Part One Songs of Praise

THEY SING GOSPEL

The sweet sound of gospel music is in the air,

as the singers and audience arrive at London's Hackney Empire.

Today, six superb choirs are here to sing for the title

Songs Of Praise Gospel Choir Of The Year.

Hello, and welcome to the first of two programmes that celebrate

the inspiring sound of gospel music.

Six amateur choirs made it through the opening rounds,

now they're here to sing with passion and soul,

and in next Sunday's programme, one of them will be crowned

Songs Of Praise Gospel Choir Of The Year for 2016.

So let's meet our six finalists.

We have Manchester Inspirational Voices.

From London, Sing Gospel.

The Sheffield Community Choir.

With members from all over Britain, Lifted Voices Choir.

Also from Manchester, the Harmony Gospel Choir.

And, from Leicester, the De Montfort University Gospel Choir.

Over the next two weeks,

each choir will sing two of their favourite hymns or gospel songs.

Listening carefully will be our three illustrious judges.

We have National Theatre star and Olivier Award winner...

Gospel singer and songwriter...

And MOBO winner and vocal coach extraordinaire...

It's time for the music to begin,

and the first choir hoping to stake a claim to the title is from London.

They call themselves Sing Gospel.

# He taught me how... #

We entered the competition on a whim, really.

We kept it as a surprise and announced it at rehearsal,

and everybody was just going crazy.

Elation, jubilation, shock.

Staggered, absolutely staggered.

We've worked really hard.

The movement and the look and the sound and the outfits.

Our choirmaster is Josh Cadman. I call him the Cadmonster,

because he's only half my age

and yet he has this vastly prodigious talent, musically.

A few surprises, miss a stop, OK?

Three, four, go.

# He taught me how... #

You know, I always say,

don't wait for next week, next month, next year.

I don't believe in wasting a minute of it.

You know, for me, Oh, Happy Day is today.

# Oh, happy day

# Oh, happy day

# Oh, happy day

# Oh, happy day

# When Jesus washed

# When Jesus washed

# When Jesus washed

# When Jesus washed

# Oh, when he washed

# When Jesus washed

# He washed my sins away

# Oh, happy day

# Oh, happy day

# He taught me how

# He taught me how

# To watch

# To watch

# Watch and pray

# Watch and pray

# Watch and pray

# Oooh

-# And live rejoicing

-I'm gonna live rejoicing

-# Every, every day

-Every, every day

# Yes, I am

# Every day

# Oooh

# Oh, happy day

# Oh, happy day

# Oh, happy day

# Oh, happy day

# When Jesus washed

# When Jesus washed

# When Jesus washed

# When Jesus washed

# When he washed

# When Jesus washed

-# He washed my sin away

-Oh, happy day

# Yes, he did

# Oh, happy day

# He taught me how

# He taught me how

# To watch

# To watch

# Watch and pray

# Watch and pray

# Watch and pray

-# And I'm gonna live

-Live rejoicing

# Rejoicing

# Every

# Every day

# Every day

# All I need is the Lord

# Every day

# You know I'm talkin' about

# A happy day

# Oh, happy day

# Oh, happy day

# Oh, happy day

# Oh, happy day

# Oh, happy day

# Oh, happy day

# Oh, happy day

# Happy day

# Oh, happy day

# Day

-# Da-a-ay!

-Da-a-ay! #

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Sing Gospel, ladies and gentlemen!

Carrie, it's always hard to open.

Have our choir set a high enough standard?

Yeah, for sure, for sure!

The...the dynamics of the ensemble were

absolutely incredible,

loads of tension and release, great swirls, crescendos, all of that,

and so tight and really watching your conductor.

The only thing I would liked to have seen more of

is more relationship between your soloist and the actual ensemble.

Just get that dynamic going more and that would have been perfect.

Thank you, Carrie. Muyiwa, do you feel that

they brought their own identity to it?

It's a very well-known song.

What was great, you came on first,

how you overcame your nerves, I commend you for that.

The front row, infectious. Your smile,

your energy, that was great.

Well done.

APPLAUSE

Do you like it? Sharon, Oh Happy Day.

Did that performance make you happy?

That made me very, very happy indeed.

I love the mix of the choir.

The mix of colours, ages, it's just joyous to see.

The tone of your voice, lovely soloist,

lovely warm tone, really loved it.

Love your sound! I just think we're off to a cracking start

and it makes me very excited for the rest of the day.

APPLAUSE

Thank you, judges!

CHEERING

It was just a wonderful experience. Lovely, it sounded beautiful.

It's a classic, it's a standard,

you can take it and do what you like with it,

and we Sing Gospel-ised it, I think, we made it our own.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Our next choir is mostly made up of students from Manchester University,

it's Harmony Gospel Choir.

Singing gospel is a way of praising God and praying to Him.

It's something I love,

look forward to, and it helps me get through stressful times.

It's a very friendly choir,

in that you don't have to audition to be in it.

# Fills this room... #

The first song that we're going to perform is a mashup of

Hallelujah and Lord I Lift Your Name On High.

# Lord, I lift your name on high... #

The Hallelujah is very much a Latin groove.

It's really upbeat and we get to dance to it, salsa hips.

# Hallelujah,

# Lord, we lift you up. #

Lord I Lift Your Name On High is a

different, more Michael Jackson, ABC kind of groove.

# Lord, I lift your name

# Lord, I lift your name... #

Dave is our musical director

and he loves this word, our groove,

whether we're grooving enough in the songs.

# Hallelujah

# Lord, we lift you up. #

We've also got a verse of Spanish in there, so look out for that.

THEY SING IN SPANISH

It's just good fun.

# Hallelujah, Hallelujah

# Hallelujah, Lord, we lift you up

# Hallelujah, Hallelujah

# Hallelujah, Lord, we lift you up

# Enter his gates with thanksgiving

# Enter his courts with praise

# Lord, we honour and adore you

# And this offering is grace

# Hallelujah, Hallelujah

# Hallelujah, Lord, we lift you up

# Hallelujah, Hallelujah

# Hallelujah, Lord, we lift you up. #

ALL: Woo!

RHYTHMIC CLAPPING

# Lord, I lift your name on high. #

ALL: Woo!

# Lord, I love to sing your praises

# I'm so glad you're in my life

# I'm so glad you came to save us

# Everybody sing

# Lord, I lift your name on high

# Lord, I lift your name on high

# Lord, I love to sing your praises

# Lord, I love to sing your praises

# I'm so glad you're in my life

# I'm so glad you're in my life

# I'm so glad you came to save us

# You came from Heaven

# From Heaven to Earth

-# To show the way

-You showed the way

-# From the Earth to the Cross

-To the Cross

# My debt to pay

# From the Cross to the grave

-# From the grave to the sky

-From the grave to the sky

# Lord, I lift your name on high

# Lord, I lift your name on high

# Lord, I lift your name on high

# Lord, I lift your name

# Lord, I lift your name Come on, sing it

# Lord, I lift your name

# Lord, I lift your name

# Lord, I lift your name

# Lord, I lift your name Come on, sing it

# Lord, I lift your name

# Lord, I lift your name

# Oh, Lord, I lift your name

# Lord, I lift your name Come on, sing it

# Lord, I lift your name

# Lord, I lift your name

THEY SING IN SPANISH

# Hallelujah, Hallelujah

# Hallelujah

# Lord, we lift you up

# Hallelujah, Hallelujah

# Hallelujah

# Lord, we lift you up

# Lord, we lift you up

# Lord, we lift you

# Up! #

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Harmony Gospel Choir!

Muyiwa, two stand-alone songs. Did they work as a medley for you?

It was a convincing performance for me.

They took me through a journey from the staccato of the Hallelujah

to the legato of the smooth bit.

I mean, for a minute, I thought, "What are they saying?"

But then I didn't mind what they were saying by the time

we got to the voice the soloist, I was like, oh, ho, ho!

Lord, I lift you up!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Sharon, do you think the soloist and the choir worked well together?

I did think that worked very well together, and also,

because the choir is more female-heavy,

the voices, the male voices have to work that little bit harder

to cut through and give it the weightiness, the bass.

Carrie, there's a little bit of a Latin feel in there.

Did that work for you with the song?

Yeah! I loved the feel of it. I kind of like what you're about,

there is something about you guys

that is just very different, and I like that.

I felt the singing could be a little bit more together,

a little bit more laid back on the beat.

Your soloist, honestly, young man,

I am not worthy.

You are absolutely phenomenal.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Wow!

Harmony Gospel Choir!

These guys are so, so, so good,

and they actually exceeded my expectations.

They were together, they sang,

they showed loads of energy. They gave it their all.

I was feeling really nervous,

but it was good to hear that they really liked it.

And so much support from these guys, so, it's wonderful.

CHEERING

Two of our finalists are university choirs.

Here's the second of them,

this time from De Montford University in Leicester.

# Ooooh, ooooh... #

We have people from New Zealand, Bermuda, Jamaica,

Canada, Ghana, all over the place, really,

but we have music in common,

so that's what really unites us as people.

# More than anything... #

Our choir director is called Jordan Anderson.

He's really fun.

He can be firm when he needs to be,

kind of tough love.

But we all love him anyway.

The song we're going to be performing

is Draw Me Nearer, which is a medley.

It's something that we just want to show to people that,

even in situations like university students,

that you can do anything

and you can gain anything as long as you put the work in it.

# I am thine, oh Lord,

# I have heard thy voice

# And it told thy love to me

# But I long to rise in the arms of faith

# And be closer drawn to thee

-# Draw me nearer

-Draw me nearer

# Nearer, blessed Lord

# To the Cross where thou has died

# Draw me

# Nearer

# Nearer, blessed Lord

-# To thy

-To thy precious

# Bleeding side

# Thy precious

# Thy precious

# Thy bleeding side

# Because

# I, I

# I've been so mistreated

-# Because of envy and jealousy

-Ahh, ahhh

# Ahhhh, ahhh

# By, by those who pretended to be close to me

# Vindicate me

# Vindicate me

# Vindicate me

# Spirit of God

# Spirit of God

# What is it I need?

# When will you, Lord

# When will you

# Deliver me

-# Deliver me

-Dear Lord

# Deliver me

# Me

# Oh, Jesus

-# Vindicate me

-Vindicate me. #

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

De Montford University Gospel Choir!

The audience loved it,

but what about the judges?

Sharon.

We had a traditional hymn by Fanny Crosby,

joined up with a great contemporary gospel song.

How do you think it worked?

Well, let me just say, when you started, it was so sweet,

that the water fell out of my eye.

It was sincere.

It was passionate.

I could look amongst you and see that everybody was

believing what they were singing. They were behind it 100%.

I'm going to be a little picky now, because it was so sweet,

when you did sound and you held it,

you know what I'm talking about, ladies?

It just went a little bit off.

Other than that, it was joy itself. I loved it.

OK, so, you loved it, Sharon. Carrie.

Great gospel is where

they are rehearsed to within an inch of their lives,

which these guys clearly have been.

But you also have to have that connection,

you have to have that sincerity,

and this choir absolutely had it, from the first note to the last.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

-Muyiwa.

-Their message was clear, it was believable.

It struck me, when you looked at their faces,

you looked on the left, you looked on the right,

you believe them.

They preached Sharon to tears, they preached me happy,

-so we got it all tonight.

-Wow!

CHEERING

Three out of three!

Thank you, De Montford University Gospel Choir!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Everyone believed in the song, they believed what they were singing,

and that was the most important thing.

And to see the judges know what we're singing...

-Amen!

-..was the most important thing.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

This year, Manchester is well represented in the competition.

Our second finalists from the city are Manchester Inspirational Voices.

Here we go!

# Bo-bo-bo bo-bo-bo-bo... #

The choir's definitely a family.

It's not just people that get together every week,

sing and then go home.

We care about each other.

We have doctors, we have lawyers, we have unemployed people.

I'm a barrister, a QC.

The choir is like an oasis,

it just allows me to forget all about day-to-day cares and concerns.

# Thina so fananaye... #

The way I teach the choir is a capella.

It's really naked. It's just vocal, it's the voices.

I don't believe that anyone who

walks through these doors cannot sing,

as long as you have a voice and you can say, "Hello",

you can sing Happy Birthday, then you can sing.

The first song we're going to sing is Kwaze.

It's sung in a Zulu language,

and it's basically about

wanting to be like Jesus, wanting to be like Christ.

# Kwaze kwabona kala thina so fananaye

# Kwaze kwabona kala thina so fananaye

-# Thina so

-Fananaye

-# Thina so

-Fananaye

-# Thina so

-Fananaye

-# Thina so

-Fananaye

# Kwaze kwabona kala

# Thina so fananaye

# Kwaze kwabona kala

# Kwaze kwabona kala Thina so Fananaye

-# Thina so

-Fananaye

-# Thina so

-Fananaye

-# Thina so

-Fananaye

-# Thina so

-Fananaye

# When he comes

# When he comes I shall be like him

# See his face

# See his face, I shall be like him

# Oh, oh

# Ooh, ooooh

# Ooh, ooooh

# Ooh, ooooh

# Like him

# Kwaze kwabona kala Thina so fananaye

# Kwaze kwabona kala Thina so fananaye

-# Thina so

-Fananaye

# Thina so fananaye

-# Thina so

-Fananaye

# Thina so fananaye

# Kwaze kwabona kala Thina so fananaye

# Kwaze kwabona kala Thina so fananaye

-# Thina so

-Fananaye

# Thina so fananaye

-# Thina so

-Fananaye

# Thina so fananaye

-# Thina so

-Fananaye

# Thina so fananaye

-# Thina so

-Fananaye

# Thina so

# Fanana...

-# ..yee-e-e!

-Yee-e-e!

-#

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Manchester Inspirational Voices!

Muyiwa, first, unaccompanied, second, singing in Zulu.

Was that a brave choice?

Woo! That's all I have to say. Woo!

When you came on stage,

I looked at you and my expectation level was up there.

When you started off, O-M-G,

it was, it hit me so hard.

An unusual thing happened to me,

I started singing a reggae song in my head.

And it says

# Mash up the town from Head to the ground

# And mandem rejoicing It's all over. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Wow, we got the judges singing!

Did that make you feel like singing, Sharon?

You know what was so sweet, was I just saw Muyiwa like that...

The neck was going, it was like, yeah,

what was great about it was that I didn't expect that at all.

It knocked me for six. When you came in, it was like, OK,

this is a completely different language.

And just looking at the mix of you,

it threw my head into all kinds of disarray.

This year, the bar is just...

-It's up there!

-CHEERING

It's up there.

Carrie.

Well, first of all, just let me say,

this is the first choir that we've seen today where the ensemble

and the soloists have matched each other

in terms of what's coming off that stage.

You look fantastic.

I've got one question for you.

Can I join?

CHEERING Thank you, judges!

Come on, let's hear it - Manchester Inspirational Voices!

Feeling very elated. I'm so proud of everybody.

It was brilliant to get those responses from the judges.

I think a show like this requires good feedback,

and I think their feedback was just spot-on for us.

# Father God, we adore you... #

'Next up, we have Lifted Voices Choir.

'They have the added challenge

'of coming from six different cities around the UK.'

# Father God, we adore you

# Praise your name... #

It is tough, it requires a lot of concentration.

We have to put the preparation in

before we even get to the rehearsal day.

# Hallelujah... #

When I found out that we'd got through to Gospel Choir Of The Year,

I didn't even know we'd been entered, so that was a surprise.

# Amen... #

'I would like to think that when I sing, that someone, somewhere,

'when they hear what Lifted Voices does,'

their hearts are touched and they can say, you know what,

I think I better go back to that Bible or go back to that church.

Two, three.

# Father God, we adore you... #

We're going to sing Hallelujah.

It's going to be quite a challenge,

and there are some difficult jazz bits

and some more joyful gospel bits

and some bits which are kind of more classical.

The journey of faith is up-and-down,

and so this arrangement is looking to evoke the fact

that life is not all major key.

# Hallelujah

# Hallelujah

# Oh, Lord, we praise your name

# Your name

# All the glory

# All the honour

# Oh, Lord, we praise your name

# Hallelujah

# Hallelujah

# Oh, Lord, we praise your name

# All the honour

# All the praise

# Oh, Lord, we praise your name

# Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah

# Hallelujah

# Hallelujah

# Oh, Lord, we praise your name

# All the glory

# All the honour

# Oh, Lord, we praise your name

# Worthy is the lamb

# Hallelujah

# Hallelujah, hallelujah

# Hallelujah

# Hallelu Hallelu Hallelu Hallelu

# Hallelujah

# All the glory

# All the glory

# All the honour

# Oh, Lord, we praise your name

# Oh, Lord, we praise your name

# We praise your name. #

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Thank you, Lifted Voices Choir.

Carrie.

Close-harmony singing has to be spot-on.

Did that work for you?

It has to be spot-on and, when it's a cappella,

every last little note has to be heard and valued.

And particularly things where you have no vibrato on notes,

where it's completely flat-lining,

so you don't hear that undulation.

Those notes are really hard to get right, tuning-wise.

We've got a very classical sound here, beautiful sound,

technically very, very strong.

My only little advice to you guys is, with classical choirs,

they don't tend to think about how do we communicate the message

and how do we communicate to the audience,

we just need a little bit more communication

and we'd feel like we're brought in to it.

-Sharon.

-I enjoyed that combination beautifully.

I was just getting to a point in the arrangement when I thought,

you know what, this is really, really lovely,

but I really need something to happen.

And then just as I was thinking I really need something to happen,

you went, "Hallelujah, hallelujah!" and you moved it on.

So I was very, very happy with that.

Muyiwa, do you feel the connection from the choir to the lyric?

It was connecting with me on a head level.

I found myself admiring how difficult technically it was,

and how you worked around it.

And then I found myself admiring the young lady fourth from the left,

and I thought, oh, I wished more of you

would express yourself and pull me in.

It was an amazing sound you made

and just a bit more would have sent it to heaven.

Thank you, judges.

APPLAUSE And thank you, Lifted Voices Choir!

We've learned, over quite a short period of time,

to trust each other and trust the music that we're singing

and we've managed to do that today, so we're really, really pleased.

-ALL:

-Whoo!

# Lie down in green pastures.. #

Our final choir is from South Yorkshire.

The Sheffield Community Choir.

# He leadeth me... #

People are from different denominations -

Apostolic, Pentecostal, Catholics.

Different colour, different race, so it's a mixture of everybody,

but we all blend together and come together as one.

We've only been together, like, four years.

I've seen people that were literally so shy

really develop like a flower, just opened up over the years.

The song we're going to sing is The Lord Is My Shepherd,

which is based on Psalm 23.

I joined the choir with my sister back in 2013,

and sadly I lost my sister last year

and that song was one of her favourite songs,

so singing that song reminds me a lot of her.

# The Lord is my shepherd

# I shall not want

# He maketh me

# To lie down

# In green pastures

# He leadeth me

# Beside the still waters

# Oh oh

# He restoreth my soul

# He restoreth my soul

# He restoreth my soul

# He restoreth my soul

# I thank you, Lord

# He prepareth the table before me

# In the presence of my enemies

# My enemies My enemies

# He anointed

# He anointed my head with oil

# My cup runneth over

# O-O-O-Over me

# Surely goodness

# Surely

# Goodness

# And mercy

# Shall follow me

# All the days

# Of my life

# And I shall dwell

# And I shall dwell

# In the house of the Lord

# Forever and ever

# And ever and ever

# And I shall dwell

# And I shall dwell

# In the house of the Lord

# For ever and ever

# And ever and ever

# Amen

# Amen

# Amen

# Amen

# Amen

# Amen

# Amen

# Amen

# Amen. #

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Sheffield Community Choir.

So, Sharon, 23rd Psalm,

the best-known of the Psalms, did they bring it alive?

They did bring it alive. I enjoyed that very, very much.

I do have a couple of things.

So, as much as I really, really enjoyed it,

sometimes the guys were just going a little off,

just not quite holding down their harmony,

which just took me out of where I was, listening,

because other than that it was glorious.

But I have to say, this lady behind here now.

APPLAUSE

She just... You praised all the way through the song.

I heard your prayer.

And because of that, you sent me on a journey. So, loving that.

Loving that.

Carrie, how was that vocally?

Yeah, they did really well.

I just want to talk actually a little bit technically

with you guys.

You've got your lovely altos, who've got lovely strong, belty voices,

and your placement is what we call forward placement,

it's at the front of the face.

Then you have your sopranos,

who are blended within themselves,

but they are singing onto the soft palate, which is a softer surface.

So what you have is each section is blended within itself,

but when you put those sections together,

you've got to look at not just the section by section,

but how each one relates to the other.

Muyiwa.

You know, the ladies have talked about the technicalities

and, for me, what moves me

was the young lady that Sharon pointed out.

Great gospel singing is not just about the great technicality

but heart-to-heart,

and our hearts were knitted.

And I think Janine has done a great job

to pull people together in the community to sound like this.

-You have done fantastically.

-Thank you, judges.

And thank you, Sheffield Community Gospel Choir!

They try so hard and they just love what they do,

we've become such a family.

And it means a lot to me to see them here on this stage

and it shows me how far they've come

and, you know, I'm really proud of them.

We love Janine!

Behave.

We've heard some wonderful singing from our six choirs,

and next week they'll have a final opportunity to impress the judges.

But at this stage of the competition,

let me ask them for their thoughts so far.

Carrie, which choir stood out for you?

Great ensemble, great soloists,

the Manchester Inspirational Voices.

Muyiwa.

I'd have to say Lifted Voices,

because usually we think gospel choir is about jumping around,

but technically they were so sound.

And, Sharon, which choir has resonated with you?

They made water come out of my eyes - De Montfort University.

APPLAUSE

Thank you, judges.

The competition is very close.

There's all to play for, so do join us next Sunday

when all six choirs will sing again

before the judges decide which choir will leave

as Songs Of Praise Gospel Choir Of The Year.

But, for now, goodbye.