Concert unites black and white congregations
Singers from nearly 20 churches will join for a celebration of unity and progression at the 12th annual Sounds of Unity Concert tonight.
With more than 150 active members, the group forms the largest multicultural choir in the city, according to its founder, Marcellus Barnes.
Barnes calls it the finale year because after this year, the Sounds of Unity choir will be under the umbrella of his Unity of Performing Arts Foundation.
Unity of Performing Arts Foundation focuses on youth in grades 2-12. But it will also include a component for adults, where adults will perform and assist youth as mentors. Several adults in the choir are already regular financial supporters of the foundation, says Barnes.
He performed his first Black History Month concert in Chattanooga in 2005 with two majority-black churches, Hawkinsville and Mount Canaan Baptist. Then he met minister of music Sam Patton, who was the former music director for New United Church. Several more majority-black churches joined the fellowship, and the Sounds of Unity Choir was born with a combined 19 choirs.
“Someone said we were like Batman and Robin,” says Barnes. “I worked the voices, and he (Patton) did the music.”
Then in April 2007, Beth Trussell of Worship Chattanooga arranged for her group and Sounds of Unity to sing together. The two ensembles sang together for two years before Worship Chattanooga disbanded. Barnes continued meeting with the ministers and church leaders he met when they sang together.
He invited the majority-white churches to sing with them for the Black History Month program in 2015.
Both groups wanted to show unity after the death of Michael Brown and the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, around the country that followed.
Tonight, the Sounds of Unity Choir will sing again, featuring singers from at least 19 churches, including Olivet Baptist, Hurst United Methodist and Greater Park City. The concert starts at 6 p.m. at Bayside Baptist Church.
Barnes also will honor two community leaders at the concert.
Book McCray, who founded a mentoring program reaching hundreds of boys, will be honored with the 2018 Trailblazer Award. The honor is usually given to people who
have been in the community for at least 30 years, says Barnes. And Patricia Shackelford-Gray will receive the 2018 Community Activist Award for her advocacy work for youth and young adults.
The Sounds of Unity concert is really a showcase for the Unity Performing Arts Foundation,
says Barnes.
“For 13 years we’ve celebrated black history, but now we’re not only celebrating history but we’re celebrating a succession through Unity Performing Arts that will allow the community to see every facet of the performing arts program we have,” he says.
Tickets are $10. Barnes
hopes the contribution is just the start of a relationship with the foundation. He wants 1,000 people to commit to giving $10 a month. The money supports the foundation.
It includes 75 students from throughout the county who practice the arts weekly during the school year. No student pays for
anything. Teachers offer percussion, guitar, dance and creative-writing classes at Orchard Knob Elementary School on Mondays. It offers vocal lessons and choir on Tuesdays. Barnes stacked the foundation with experienced instructors including dancer Kaylen Shaw, guitarist Reed Caldwell and percussionist Brandon McNary.
Shaw, a 2015 East Hamilton High School graduate, danced full-time on tour with gospel recording artist Eddie James for two years. Caldwell has more than 30 years’ experience playing the guitar. He is executive director of the Songbirds Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the Songbirds Guitar Museum. And McNary, a native of Gary, Ind., played percussion with several national recording artists over a 25-year career.
Keenan Burroughs, a 13-year-old participant who will sing a solo tonight, calls the foundation a good place for youth.
“After school, kids get into their art and just be free to express themselves however they like,” he says.
Barnes says the foundation allows him to continue showcasing the city’s unity while offering other students the life-changing leadership and discipline that the arts gave him.
“I will never not pay homage to the arts because I know what it can do,” he says. “I’m a living testament of how it can help you become a better person.”