Marcia Rowe, Freelance Writer

Despite the main act being the Portmore Chorale, the evening belonged to Alicia Stewart. She is a member of the Waterford Missionary Church, St Catherine, the host church and venue of the recent concert.

Stewart, also a student of Portmore Community College, gave a powerful rendition of Swing Low Sweet Chariot. Her delivery of high and challenging notes was remarkable, likewise her pronunciation and diction. In fact, so good was her performance that towards the end, the Earth shook, perhaps a sign that even the elements concurred with the members of the modest-size audience who gave her a standing ovation on the completion of her act.

Great control of vocals and pitch

However, the Portmore Chorale was not to be outdone. Under the the 'dancing director', Delroy Williams, and accompanied by Karen Henry on piano, the group reinforced the theme of their 23rd concert season, 'Total Praise', through songs such as Joseph M. Martin's arrangements Petition of Praise and Treasure Each Moment; the Burt Bacharach arrangement What the World Needs Now and Our Journey of Faith, arranged by Mark Hayes.

The absence of some of the members of the chorale was not reflected in Deep, Deep Love, another Mark Hayes arrangement. The nine females and five males showed great control of pitch. Deep, Deep Love is a creatively arranged love song and was executed accordingly. The song began with a soloist (Vince Henry) and gradually incorporated the rest of the chorale, both soloist and group capturing the mood of the song.

Beautiful combination

Patsy Ford Simms' arrangement of Canticle of Praise was a display of the talent of pianist Karen Henry, as well as a beautiful combination of voices and keyboard. In this rendition, the males alternated the lines/verses with the females, which, proved to be quite an effective decision.

The first segment of the two-part show ended with a lively performance of He Is a Mighty Lord (arranged by Jay Althouse), while the second part began with contemporary songs such as Order My Steps (arr. Glenn Burleigh), which was also well performed. Other contemporary titles were Total Praise (arranger, Patsy Ford Simms) and Jesus Be a Fence Around Me (arrangement by Sam Cooke).

In the 'Spirituals' segment, the members of the chorale further showcased their talents in the Don Besig's arranged Send Down Your Spirit Lord and Pepper Choplin's Yes, Lord.

Also performing on the programme with a delightful rendition of God is Truly Amazing was a mother (Judy-Marie Williams) and daughter (Charmian- Marie Jack) duo. They performed the song a cappella. The duet ended their performance with a rather entertaining interplay on the line "my God is truly amazing".

But, alas, while the Portmore Chorale sang wonderfully, there is some weakness in the group's formation and movement, especially in the 'Folk' and 'Revival' selections.

A fulfilling concert

Emcee for the Portmore Chorale's 'Total Praise' summer concert was the witty Karen Hewitt-Kennedy. Her timely appearance was accompanied by lines such as "we are not giving God any dibby-dibby praise" and "giving honour to tone-deaf-people".

It was a rather fulfilling concert, but most of all, it was refreshing to not hear members of the audience shouting out the names of the performers on stage.