06.03.2014
Discovery Gospel Choir Celebrates 10th Anniversary
Billed as the “most multicultural choir in Ireland”, the Discovery Gospel Choir is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. It will mark the occasion with a special concert in Dublin during the forthcoming bank holiday weekend.
Discovery Gospel Choir – whose members hail from 17 different countries spanning four continents across the globe – will hold the ‘Home’ concert at Christ Church Cathedral on Saturday March 15 at 8.00 pm.
Formed in 2004 and based in the city centre church of St George and St Thomas’, Discovery Gospel Choir has a strong ethos of integration, development and reconciliation, and is made up of 30 singers and musicians. Over the past decade, it has gained a reputation for infectiously energetic performances and an extremely diverse membership.
Speaking at the launch of the ‘Home’ concert, Aisling McCormick, Musical Director with Discovery Gospel Choir, said: “Our choir was formed at a time when Irish society was rapidly changing and becoming more diverse than it had ever been in the past. Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, people from all over the world migrated to Ireland, and chose this country as their new home.
“At the beginning, the founders of Discovery Gospel Choir very deliberately reached out to migrant communities to source singers and musicians for the choir, with the result that we became the most multicultural choir in Ireland. Ten years later, our membership is still really diverse, with some of our members hailing from as far afield as Singapore, Zambia, India and Zimbabwe.
“We’ve decided to call this anniversary concert ‘Home’ to reflect the fact that Discovery Gospel Choir has served as a home of sorts for many of its members over the past decade. Lots of our singers and musicians were newly arrived migrants when they joined the choir so, for them, being a part of Discovery was about much more than music and singing: it allowed them to forge links in their new home country; meet people and make friends; and develop a sense of belonging and even one of family.
“It’s not just our international members who value the choir in that way: many of our Irish members would also describe the choir and the sense of belonging it gives them as a second home. With our anniversary concert taking place during the St Patrick’s Festival weekend, we hope the theme will resonate with audiences too, as many people return home and many more visit Dublin for the first time to celebrate our national holiday.”
The ‘Home’ concert will reflect Discovery Gospel Choir’s multicultural focus, with the programme including pieces from South Africa, Mauritius, Romania and Haiti, as well as a number of traditional Irish pieces by well–known composers Seán Ó Riada and Seán Davey. A number of special guests will perform alongside Discovery Gospel Choir at the event, including Congolese guitarist Niwel Tsumbu and Norwegian ensemble Drøbak Gospel.
Commenting on the line–up, Aisling McCormick said: “The past 10 years have flown and it’s impossible to represent every nationality that has been involved in the choir along the way, but we’ve tried to cram as much as we could into the programme, and it is shaping up to be a fantastic night. We’re delighted to be working with Niwel Tsumbu once again and are really looking forward to welcoming Drøbak Gospel, who are coming all the way from Norway to perform songs from the Arctic Circle here in Dublin.
Tickets for the ‘Home’ concert can be purchased through entertainment.ie for €12 (concession of €10 for OAPs, students and the unwaged). A small number of tickets will also be available on the door on the night, on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. Doors will open at 7.30pm. For further information, see www.discoverygospelchoir.com.