Greater Freeport Community Chorus performances are May 4, 5

FREEPORT — The Greater Freeport Community Chorus will present “Missa Kenya and Songs Inspired by Africa” in concerts May 4 and 5 in Brunswick and Yarmouth.

The 75-voice chorus will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 4, at the Brunswick United Methodist Church, 320 Church Road, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, May 5, at Sacred Heart Church, 326 Main St., Yarmouth. The group is directed by Virgil Bozeman IV and accompanied by pianist Kellie Moody.
The centerpiece of the concert will be a performance of the five-movement “Missa Kenya” – a setting of Mass texts.
The piece was written by American composer Paul Basler after he spent a sabbatical year at a Nairobi, Kenya, university. He writes in the forward to the composition that it fuses Kenyan musical styles with 20th century American classical styles. He describes it as his “gift to the warm, loving friends I left behind in Nairobi.”
“N’kosi Sikelel’ i Afrika,” or “Lord Bless Africa,” is or has been a national anthem of several African countries. This arrangement was performed by singer-songwriter Paul Simon, South African choral group Ladysmith Black Mambazo and others at a 1987 concert in Zimbabwe.
“Famine Song,” written by the American vocal quartet VIDA, expresses the emotions of Africans who experienced the famine of the 1980s. It tells of Sudanese women who began weaving baskets as a way to survive.
The concert will also include composer Peter Louis van Dijk’s “Horizons,” written for The King’s Singers’ 1995 South African tour, plus Ladysmith Black Mambazo founder Joseph Shabalala’s “Rain, Rain, Beautiful Rain.”
Residents of about 15 Midcoast towns make up the Greater Freeport Community Chorus. Admission will be charged, but the concert is free to anyone under 18. Tickets may be purchased at the door. Visit the chorus on Facebook or at www.gfccsings.org for more information.