The Ole Miss Gospel Choir performs at the 2013 Appreciation Reception. Photo by Kevin Bain/Ole Miss Communications
Thirty-seven years ago, I arrived at the University of Mississippi as a sophomore transfer student from Clark College (now Clark Atlanta University). Like many first-year students, I was unfamiliar with the campus and knew very few people. But one of those people was my first cousin, Roswietha Ellliott.
Wietha (pronounced “VEE-ta”) and I spent a great deal of time together, mostly talking and attending worship services at local churches, including Burns United Methodist, Second, Clear Creek and Providence M.B. Frequently, the university’s then-Black Student Union Choir would sing during these services. Weitha and I enjoyed the choir’s soulful gospel sounds and eventually decided to join the ensemble.
A busy pharmacy student, Wietha opted out of the choir after the second semester. I, however, sang tenor in the choir for three years. Within a few semesters, I emerged as one of the featured soloists on several songs. The group would rehearse every Thursday night in the old Y Building, now known as the Croft Institute for International Studies. Joyful noise would shake the rafters and could be heard across the Grove and the Circle. Other students, who were not black or necessarily Christian, would wander in, sit or stand and be totally enraptured by our harmonies, spirit and sincerity.
The BSU Choir sang at programs on and off campus. We traveled – mostly in our own cars, but occasionally in a university-chartered bus – around the state and outside it. The highlight would always be the choir’s end-of-the semester concert in Fulton Chapel.
Man, we had some great times! One weekend in April, the BSU choir participated in a college choir workshop-retreat in Jackson. Friday night, the combined choir rehearsed for hours. Each college and university choir did three of their own selections in a concert that Saturday night. The event closed Sunday afternoon with a combined choir, which opened for a concert by Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter-musician Walter Hawkins and the Hawkins Family. We returned to campus that evening physically exhausted and spiritually full.
Years later, the BSU Choir became the acclaimed University of Mississippi Gospel Choir. The group has recorded a CD, won awards and represented the university on concert stages far and wide. Now interracial, the choir stands – in my opinion – on equal footing with the classically-trained University Concert Singers (of which I was also briefly a member).
In celebration of the choir’s 40th anniversary, a glorious weekend concert was presented in mid-November. Although I missed the performance, I’m sure it was a wonderful reunion of former members as they enjoyed the soulful sounds served by the newest generation of the UM Gospel Choir. I hope to hear the Gospel Choir in the near future. After I do, I’m sure I’ll leave physically rejuvenated and spiritually full.
And somewhere, I’m sure Wietha will be listening with a smile.