Life > February 21, 2008

By Nicole Russo | Contributing writer

The university gospel choir is competing in local television station WXII’s Clash of the Triad Choirs, a contest between seven choirs from the North Carolina Triad area (Winston-Salem, Greensboro and High Point).

Choirs were asked to submit a three-minute video of an original song.

This was televised locally and posted on the WXII Web site to be voted upon nationally.

The concept for the contest was taken from NBC’s national “Clash of the Choirs” in which celebrities such as Patty LaBelle and Nick Lachey put together their own gospel choirs to compete for a breast cancer charity effort.

America watched the nationally televised choirs and called in to vote for their favorites.

Slightly different, the WXII contest is not limited to gospel choirs, and the only way to vote is online.

The winner will be the choir with the most votes, and will receive a grand prize which has yet to be disclosed.

For their submission, the gospel choir chose to perform a song entitled “Rescue” written by junior Choir Director Roman Irvin.

“Roman is one of those kids who seems like he’s been singing all his life,” President and Chaplin of the choir Adwoa Asare said. “I always hear him before I see him. He wrote a song from scratch for us and then taught it to everyone. That’s a really hard thing to do,” Asare said, acknowledging that Irvin has no formal training.

Of the 30 or so permanent members of the choir, there are about 50 more who come and go, making the gospel choir one of the largest student-run organizations on campus.

Some members are music majors and most use it as a great chance to form a kind of family.

“I never really sang until I joined the choir, and it’s been a really amazing experience,” Asare said.

To prepare for the competition, the choir spent two full rehearsals working on “Rescue,” a four minute song.

“We tried to sing it like we were being recorded every time,” she said.

The choir faced a challenge when they were forced to do the recording at the Main Stage Theater, since unlike Brendle, it is not meant to be a choral hall.

“Everywhere else was booked, and we didn’t even have microphones. Instead we had the band play at the lowest level, sang our hearts out and made the best of it. We were just appreciative that we had a place to sing,” Asare said. The choir has one major performance each semester. Their performance this semester is their Spring Annual which will be held on April 26 in Wait Chapel for the Service Trips fundraiser.

The choir also performs in various other concerts both on and off campus.

Recently the choir sang at Gospelfest with Martha Munizzi, an award-winning gospel singer.

“Most people don’t know Wake has a gospel choir. So we’re really trying to get out there and reach a broader audience,” Asare said.

In addition to their performances around Winston-Salem, the choir takes an annual spring break trip.

The tour that takes them through Miami, Orlando, New York, Baltimore and Philadelphia.

“Gospel can be for everyone. There are so many different styles; people most likely hear something and don’t even realize that it’s gospel,” Asare said.

Among the varying styles she lists rap, R&B, acoustic, contemporary rock and combination styles. “Rescue” for example, is a gospel-jazz fusion.

The university choir appreciates everyone’s support.

To vote and to view the videos of the gospel choir and their competition, log on to www.wxii12.com and go to the 12 News Big Stories box. Voting for the Clash of the Triad Choirs ends Feb. 23.