Gospel Choir festival kicks off

THE country’s first Gospel Choir Festival starts in Ennis this Friday evening. Gospel choirs from all over Ireland and England are coming to town to take part in the festival, hosted by The Really Truly Joyful Gospel Choir.
Fiona Walsh, conductor of the Ennis choir, said that they are very excited about the festival. “This is a huge deal for all of us involved, not only here in Ennis but everyone who is taking part. There are gospel choir festivals in the United States every year but this is a first for Ireland. We are delighted to have the opportunity to host the festival,” she said.
The Ennis Gospel Choir have been singing together for almost five years.
“We all got involved in it because of a common love of gospel music. We wanted an outlet to perform and other choirs, while they are very good, were not for us, so we came up with the idea of a gospel choir and came up with the name because we really and truly do feel joyful when we are performing,” Fiona added.
The Irish Gospel Music Festival, called Gospel Rising, will run in Ennis from Friday to Sunday. It is being organised and ran by a group of friends belonging to several different choirs from all over Ireland who saw a need for a social, educational and fun event which could bring together lovers of gospel music from all over the country to learn from each other and from networks and friendships.
“The festival is built around a series of workshops encompassing gospel music style, repertoire, choreography, soloist technique and technical aspects of sound and band work. The event will culminate in a gig in Glór on Saturday night, which showcases Ireland’s many gospel music styles. There will be six choirs on stage, London Community Gospel Choir members and Andrae Crouch,” one of the festival organisers said.
There will be a series of gospel music workshops throughout the weekend, with Jack L, who is currently touring with a gospel choir, running his own workshop on Sunday afternoon.
The festival kicks off on Friday with a Gospel Jam. This will be a fun and interactive workshop with members of the great London Community Gospel Choir. The LCGC will also be taking some of the workshops on Saturday along with other facilitators including Lourdes O Donoghue, Niall Varley and Eimear Crehan.
One of the godfathers of gospel music, Andrae Crouch, is also dropping into the festival. His choir, the Andrae Crouch Choir, sang with Michael Jackson in Man in the Mirror. He will be taking part in two of the Saturday workshops as well as performing at the Saturday night festival gig.
Bookings for the festival can be made through www.GospelRising.com. Most of the festival events are being held in Glór, and full details are also available on the website.