Energy is the operative word at Peace, a concert at Zellerbach Hall on Sunday. Photo by Stefan Meekers.
By WOODY WEINGARTEN
It was hard to believe that 16 singers from South Africa could sustain the amount of energy they expended Sunday.
Their arms kept flailing, their legs kept pumping, and their butts kept shaking in the first half of a concert titled Peace at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley. Solo voices reverberated with gusto as the rest of the all-black, three-time Grammy-winning Soweto Gospel Choir harmonized behind them, their bright, colorful costumes undulating and rolling to rhythms so complex and fast they sometimes impeded audience toe-tapping.=
The packed crowd was nevertheless drawn into the songs, clapping and singing along and shouting approval, as well as offering an almost universal standing ovation at the end of the 95-minute concert. Support seemed loudest when freedom songs became political and angry and reminiscent of anti-apartheid struggles and rallies — and the choreography was highlighted by outstretched arms with fists.=
It was amazing that just two men — a keyboard artist and a percussionist — could supply sufficient musical sound to be a booming but flawless foundation for the vocals, which ranged from the melancholy sweetness of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” to screeching like birds and animals.
Colorful backdrop complements costumes of Soweto Gospel Choir. Photo by Stefan Meekers.
The second half of the pre-Christmas concert was a contrast — soft, spiritual, and spunky — featuring gospel standards, snippets of four carols, and then ending with the rousing Leonard Cohen classic, “Hallelujah.”
Being present for the 23 musical numbers, which are sung in six African languages plus English, meant having a vibrant experience that dragged a listener emotionally back to the heyday of Nelson Mandela and Dr. Martin Luther King. It also became impossible to ignore the fact that Donald J. Trump is currently allowing only whites to emigrate from South Africa.
Members of Soweto Gospel Choir are in sync. Photo by Stefan Meekers.
The choir, which was formed in 2002 “to celebrate the unique and inspirational power of African gospel music,” stands, in effect, as a tribute, to Soweto township, a suburb of the city of Johannesburg. The area became world famous in June of 1976 with the Soweto rebellion, when up to 20,000 school children protested the government’s policy supporting education in Afrikaans, “the language of the oppressor,” rather than the native tongue. Police opened fire on the students.
In a sense, the Soweto Gospel Choir is a living monument to those who were killed.
Upcoming vocal performances at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley include the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus in a holiday spectacular Saturday, Dec. 20 and An Evening with Kelli O’Hara on Saturday, Jan. 31.
