NM Peace Choir 10th anniversary concerts in sa国际传媒官网网页入口, Gallup, Crownpoint and Grants
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The New Mexico Peace Choir is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a new concert program, 鈥淚n All Things Peace,鈥� at Central United Methodist Church on the afternoon of Sunday, June 8. The choir then travels to western New Mexico.
鈥淚n All Things Peace鈥� includes a selection of soul-stirring songs, from the traditional spiritual 鈥淒own by the Riverside鈥� to the group鈥檚 signature song, 鈥淭his Is Who We Are,鈥� which the composer Mark Burroughs wrote for them .
鈥溾�楾his Is Who We Are鈥� directly addresses what a choir can be in terms of a voice for unity, a voice for peace, a voice for justice and a light in a dark world,鈥� said David Poole, the choir鈥檚 artistic director.
The choir will be joined by guest percussionist Ricardo Sarto, pianist Martha Dalager and a sign language interpreter .
The first modern peace choir, the Seattle Peace Chorus, was founded in 1983, initially to raise awareness about the threat of nuclear war. Since then, many independent peace choirs have popped up around the world, including the N.M. Peace Choir in 2015. Poole said New Mexico鈥檚 choir is not focused exclusively on peace in a geopolitical sense, but also on peace as a state of mind that begins with individuals.
鈥淭he title of the concert, 鈥業n All Things Peace,鈥� is meant to remind our audience and ourselves of what our goal is. The concert is intended to explore peace in its manifold contexts and connotations,鈥� Poole said. 鈥淧eople probably think most immediately of peace in a geopolitical context. Of course, it鈥檚 very natural to think that way in our place and time, because that鈥檚 just something that is so lacking, and it seems so much of a sore point in the world. And we definitely have songs that are more focused on that.鈥�
鈥淏ut there鈥檚 also peace within a family, there鈥檚 peace among friends 鈥� there鈥檚 humanity鈥檚 relationship with nature and the call to be more in kinship with nature. We talk about peace within nature being, to some extent, a model and a metaphor for peace in the human world,鈥� Poole said. 鈥淎nd then, of course, there鈥檚 inner peace within an individual human being. So, I consider all of those subjects ones that the Peace Choir should, and does, embrace.鈥�
Poole felt it was important to take their message of peace, hope and healing to communities beyond sa国际传媒官网网页入口.
鈥淚 see this as a long-term investment,鈥� Poole said. 鈥淲e want to have a relationship in that part of the state.鈥�
One of the choir鈥檚 newest members, Scott Sharot, has sung professionally for decades, including with de Profundis, an a capella men鈥檚 choir in sa国际传媒官网网页入口 that Poole used to conduct.
鈥淚鈥檓 a singer, and I鈥檝e got to be singing,鈥� Sharot said. 鈥淎nd literally, I wasn鈥檛 singing, and I was getting very unhappy. I couldn鈥檛 find a group that was a good fit. Then, last year, I went to a Peace Choir concert, and I was moved to tears several times by the beauty and the power of the music.鈥�
After the concert, Sharot asked Poole if he could join, and within a week he was part of the group.
Sharot said the choir has not only satisfied his need to sing but has also helped him rediscover joy and hope at a time when the daily news often fills him with anger and despair.
鈥淥ne of the things that I鈥檓 doing right now, in this very difficult time for me politically in this country, is to do things that I love. And this is one of them, and it鈥檚 definitely helping,鈥� Sharot said. 鈥淚 leave rehearsals every time so uplifted and so grateful that I joined.鈥�
Poole said that both singers and audience members often tell him how uplifted the choir makes them feel.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a big difference between what you would hear from the audience afterwards, because the focus is different. We used to hear, 鈥楾he music was wonderful.鈥� But what we hear now is, 鈥榃e were uplifted,鈥� or 鈥榃e were reminded of the potential in humanity,鈥欌�� Poole said. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 the most encouraging thing someone could say to me these days 鈥� whether it鈥檚 a choir member or an audience member 鈥� that it fed us, that it revived us, that it rekindled our hope and our faith.鈥�
Poole was quick to note that 鈥渇aith,鈥� in his understanding, is not limited to any particular religious or spiritual tradition.
鈥淥ne of the chief tenets of the Peace Choir is that we are, I would say, fairly rigorously nonsectarian,鈥� Poole said. 鈥淔or example, we鈥檙e singing in this concert a piece based on the prayer of St. Francis, 鈥楳ake Us a Channel of Your Peace鈥� (by Bob Chilcott). But the text is slightly reimagined, so there鈥檚 no reference to God. So, we are careful to avoid appearing to favor any one tradition. By favoring none, we try to be open to everything.鈥�
In the past, the choir has sung in multiple languages, including Arabic and Hebrew. Their current repertoire includes songs with lines in Swahili and Italian.
鈥淭he one that has the Italian in it is 鈥楲ife Is Beautiful鈥� by Z. Randall Stroope, who happens to be a Santa Fe resident,鈥� Poole said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a gorgeous, lush, romantic piece 鈥� a kind of compressed ballad, where the person starts out as a young kid, climbing an apple tree and looking over the fence to try to discern what the world is like out there 鈥� Then, they come back as an older person, too old to climb the tree anymore, but realizing that the beauty and the serenity was right there in the apple orchard all along.鈥�
