By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
The Voices at BGSU persevered throughout the pandemic.
That’s not surprising given the choral ensemble devoted to the performance of Negro Spirituals. These were the songs that sustained African Americans through centuries of enslavement and oppression. These songs embody the spirit of aspiration and resistance.
“We don’t want that art form to die,” said Dwayne Gary, the president of the group. “The Negro Spirituals tell our history and is very applicable today. It might be a different context, but the morals and the lessons still apply. … The principles that the Negro Spirituals teach us, to push forward through adversity, push through hard times, are what we need now with the COVID era and all that.”
Gary was speaking last month as the ensemble prepared to record its annual recital. That recital is expected to debut Monday on the Voices’ YouTube channel. The pandemic meant it has not been able to perform live, and its annual December tour had to be canceled.
This year’s director Micah Pendleton said with such a limited schedule of activities it has been tough keeping morale up.
Still Voices is still important to its members.
“It definitely gives me lessons of happiness in such a negative time, being with my family here,” said Deyante Johnson. There may not be as many performances “but we’re all coming together and doing something great.”
A major in finance and accounting from Columbus, Johnson said he was recruited by the previous Voices director Coniyah McKinney.
Johnson played clarinet in band, but didn’t realize his vocal talents until another student heard him sing and asked him to perform at a Black History Month event.
The applause he received made him realize he could pursue singing.
So he joined Voices, though he was a little hesitant. He’d never sung in a choir before and never really listened to spiritual music before.
He did more than find his singing voice, he found fellowship in the ensemble, and education about spirituals’ role in African America history.
“Coniyah gave us background, a vision, on what the piece means,” Johnson said. “It was being enlightened about the past and how we’re spreading the culture.”
The spiritual “My Soul Is Anchored in the Lord,” Gary said, is about being “unmovable” in your convictions.
“We’re not forcing Christian views, but that was how people of the time were feeling, how they wanted to create their message. Just because it was a different time doesn’t invalidate it now.”
The spirituals connect with contemporary music, he said. “We sing gospel. We hear a lot R&B, and pop and hip hop. They all stem from spirituals. If you start from the beginning, you know where you’re going. You can better interpret the songs you hear today. You actually connect meaning to it.”
Shayla Green was also recruited by McKinney.
She was also seeking out community. She transferred as a sophomore after spending her first year of college at Arizona State. That first year in Bowling Green the film production major she wasn’t involved in campus, simply hanging out with a few friends.
Then she was walking past the information tables in the student union, when McKinney approached her and asked: “Do you sing?’
He told her about Voices, and gave her information about the audition.
At lunch, a close friend saw the flyer and told her Green really needed to audition.
Green had sung in choir from middle school through graduation from Centennial High in Columbus and participated in musical theater.
But, she said, she’s shy and was reluctant, but she went to the audition.
“They were so welcoming,” Green said. Still she wasn’t sure she’d get in.
“When I got the email my heart dropped in the best way. I was so enormously happy. When I first walked into the door I was intimidated, but wow , I’m so blessed to be here. I’m so blessed to be part of the organization.”
Gary said the auditions are about more than vocal talent. “You don’t necessarily have be a singer to join Voices. You just have to have the spirit and the willingness to learn.”
It’s a multiracial group. “We don’t look at race and creed when we’re recruiting,” he said.
Voices was established as a recognized student organization in October 2013 by founding director Chris Carter. Carter is the one who recruited Gary. They met at choir festivals in Detroit – Gary attended Renaissance while Carter attended Cass.
When Gary arrived on campus he already knew of Voices, and joined right away.
Even during the pandemic the group has maintained enrollment of about three dozen singers. In 2019, Gary said, there were about 50.
Since their founding the Voices have sung at campus functions and in the Ohio statehouse. Last year when BRAVE presented Bowling Green’s first ever Juneteenth Celebration, the sound of the Voices were a central element..
Every December until this year, the Voices have gone on tour.
They sing in churches, hospitals, Boys and Girls clubs, soup kitchens and elsewhere.
“We try to be active in community service,” he said.
But they also make sure they set aside a day just to relax and have fun. “The tour is a real bonding moment for Voices,” Gary said.
“The community has done wonders for my confidence,” Green said. That sense of confidence for a young person, she said, is a roller coaster. “Sometimes life is your oyster, and you go and grab it.” But then “the influence of social media and others get in your head and it kind of dims your light and confuses you as to who you are.”
The Voices have provided a support system, she said, and helped her overcome challenges she’s faced.
“It’s definitely made me more outgoing,” she said. Not only has she found lifelong friends, but she’s also developed “a lifelong confidence I can draw on.”
And the Voices have exposed her to an important link to her heritage.
“This was the first time I really engaged in music from my ancestors’ past. This pays respect and homage to our ancestors. … They had Negro Spirituals to help them get through some terrible, terrible times,” Green said.
“It’s crazy how the lyrics were written hundred years ago, but they really still connect with you in way that literally moves you to tears as you’re going through things on campus as a black student or just as a first generation student, with a lot of added pressures. This is just a beautiful type of release.”
