By Patricia H. Kushlis
When I was in China in October, I attended a
performance by the Boys and Girls Choir of Harlem Alumnae Ensemble. The concert took place at the Shanghai
Concert Hall as a part of the 11th Annual Shanghai International Arts
Festival. The program combined,
in the tradition of its predecessor - The Boys Choir of Harlem - classical,
Broadway, gospel, jazz and rock. It was
a classy show and lots of fun. The concert began with a traditional Chinese song and ended
with Chinese and American national anthems. (Shanghai concert cover photo from Boys and Girls Choir of Harlem Alumnae Ensemble website.)
Not Your Normal Alumnae Group
The good news is that the all but defunct Boys Choir of Harlem which entertained American presidents from Lyndon
Johnson to Bill Clinton lives on. Under the direction of Terrance Wright, a 39
year old Boys Choir alumnus who radiates enthusiasm and directing skill, the resurrected
choir has become an updated and older version of its former self. Women from the
Girls Choir of Harlem founded in 1988 sing the parts that the young soprano
boys once did. And, of course, another difference: these choir members are all
adults.
From Mozart to Broadway and Beyond
The new, old choir is as much at home singing Mozart as strutting-its-stuff
to Broadway melodies. This is a
thoroughly professional group of various ages, shapes and voices even though
most, if not all, members likely took time off from their day jobs to make the group’s
first international trip. (Photo right: final bows, Shanghai by Patricia H. Kushlis Oct. 2009).
If this were the Soviet Union when the US government had funds to send its top performing
arts groups to Moscow, Leningrad and beyond, it is quite likely that
such a trip would have not only had the imprimatur of the State Department or
the US Information Agency but also been financed and arranged by it.
Patching the Travel Money Together
Instead, funds for the Alumnae Choir trip to China were
scraped together from a combination of sources.
According to The New York Times in a December 23, 2009 story on the group
and the problems that beset the Boys Choir causing its all but extinction,
the country music duo Brooks & Dunn helped out and “a Texas businessman paid their airfare.” In
contrast, New York City
politicians wouldn’t even return phone calls. (Photo left: performers after the concert by PHKushlis, Oct. 2009)
A follow-on trip which took 14 of the group to four other cities
in China including Wuhan, Hefei and Harbin was, at least, funded – and arranged by –
the State Department and the US Mission in China. The Cultural Affairs Officer
from the US Consulate General in Shanghai
accompanied the singers – as was the custom in the Soviet Union pre-1991. (Terrance Wright greeting two young Chinese fans after the concert, by PHKushlis, Shanghai, Oct. 2009.)
For a group that was considered high enough quality to perform
during President Obama’s inaugural, this, it seems to me, is the minimum the
federal government could and should have done.
A China Return?
US government sponsored international arts programs – from the ill-named Art in
Embassies program that confines paintings by American artists to Ambassadorial
drawing rooms and hallways to selection of and funding for traveling American musicians
and performers needs to be rethought, redesigned, restructured and ultimately
recapitalized.
Meanwhile, I’m confident that we’ll hear more from Terrance
Wright and the new version of the Harlem Boys (and Girls) Choir. And if funding
can be found, expect this choir to return to China
perhaps even as soon as the Shanghai
Expo next summer. They’ve been through some
rough times especially since their founder Walter Turnbull died in 2007. But you wouldn’t have known it from hearing – and seeing
– them in Shanghai
or most recently here in these United States on "Larry King Live" for Christmas. (Photo of Terrance Wright and US Consul General Beatrice Camp after the concert, Shanghai, Oct. 2009).