Gospel Choir of the Year Part 1 Songs of Praise

The best amateur choirs in the country are here in London

at the prestigious Central Hall, Westminster,

to raise the roof with the glorious sound of gospel.

Five choirs, one trophy.

Welcome to the Songs Of Praise Gospel Choir of the Year 2017.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Hello, and welcome to the historic and magnificent

Methodist Central Hall in Westminster,

and the fifth year of our annual competition

that celebrates the very best in gospel singing.

The five finalists gathered behind me will perform one song each,

to be followed next week with a second performance,

after which one of them will be crowned

the Songs Of Praise Gospel Choir of the Year 2017.

So let's say hello to our five choirs. We have Singology.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

The Big Sing Gospel Voices.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

The Oxford Gospel Events Choir.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

From the London College of Creative Media,

the LCCM Choir.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

And finally, from Royal Connections Church,

it's Royal Voices.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

What a great mix of church, community and university choirs.

All they have to do now is impress our three distinguished judges.

Singer and broadcaster Muyiwa Olarewaju.

He is best known as a worship leader with his group Riversongz.

Karen Gibson is one of the country's top gospel choir leaders.

She's recently conducted the gospel prom at the Royal Albert Hall,

and is perhaps best known as a judge on Gareth Malone's Naked Choir.

Our third judge knows all about performing.

He's sold over 20 million records worldwide.

He's a multi-award-winning singer-songwriter. Who else?

It's Seal.

Please give them a warm welcome.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

It's time to hear from our first finalist.

It's a community choir from here in central London.

The Big Sing Gospel Voices.

We rehearse in the chapel, in the House of St Barnabas.

The chapel is situated in Soho Square in London,

and who knows that it's there? Not many people.

So we feel like we're part of this little secret crew

that get to come here every Tuesday, and it's a small space,

but it really kind of resonates when you're singing.

We're a diverse group,

and we've lots of different quite stressful jobs.

We have a solicitor, we have teachers.

I work in mental health. So a very busy bunch.

But we seem to find the time every week to come together,

which is really special, I think.

I've got a bit of a tough situation going on.

My mum's quite sick at the moment,

and I've had to put career plans on hold.

But the one thing I haven't had to put on hold, the one thing

that's been consistent, has been this gospel choir.

And to be able to perform and sing,

I can't even explain to you how that's helped me.

# One day... #

Everybody on the tenors! And...

# There is one day in your... #

John is our fearless leader.

He is kind of the head of our family, I guess.

# Come on, everybody

# It's time to stop... #

Praise The Lord is a really uplifting song.

It's one we always start our concerts with.

There's some lyrics in that that are really special.

"Every tongue, every race, all of God's children, take your place."

And I think for me, that speaks to everyone.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

# Come on, everybody

# It's time to stop

# Praise the Lord your God with all your heart

# Every tongue and every race

# All of God's children, take your place

# Praise the Lord

# Everybody

# Praise the Lord

# Sing praise

# Praise the Lord

# Everybody

# Praise the Lord

# Lift up your hands to the sky

# Every voice, testify

# Tell of his goodness and his grace

# All of God's children, take your place

Sing it!

# Praise the Lord

CHEERING

# Everybody

# Praise the Lord

# Sing prai-ise...

# Praise the Lord

# Everybody

# Praise the Lord

# We worship you because you are Lord and King

# We magnify you because you are the one who reigns

# We glorify you because you always remain the same

Sing!

# Praise the Lord

# Everybody

# Praise the Lord

# Sing prai-ise

# Praise the Lord

# Everybody

-# Praise the Lord

-Hey, everybody!

-# Everybody

-Praise the Lord

-# Praise the Lord

-Come on, praise the Lord

# Everybody

-# Praise the Lord

-Everybody

# Everybody Everybody

# Everybody Everybody

# Everybody Everybody

# Everybody

# Praise the...

Sing!

# Lord. #

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Big Sing Gospel Voices. Seal, I want to come to you first.

I loved everything. I thought everyone seemed in harmony.

You felt like a great big band.

Yeah, I loved the ad-libs.

They were tasteful and used sparingly.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Karen, they're called Big Sing. Was that big enough for you?

That was a fantastic, great big sound,

and I just wanted to get up and worship.

Really, really fabulous.

I would say that you've got a great, very strong tenor section,

so maybe be a bit careful of the balance there, but I loved that.

Wonderful.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Muyiwa, that song itself is a call to worship. Did you hear the call?

Were you feeling the same?

This choir brought it to life for me,

and Gary Oliver, who wrote it,

-would be very proud.

-Thank you, judges!

APPLAUSE

The Big Sing Gospel Voices!

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

We got a standing ovation from Seal!

We've done that song a lot,

and that's the best they've ever sung it.

THEY CHEER

Up next is a community choir from Oxford,

and as the name suggests,

they're often to be found singing at big celebrations.

It's the Oxford Gospel Events Choir.

# Swing low

# Sweet chariot... #

We rehearse at Wesley Memorial Church,

which is right in the heart of central Oxford.

# Carry me... #

It's a lovely acoustic for a choir to rehearse in.

# Home... #

A lot of our choir are big fans of Songs Of Praise,

and we watch BBC Gospel Choir of the Year religiously every year.

So we thought it would be something fantastic to be involved in.

# Swing down, chariot, stop and let me ride, oh yeah... #

To me, being a Christian, it is about sharing God's word

with a massively wide audience.

# I have a home on the other side... #

We're very lucky to be a multi-conductor choir.

We have five or six conductors at any one time.

We encourage people from the choir who've never done it before.

If they want to have a go,

we kind of encourage that and we help them along.

When we come to rehearsals,

we don't necessarily know who's going to be conducting that night.

It keeps us on our toes!

# Glory... #

Glory, Glory, Hallelujah is a really interesting arrangement.

It's six parts, so it's quite challenging, and a cappella.

It's one of those songs which shows the choir off

to an amazing extent, and I think my sort of solo line

is just a little extra addition.

# And pray with all your mind... #

It's a praise song. That's what we're hoping to get across,

we're totally praising in this song.

-# Glory, glory

-On, on

-# Hallelujah

-On, on

-# Glory, glory

-On, on

-# Hallelujah

-On, on

# My eyes have seen the glory

# My ears can hear the call

# My heart is beating faster

# But I have no fear at all

# My lips can taste the victory

# A victory for all

# As we go marching on

# On, on

-# Glory, glory, Hallelujah

-Ooh-ooh

-# Glory, glory, Hallelujah

-Glory, glory

# Oh, glory, glory, Hallelujah

-# As we go marching on

-On, on

# On, on

# Believe with all that's in you

# And pray with all your might

# You'll never be defeated

-# And you'll never give up the fight

-Never give up the fight

# Can smell the scent of victory

# And the prize is in your sight

-# As we go marching on

-On, on

-# Glory, glory, hallelujah

-Hallelujah, hallelujah

-# Glory, glory, hallelujah

-Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

# Glory, glory, hallelujah

-# As we go marching on

-On, on

-# Glory, glory, hallelujah

-Hallelujah

-# Glory, glory, hallelujah

-Sing that song

# Glory, glory, hallelujah

-# As we go marching on

-On, on

-# As we go marching on

-On, on

# As we go marching...

# Marching o-o-on

# O-o-on. #

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Over to you, judges. Karen, did you like that interpretation?

I thought that was a fantastic arrangement.

Loved your passion, loved your energy,

and you have a fantastic lead singer over there.

Really great.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Muyiwa, what did you think of the performance?

There is a young lady bang in the middle with the blue,

just behind you, David.

Honey, you caught my eyes, and I felt,

I was like, "She has faith in these words,"

and then the energy just infected people around her.

This choir has something that you should never let go of,

choir leader. It's great.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Now, Seal, what did you think about the synergy

between the lead singer and the choir?

I thought it was really impressive.

I was looking for a little bit more dynamic texture in the voices,

just a little bit more, but I loved the choice of song,

and the standard is obviously very, very high.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Oxford Gospel Events Choir!

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

I was nearly in tears. It was so good!

Our supporters were amazing. The support they gave us was insane.

And it made me so proud to be privileged to be out there

-and conducting you guys, so thank you.

-Thank you!

APPLAUSE

Our next choir are already winners.

They're the current University Gospel Choir Of The Year,

but do they have what it takes to win the Songs Of Praise title?

From the London College of Creative Media, it's LCCM Choir.

DRUMMING

What's great about the choir is that they're all from different places.

It's my favourite thing. You've got the Africas, you've got Europe.

You've got everywhere in the world, basically,

and when we all come together, we actually become one, and I think

that's God's desire for us all, so to me, it's just brilliant.

It's like being in heaven!

One, two...

# Lean on me... #

I come from Italy, and I came here two years ago.

I really enjoy being part of the choir,

because I didn't expect it to be so uplifting,

and I feel like I'm a new person every time I go out of the class.

Nadine is a really good teacher.

She's really fun and always happy,

and a bit goofy, which is nice!

-# Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

-Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

# Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah... #

If you come into a class and the teacher is like...

-SHE GROANS

-..you don't really get excited.

But she kind of creates excitement in you.

Like, she's strong on rhythm, I can tell you that, hands down.

But, like, she can also pinpoint, you know, a vocal technique,

and she can also direct the band as well,

so she's an all-rounder, which is really good for our choir.

# You are

# The source of my strength... #

I chose Total Praise because the feeling that I get

when I sing it is...

Is really, really, really deep.

Especially the lyrics.

"Your peace you give me in time of the storm."

It's just so deep, because only God can give us that kind of peace,

so it really touches my heart,

and I hope it touches the audience when they hear the song as well.

# Lord, I will lift

# Mine eyes to the hills

# Knowing my help

# Is coming from you

# Your peace

# You give me

# In time of the storm

# You are the source of my strength

# You are the strength of my life

# I lift my hands

# In total praise to you

# You are the source of my strength

# You are the strength of my life

# I lift my hands

# In total praise to you

-# Amen

-A-a-a-amen

-# Amen

-A-a-a-a-amen

-# Amen

-A-a-a-amen

-# Amen

-A-a-a-a-amen

-# Amen

-A-a-a-amen

-# Amen

-A-a-a-a-amen

-# Amen

-A-a-a-amen

-# Amen

-A-a-a-a...!

# ..men. #

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Muyiwa - Total Praise by Richard Smallwood.

It's a modern choral gospel classic.

What did you make of that rendition?

Karen looked like she was about to jump on stage,

so I fear you might have a new choir conductor soon!

You know, and Seal was just scribbling away,

so you know, it seems you captured all our hearts,

and you did so well.

Thank you so much, because when people see this,

they'll say, "Gospel in the UK is good."

APPLAUSE

Seal, Muyiwa said you were scribbling away.

Can you reveal some of what you were scribbling?

Yes, what I was hearing on stage today was incredible,

in that the tone that was just coming off of that stage

was just wonderful.

It really filled this whole room, and right towards the end,

the dynamic in volume, like, when it came up,

I literally had shivers going down my spine.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

-Now, Karen. This is a young choir.

-Very young.

Do you think they were able to carry the weight,

the dynamic weight of this song?

This is a very brave choice, and I think that they handled it

very, very well indeed.

What I would say, I'd love to hear a little bit more

drama on those big amens,

but for a young choir, very, very well done.

LCCM Choir!

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

-I'm really proud of us. Personally!

-LAUGHTER

I think we were all a bit nervous, but I think we used the nerves

and just gave it an our performance, so we're good, right?

ALL: Yeah!

We still have two more choirs to go,

and next up is a church choir from east London,

Royal Voices.

# Ho Ho Ho Hosanna

# Ha ha ha...

We are a church of all nations. That's what we call ourselves.

We welcome everybody from all walks of life.

# I've got the joy of the Lord.

Being a church choir's very important to us,

because being the choir that leads that is such a big privilege.

You know, we love it so much.

We get to do something we love, a gift that we were given,

we get to use it every day or every week.

One, two, three! Let's say...

# We are the generation

# We are not afraid...

I used to be very scared facing the crowd,

singing and that that's been

pushed away, because you have to perform at a certain level.

So I joined the choir really to get that fear away from me.

# When we rise...

We run the choir on good cop, bad cop kind of behaviour.

I'm the one pats people on the back. She's just like, "No!

"You have to do it this way."

It would have been better if you were smiling towards the end,

because you have hit your notes better, but it's OK.

It's because sometimes, you just have to do it this way!

That's how you get better.

One of the songs we are going to be doing is

What A Friend We Have In Jesus.

# A friend we have in Jesus... #

Jesus, the ultimate friend, who never leaves you,

and that, to me, means more than anything else in this world.

When we did this song, everyone loved it so much.

The church was so blessed that we said to ourselves,

"This is what we are bringing to the competition.

"This song needs to be heard over and over again."

# What a friend we have in Jesus

# All our sins and griefs to bear

# What a privilege to carry

# Everything to God in prayer

# Oh, what peace

# We often forfeit

# Oh, what needless pain we bear

# All because

# We do not carry

# Everything

# We ought to take it to the Lord in prayer

# Everything

# All of your heartache

# Everything to God in prayer

# Ooh-ooh-ooh, ha-a-a

# All your pain

# All your pain

# You can take it to the Lord

# Take it to the Lord in prayer

-# All your burdens

-All your burdens

# You can take it to the Lord,

-# Yes, you can

-Take it to the Lord in prayer

-# And all your heartache

-All your heartache

-# You can take it to the Lord, yeah

-Take it to the Lord

-# Why not everything?

-Everything

# You can take it to the Lord, to the Lord, yeah

# Take it to the Lord in prayer

# Somebody say yeah-h-h

# Yeah Yeah-h-h

# You can take it, yes, you can, ha Take it to the Lord in prayer

# Cos he's done it before Yeah

# And he'll do it again Yeah

# You can take it to the Lord, yeah Take it to the Lord

# Take it to the Lord in prayer

# Prayer

# Prayer

# Prayer! #

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Seal.

I really enjoyed the ability of the choir as a whole to lift

and raise its game with a spectacular ending,

is what really blew me away.

And for that, I loved it.

APPLAUSE

Karen, could you tell that this was a church choir?

Yeah, I absolutely could tell that these are people who sing

together on a regular basis.

The blend was fabulous.

I really loved it, and I think that the lead singer worked very well.

Not too much, not too little. Worked very well.

There is one thing that I would say.

I'm not sure about all the choreography.

You are amazing singers, and I don't actually think you need all of that.

Just do you.

Muyiwa?

It was incredible.

The lead singer, she smacked me up the side of the head!

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Ladies and gentlemen, Royal Voices!

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

THEY CHEER AND CLAP

It just went by so quickly.

Just literally just tried my best to sing from my heart

and just try and connect with people, really.

But it was really, really amazing, an amazing experience.

Last up, a community choir with members from right across London,

known simply as Singology.

So, we're going to start just rolling our shoulders,

shaking it all out, shaking everything...

That it is, shaking your feet and your hands, your bottoms...

There's nine different choirs.

We are all one big family, and we come together for events like this.

So there's people from all walks of life.

I'm a freelance graphic designer, and I work from home,

which means a lot of the time, I'm on my own,

looking at a screen all day,

and I really look forward to getting out of the house

and being with people, and being in Singology is just terrific.

# Do your thing, do your thing... #

I moved to London about a year ago,

and found it quite hard to make friends,

and did a bit of a search online, came across Singology,

went to my first taster session,

and it was a whole new world that opened up, really.

# I am sold out... #

For me, it's important that I actually sing the gospel.

I sing my faith.

I love God, and God loves me, and I want people to know that,

and I want them to know about the relationship they can have.

So, the first song is Steal Away, which is

one of my absolute favourites.

It brings me to tears every single time.

# Steal away home... #

The song means a lot to me as a black woman,

knowing that even through slavery, the slaves would sing

and talk about the hope that they had, and they would be hanging

from trees, but they knew there was a place to steal away,

there was hope in Jesus, so it brings all that back to me.

# Steal away

# Steal away

# Steal away to Jesus

# Steal away

# Steal away home

# I ain't got long to stay here

# Steal away

# Steal away

# Steal away to Jesus

# Steal away

# Steal away home

# I ain't got long to stay here

# My Lord, he calls me

# He calls me by the thunder

# The trumpet sounds within my soul

# Green trees are bending

# Sinners stand a-trembling

# The trumpet sounds within my soul

# I ain't got long to stay here

# Steal away

# Steal away

# Steal away

-# To Jesus

-Yeah, yeah

-# Steal away

-Steal away

-# Steal away

-Steal away

# Steal away

# Steal away to Jesus

# Steal away

# Steal away

# Steal away to Jesus

# Steal away

# Steal away home

# I ain't got long to stay here. #

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Singology. Karen, that was numerically the biggest choir.

How was their overall blend and balance?

Great!

Brilliant use of dynamics to convey the meaning of the song.

The arrangement was beautiful.

I could really see members of the choir worshipping, and really

being carried right away, really being stolen away, and that's why...

I wanted to come with you, actually. I loved it.

-Thank you very much indeed.

-Wow.

APPLAUSE

A brilliant performance, says Karen.

Muyiwa, Steal Away is a much-loved African-American spiritual.

Do you think they did it justice?

For me, I had a moment where in my head, I was thinking,

I understand, I want to steal away with Jesus,

because I want to get away from my troubles,

but the arrangements, the music was touching my soul.

I'm thinking, I'm feeling a hope that's so sure, which is

what gospel music is about.

So choir, thank you.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

And Seal?

You know, it was a great song to take on,

because it really was all about the voice, and there's...

For me, I could have used a lead at some point.

I just wanted maybe something,

but you certainly made up for that in emotion.

I thought it was overall a really emotional performance

and one of my favourite of the night.

Ladies and gentlemen, Singology.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

It was absolutely beautiful. The dynamics were perfect.

The heart was perfect, and I was super proud of them all.

A little overwhelmed!

We've got to do another one next week,

so I hope we live up to it, but it felt amazing.

Well, it's been fantastic to hear our five choirs, and next week,

they have a final opportunity to impress the judges.

You three have a tough decision to make.

-Muyiwa, has anyone stood out to you so far?

-Absolutely.

I'll have to say, it could be because of their youth, because

I'm trying to keep myself young, but LCCM have done it for me so far.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

-Karen.

-I have to say that I'm a big, big fan of community choirs.

I've loved the fact that people from all different walks of life

and all different faiths come together to sing the gospel.

So for me, I have to say, it's Singology.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

And Seal, is there a choir that you're going to be particularly

-listening out for next week?

-All of them.

I think everyone was a winner tonight.

There were some exceptional performances,

but at the end of the day, you know, there is

only going to be one person that is carrying that trophy.

It was a very close competition between Singology

and LCCM for me.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Join us next week for the final round,

and of course, the big decision, as we find out who will be

crowned Songs Of Praise Gospel Choir Of The Year 2017.

My thanks to our judges

and to the audience here at the Methodist Central Hall, Westminster.

We leave you today with a musical treat, as all five choirs

come together to remind us of the soul-stirring nature of gospel.

Here they are with a special arrangement of the classic

O Happy Day.

Until next week, goodbye and God bless.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

# O happy day

# O happy day

# When Jesus washed my sins away

# O happy day

# O happy day

# O happy day

# O happy day

-# When Jesus washed

-When Jesus washed

-# When Jesus washed

-When Jesus washed

-# When He washed

-When He washed

# He washed my sins away

-# O happy day

-O happy day

-# O happy day

-O 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

-# He taught me how

-He taught me how

-# To watch

-To watch

-# Watch and pray

-To watch and pray

# Watch and pray

# And live rejoicing

# Every day, now, oh whoo, yeah!

-# Every day now, every day, yeah

-Every day

# Ooooh

-# O happy day

-O happy day

-# O happy day

-O happy day

-# When Jesus washed

-When Jesus washed

-# Oh, when Jesus washed

-When Jesus washed

-# Ooh, when He washed

-When He washed

He washed my sins away

# He taught me how

# Oh, he taught me how

-# To watch

-To watch

# Watch and pray

# Watch and pray

# And He taught me how to live

-# Rejoicing every day

-Every day

# Oh, rejoice

# Every day

# Oh-oh-oh-oh, every day now

-# O happy day

-O happy day

-# O happy day

-O happy day

# Hap-hap-hap-happy day

-# O happy day

-O happy day

# O happy day

-# Happy

-Happy

-Happy

# Happy day. #

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING