Location

The Embassy of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The boys – ranging in age from seven to 18 – will give a brief performance at the annual Independence Reception given by the Permanent Mission of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas to the Organization of American States from six to eight o’clock on Friday, July 9, 2010, and will offer special music during the celebratory church service on Sunday, July 11, 2010, at Holy Comforter Episcopal Church in Washington, DC.

Also, under the patronage of the Embassy of The Bahamas, and with the co-sponsorship of the International Trade Center, the Boys Choir will present a special concert at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center Amphitheater on Tuesday, July 13, 2010, at 6PM, as part of The Bahamas’ independence celebrations. The programming arm of the International Trade Center, the Office for Trade Promotion collaborates with an extended network of public and private sector organizations to convene a rich mix of signature events that foster international dialogue, cultural diplomacy, and educate the public, and are pleased to be a co-sponsor of this outstanding group.

Musical Legacy
The Boys Choir of The Bahamas was formed by Dr. Patricia Margaret Dean Bazard in 2004. The group has since become Youth Ambassadors of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas, with a diverse repertoire and unique style that has inspired national and international audiences.

The choir recently incorporated the “Little Dicey Doh Boys” into its performances. This is a group of four boys that sing the “rhyming spirituals” of The Bahamas in the style of The Dicey Doh Singers, one of The Bahamas most treasured and respected purveyors of the style of Bahamian music akin to what are termed “Negro spirituals.”

The “rhyming spiritual” is a uniquely Bahamian genre, a distinctive Bahamian type of religious song that its documenters suggest may preserve an accurate record of the musical traditions dating back to before the turn of the century, and certainly traditions analogous to the development of the Negro spiritual in America. [There are classic recordings made by Peter K. Seigel and Jody Stecher in The Bahamas in the 1960s.]

The music brought folks like Joseph Spence to the attention of the world, and made the Caribbean a “real” place for so many North Americans in the 60s and 70s. Spence himself would go on to have a tremendous impact on the development of the blues and traditional American music, with blues and “roots” music icons like Olu Dara and Taj Mahal among his adherents.

American folklorist and ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax made an interesting proposition when he recorded the music in 1935: that the particular style of singing employed in Bahamian rhyming music stems from the Bahamian sponger’s connection to the sea. He writes: “The distinctive effect of multiple tempos [found in the music]...flows...from the marriage of Bahamians to the sea and small sailboats…Other rhythms can be heard in the rapid slatting of ropes against the sail, the slow creaking of the mast and the blocks, and the slide of water along the side and perhaps against the deck.”

About The Choir
Assistant Director Alfred Dean, the boys’ official accompanist, said that the annual auditions – held each September – are very competitive, and that the boys exhibit great musicianship, with many playing multiple instruments.

Every year the choir takes a Concert Tour. They have performed in New York, at Mississippi State Valley University in Atlanta Georgia, in Fort Lauderdale Florida and throughout the islands of The Bahamas. Last year the Concert Tour took the Boys Choir to California, where they performed in San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles.