Even behind bars, Umoja chorus has impact

By Janele Gelfand

 

LEBANON, OH — They sang the African-American spiritual “There is a Balm in Gilead” a cappella, from memory and with focused sound. They communicated with style in a gospel tune, “Glorious,” side-stepping to its Afro-pop beat.

It might have been a chorus singing in any competition anywhere. Except that these were prisoners, performing behind the barbed-wire fences of the Warren Correctional Institution in Lebanon. The Umoja Men’s Chorus was competing before a special jury, which traveled to Lebanon to hear them compete a day before the official opening of the 2012 World Choir Games. The Opening Ceremony is tonight in U.S. Bank Arena.

On Tuesday, 16 men stood tall in a semi-circle and concentrated hard as their founding director, Catherine Roma, led them through two sets of spiritual and gospel songs in a small room normally used for visitors. Seated behind a table, a three-member jury from the Choir Games took notes. Cameras rolled from a crush of media.