Sixteenth Angelic Choir & Orchestra holds ‘Praise Ye The Lord’ concert

Takoradi base singing group, Sixteenth Angelic Choir and Orchestra (SAC) on Sunday demonstrated on stage why it is a group to reckon with in terms of singing and playing of the keyboard.

At the group show dubbed ‘Praise Ye The Lord’, the group demonstrated skills, talents and prowess in singing to the admiration of lovers of choral music who had taken their seat to watch the show.

Already known in Takoradi and Accra for their talents in classical pieces, the Takoradi based group did not disappoint when they added another feat to their cup in the area of singing of hymns and local anthems.

The Praise Ye The Lord show which was in three parts saw the group perform only hymns in the first part of the show. Hymns selected from the Methodist Hymn Book, Catholic Hymn Book, Adventist and the Baptist Hymn book were performed in different musical style to the admiration of the audience.

All hymnal pieces as performed by the group including the orchestra were rearranged and scored by the Music Directors of the group; Joseph Kinglsey Amusah and Paa Kwesi Ahenkorah, both University of Cape Coast trained musicians.

The rearrangement as done by the duo meant that the original piece was ‘altered’. For instance, if the original piece was in key A Major, the duo would rearrange it into another minor key to make the piece sound different in performance. A clear example is the hymn ‘It is well with my soul’. This piece was completely rearranged with four parts of performance from the male singers. This was the trick that got the singers to sing through the rooftop.

Speaking to one of the Music Directors of the group after the show, Joseph Kingsley Amusah told this reporter that the objective of the show was to tell the goodness of the lord.

He said the voices as demonstrated on stage was an indication that the group stood for professionalism in terms of performance. The group arranged four keyboards including 25 orchestra players for the show.

The keyboards produced church organ tone, piano, bassoon and harpsichord. This reporter who watched the show can reports that the performance of the choir at the hymnal section in the first part of the show ended with a descant performance. The voice volume that accompanied the descant performances of each hymnal was a sight to behold of a group formed five years ago.

Considering the number of singers on stage, the voices that the group churned out reconciled with their numerical strength on stage.

In the area of anthems, the group performed local pieces by both known and unknown Ghanaian choral composers ending the show with high life pieces.

It is on record that The Sixteenth Angelic Choir is the only singing group in Ghana with accompanying instruments orchestra group. Picture of the group and the Orchestra on stage.