Children's choir from Africa to perform in area
The African Children's Choir, a musical ensemble that travels around the world to perform and raise money for charity, will be performing three concerts on Dec. 4 in Butler County.
The Children's Choir will perform at 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. at Mars Alliance Church in Adams Township and at 7 p.m. at St. Kilian Roman Catholic Church in Cranberry Township.
The choir performs free concerts and does not distribute tickets, but accepts donations for its parent organization Music For Life. The donations go toward education, care and relief and development programs in seven African nations: Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa.
The group coming to Western Pennsylvania is the 46th rendition of the choir and is composed of seven boys and 11 girls from Uganda.
The choir, founded in 1984, takes children between the ages of 7 and 10 on tour. They perform an 80-minute show that includes traditional African song and dance and also contemporary Christian gospel music.
“As good as the music and the dancing is, I think what moves people is the spirit of the children the hope and the joy from the stage. It's pure unadulterated energy,” said Tina Sipp, choir manager based in Spokane, Wash.
One of the group's goals is to raise money and awareness for the problems facing many of the nations of Africa, but the program has a positive message and focuses on teaching about the culture of the African people.
“We're investing in real lives. We're really raising up these children to be able to achieve what God has in store for them,” Sipp said.
The children are selected for the choir based not necessarily on musical ability, but on neediness, Sipp said.
In Uganda, a former British colony, schooling is done in English, but some of the children still need help learning to read and write in English.
To minimize costs and to allow the children to continue their education while on tour, they perform mostly at churches and partner with churches to find families willing to host the children. After returning to Africa, the children attend a special school just for choir participants and the organization helps them go to college or vocational school.
The two chaperones who travel with the choir and also participate in the performance are adults who are also alumni of the group.
Music for Life has educated over 52,000 children and affected the lives of over 100,000 people through its programs, according to its website.
There are about 50 children each at six Music for Life centers in Uganda, Kenya and South Africa. The centers support and educate children who were orphaned by AIDS or have parents who can no longer take care of them.
For more information, visit africanchildrenschoir.com.
