Songs to the heavens at Gospel Extravaganza
Expect to hear a joyful noise Sunday when Yuma's gospel choirs gather for a musical celebration of Black History Month.
Four local choirs will offer their songs to the heavens during Gospel Extravaganza 2010.
Organizers say the annual concert's music is always divine, sometimes so much so that audience members have been known to leap out of their seats with joy.
"A lot of people sing along with the choirs and other people clap or dance," said Lourdes Sabori with the Cultural Council of Yuma. "People always really enjoy the music."
The singing for Gospel Extravaganza 2010 begins at 4 p.m. Sunday in the Historic Yuma Theatre, 254 S. Main St.
Admission will be $5. Tickets are on sale now at the theater box office and will be sold at the door. For more information, call 783-2423.
"The music is always exceptional," Sabori said. "The choirs and the soloists always sing so beautifully."
The Cultural Council of Yuma sponsors this annual event. The organization created the Gospel Extravaganza five years ago as an "effort with local artist groups and organizations to present an afternoon full of great music and recognition for African-American culture," Sabori said.
This year's event is co-sponsored by the Arizona Commission on the Arts, NAACP Yuma Chapter, KYMA-TV and El Desierto.
It will feature choirs from New Direction Ministries and First Presbyterian Church, along with the Yuma Youth Choir and Yuma Jazz Choir. Soloists Gewline Johnson and Cindy Nunn will also perform.
All the music will be accentuated by performances by a dancer, Bridgette Lundy, as well an art exhibit by Rosemary Hawkey. The artist's works, which often portray "whimsical" African themes, will be displayed in the lobby.
The nationwide observance of Black History Month began in 1926. The time of remembrance was founded by U.S. historian Carter Woodson and was originally called Negro History Week. Woodson said he chose February for the celebration based on the birthdays of two people who he saw as having had a profound effect on the lives of African-Americans: President Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.
