place at St Mary’s Church this weekend. An incorrect venue was given in an article yesterday.