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Florida native Angela Mackenzie, now based in Stirling, has assembled a very accomplished fifty-voice gospel choir. Leading from her grand piano, Angela brings bubbly enthusiasm to the stage in the historic New Town Church. The acoustics in this elliptical building enhance the quality of the music.
Coming from a Presbyterian tradition, I especially enjoyed the choir’s a cappella rendition of the ‘Old One Hundredth’, All People that on Earth do Dwell. The Amazing Life Gospel Choir are very versatile; some songs sung in unison, others in harmony. Apart from the piano, the choir were accompanied at times by drums, a violinist, a cellist, an electric keyboard, and an upright bass. The deep sonorous sound of Amazing Grace played on a solo cello is more felt than heard. It reaches down to the core of your soul.
The audience (or was it a congregation?) lapped it up. During an interval, a pastor from a local church gave a message, ‘What do you want more of in your life?’
I was less impressed by Angela’s altar call and the manipulative use of music to proselytise ‘for Jesus’ with reference to the penitent thief who died on a cross beside him. This was irritating me but then the mood changed. Angela asked from the stage for requests for songs. We got the old Carter Family standard; Will the Circle be Unbroken? Then a voice came from the back, Yeshua. Angela looked puzzled. ‘How does that go?’ A couple of voices started singing. Beautiful unaccompanied singing filled the church.
Angela was impressed. She invited the singers to come to the front of the church. They were members of a visiting South African choir. They sang their song, Yeshua a cappella with impressive harmonisation. They stole the show.
The concert concluded with an exuberant medley of I’ll Fly Away and When the Saints Go Marching In where everyone was up, singing, dancing and clapping in time with the music. It was a fantastic gig, and a reminder that music can unite, music can inspire boundless joy and delight, but it can also manipulate the emotions. That might not be the Holy Spirit touching your heart, but something more psychological. Something to think about.
Reviewed by David Kerr
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