Harlem Gospel Choir – The Lowry, Salford

MC: Allen Bailey

Reviewer: Helen Jones

The Public Reviews Rating:

Originating in the black churches of the USA, Gospel is a well-recognised and much loved form of music. Formed in Harlem’s Cotton Club in 1986 by Allen Bailey whilst attending a celebration in honour of Martin Luther King, the Harlem Gospel Choir are probably the best known exponents of the music outside of America, and this year they have celebrated twenty five years in the business. Over that period they have worked with or performed for many famous faces.

Allen Bailey acted as MC for the show: introducing the choir at the start, seeing them off for the interval and joining in during the second half. He also got several members of the ‘congregation’ up on stage. Christian to their core, with the majority of the singers still being drawn from the gospel churches of Harlem and New York, the choir stuck with pure gospel for the first half of the concert. Various members took the lead vocal, all proving tremendous power and vocal range. However the true sweetness of their voices was more apparent when they moved into the auditorium and sang without any amplification.

During the second half, the choir performed more commercial music including Amazing Grace and We Are The World; if there was a gripe it was that each track had too many repetitions rather than moving on to another number which would keep the concert flowing better. But the harmonies were tight and the nine singers were superbly backed by a drummer and a keyboard player.

A large part of the entire gospel experience is the interaction between the audience and the performers. The congregation were encouraged to clap, wave, stomp and sing along in order to get into the spirit of the event.

The Harlem Gospel Choir take baptist Christianity and make it accessible to the masses in a joyous and uplifting form, which can be appreciated by those of all faiths and those of a non-religious bent, as it is simply a night of sheer entertainment.