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Soweto Gospel Choir and Springside School leave their mark on Philadelphia
Grateful thanks go to Debbie Posmontier, organizer of Philadephia’s Springside School contribution to KasCare.
She also played an enormous role in their inclusion onstage at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia where the world famous Soweto Gospel Choir performed at the end of January.
This is her account:
‘What a day! It was fabulous beyond words!
‘It is 1:00 AM and we are just getting home. Jackie and her husband Mario and Sonia and her husband Peter were a big help. Hanna got a ticket at the last minute and sat with the choir girls. Jessica, the college student who has knitted along with us, came along and brought 99 squares her club had knitted. Everyone was so helpful. Many, many people stopped by the table to donate squares and money and one go-over. We collected $287!
‘The girls presented the blankets on stage just before the last encore. They were dressed in black, each wearing a different, jewel colored scarf like a stole hanging around their neck. They proceeded from the audience up the steps onto the stage on the left side, walked across the stage and stopped in front of the Soweto GC singers.
‘During this time, a member of the SGC read [our] announcement in her lovely, lilting, accented voice. Each girl held open her blanket and handed it to a singer. They in turn held the blankets up high while the audience applauded and whistled and yelled.
‘Then some of the SGC singers and musicians wrapped themselves in the blankets and sang Oh Happy Day with the girls still on the stage and singing and clapping along. We were all asked to stand and sing along, too. The crowd cheered wildly as the girls walked off the stage to the right.
Soon after the concert, Roger interviewed Debbie by phone at home inn Philadelphia:
‘People from all over the world responded. The community effort was amazing and the blankets were gorgeous. Every one that came became like my child. I didn’t want to give them up. They were just so beautiful. I had them upstairs in our spare bedroom and every now and then I’d go up and admire them,’ she said.
The spirit of community also permeated the conent, expecially after the blanket presentation, she said.
‘I was ecstatic and so were all the other women with me, and the husbands too. Were just applauding; we were standing . . . and the audience was wild. It was just wonderful. I couldn’t sleep Saturday night.
‘My husband mentioned this and he’s a musician. He said the combination of the the rhythms and the harmonies and the blankets, and the colours of the blankets on stage was just overwhelming It was so beautiful and the feeling of the community— we are one. We are all one people no matter where we come from, not matter what we do. We are all one people. That was very powerful,’ she said. |
