J’cans continue to Sing de Chorus
AMONG the Christmas songs belted out by the University Singers at the UWI Chapel in St Andrew, on Wednesday evening, was the Jamaican standard Sing de Chorus. It received the applause it deserved.
Sing de chorus, clap yuh hand
Beat the congo, play yuh band
Spread the news throughout the land
That Jesus is born
Jesus the saviour is born.
Noel Dexter’s Sing the Chorus has become a season staple for the popular choir, and this year, their performance left him just as pleased as the first time he heard it being performed.
Dexter recalled that it was the first carol he wrote.
“I wrote it for the University Singers in 1977. I wanted to bring a sense of the Caribbean to the season while still maintaining the authentic meaning of Christmas, and I think I achieved it with this one,” the former head of the University Singers told the Jamaica Observer.
While this is not Dexter’s only Jamaican Christmas Carol, Sing de Chorus has brought him the most recognition and he feels moved whenever he hears it being performed, especially by children.
“The Newark Boys’ Choir in the United States has performed this every year and I have had the honour of hearing them, and it pleases me that something I wrote can be appreciated outside of Jamaica and the Caribbean,” said Dexter.
“I have always been inspired by the late Professor Rex Nettleford. It was his thinking that we should always create something of our own. While it is essential that we are aware of other forms, we should always do our own thing, and that’s why I have always adapted music to suit our Caribbean folk forms.”
Dexter’s most recent creation for the season is adding music to the popular revival chorus, Something in My Heart Like a Stream Running Down. This was also performed by the University Singers on Wednesday.
Uncertain of his next musical project, Dexter is however looking to publish a collection of Jamaican Christmas Songs and Carols.
“I don’t have a date for its release just yet, but I want to put out this book with not only my songs, but the work of other Jamaicans. So far, I have 35 songs and there’s more to collect.”
