A heady mixture of gospel, world music and folk!

Quire’s new CD ‘SHOUT!’ is now available.

Music Director and founder of Quire Prof Bill Tamblyn says “Quire’s new CD is such a delight of sounds and songs – a real feast of musical treasures from around the world – songs which would have been lost unless Quire sang them. Now Quire has breathed new life into these songs with their infectious enthusiasm and lively exuberant style which audiences love.”

This CD reflects Quire as it is today; a choir that has grown from a modest beginning in a little classroom at an adult education college 6 years ago, to becoming a World Music Choir with a reputation for presenting world music songs in the original languages with passion and empathy with the people around the world.

The members of Quire share a love of music drawn from choral traditions around the world. World music buffs will recognise the influence of recent visitors to Quire: Larry Gordon and Northern Harmony from the USA, who gave us music from the Balkans, and Julian Raphael from New Zealand. We have expanded in number from the 60 members who made Festival to over 70 today. Where a large group would be inappropriate, we have introduced some music for smaller groups – ‘chamber’ music as it were. Towering Angels sing music from the Balkans and the Appalachians; Octavia sings African, Gospel and Hispanic songs. We also provide smaller groups to deliver our Quire in Education programme and to entertain at social functions.

We are what we are – a Community Choir exploring the World Music repertory, making cultural and artistic links with visiting singers from around the world and having fun in the process. We give inspirational concerts accompanied by professional pianists and percussionists to enhance our final performance. As the director I know that the best way to get the ‘Quire’ experience is to come to a live gig, or sing with us. Recordings like this only tell a part of the Quire story.

As for now – we offer you a token – our third CD. We hope it will intrigue you enough to want to come and be with us.

What you can hear on Shout!
In the section of songs headed ‘The Africa Connection’ Balaacoolwe was collected by ethnomusicologist Jan Marten de Vries; Fiela was notated from a field recording; Gabi Gabi was one of the first Zulu pieces to be published in the 1980s in the UK in ‘Freedom is Coming’. Shosholosa could be about the train I found at Livingstone (Zambia) taking workers from Zimbabwe to the mines of South Africa.

In The Pacific Rim we include a song of the disappeared collected by Maggie Hamilton, known usually as Yo te nombro, and two of the songs from Julian Raphael reflecting the spiritual side of that fierce people, the Maoris: He honore and Mihi mai ra.

Quire is determined to sing as many songs in the original languages but then there is the audience to think about!  In The European Dimension there is an example of a song sung bilingually – Deze Wereld , whereas we sing Huijbers’, ‘Soms brecht’ as Sometimes your light, so listeners can match the text (with its simple hymn-like melody) to the broad 19^th century piano style of the accompaniment (so ably realised by Daniel Law in this recording). Gwendal Moele’s interpretation of the Breton song Maro e ma mestrez sets the bar for us.

The music of The Caribbean can include both the Hispanic speaking lands and the islands where patois is the native language. So we present Soy Feliz from the Hispanic tradition of the USA and the song of the rebellious slaves from Haiti – Pain ou ça mange.

We celebrate the American  tradition with songs from their Spiritual Roots: two songs from the white tradition of the Sacred Harp – Hallelujah and Female Pilgrim, Marcy  Weckler Barr’s arrangement of My Lord, what a morning, Burleigh’s Faithful over a few things, the spiritual-inspired People get ready ,and finally Grayson Warren Browne’s exhuberant Shout Praise!

For your copy of ‘Shout!’ (price £10) contact Quire:
Email sales@quire.org
Call 07790 603744
Or visit Classics, 2a Osborne Street, Colchester