The year 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of the historic civil rights ‘March on Washington’, where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his powerful ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.

The Civil Rights movement was fuelled by songs, many of them contemporary expressions of older spirituals from the African-American choral tradition that arose out of slavery, a tradition recognised as one of the most profoundly moving bodies of music in the world. Songs were adapted or completely re-written as people, both black and white, took up the cry against segregation and oppression in the US southern states during the 1950s and 1960s.

To commemorate this anniversary year, Heaven Bent Gospel Choir has created March to Freedom, a concert featuring freedom songs from the American Civil Rights movement, with new arrangements and specially-created harmonies by the Auckland-based choir’s musical director, Phil May.

March to Freedom will also include linking narratives and images from this unique period of history, marked as it was by the philosophy of non-violent protest.

“Our aim is to bring this important epoch alive in a creative and inspiring way, demonstrating how powerful songs have been in helping to change the tide of history,” says choir spokesperson Alexandra Whitham.

“We hope our audiences will not only be moved by this strong and beautiful music, but that they will also see how relevant the Civil Rights movement was, and still is, to human rights struggles in many other parts of the world.”

March to Freedom
Venue: All Saints Anglican Church, 284 Ponsonby Road, Ponsonby, Auckland (Three Lamps end)
Date: 9 November, 8pm
Tickets: $25 adult, $20 concession
Tickets will be available from www.iTICKET.co.nz from September 6th

Heaven Bent wishes to thank Creative Communities and the Lion Foundation for their support for this project.