2023.11.02
StarLights Musical Performance
On Wednesday 1st November, we were very lucky to have a special group visit our school, StarLights. StartLights are a Japanese gospel group that tour the country spreading the Good News and teaching people about the history of Gospel music.
Gospel music is deeply connected to the struggle of African-Americans during the time when slavery was widespread in the Southern States of the US. Every Sunday, the slaves could hear the hymns from local churches and as a means of worship, the started to sing in the style of call and response. One member would repeat the words they could hear from the hymn and the other members of the group would sing in harmony. Over time this style of singing developed into the joyful songs of praise that many people still enjoy today. Gospel music is now very popular and there are gospel churches, singers and groups around the world, including in Japan.
StarLights performed a special concert of sixteen songs ranging from gospel hymns, songs connected with the struggle of African-Americans and modern Japanese pop songs. It was amazing to hear their renditions of some famous songs. I especially enjoyed Oh Happy Day and Down By The Riverside. However, I personally enjoyed You Raise Me Up more than any other song. This song is very popular in the UK and it is always nice to hear it sung by such wonderful performers.
During the concert, our students made a lot of efforts to communicate with the singers in the form of gestures and claps. I think everyone enjoyed the chance to listen to the music and learn about the history of such an interesting topic. I hope that in the future, we have another chance to enjoy the music of StarLights and I wish the group every success in their future concerts.
Gospel music is deeply connected to the struggle of African-Americans during the time when slavery was widespread in the Southern States of the US. Every Sunday, the slaves could hear the hymns from local churches and as a means of worship, the started to sing in the style of call and response. One member would repeat the words they could hear from the hymn and the other members of the group would sing in harmony. Over time this style of singing developed into the joyful songs of praise that many people still enjoy today. Gospel music is now very popular and there are gospel churches, singers and groups around the world, including in Japan.
StarLights performed a special concert of sixteen songs ranging from gospel hymns, songs connected with the struggle of African-Americans and modern Japanese pop songs. It was amazing to hear their renditions of some famous songs. I especially enjoyed Oh Happy Day and Down By The Riverside. However, I personally enjoyed You Raise Me Up more than any other song. This song is very popular in the UK and it is always nice to hear it sung by such wonderful performers.
During the concert, our students made a lot of efforts to communicate with the singers in the form of gestures and claps. I think everyone enjoyed the chance to listen to the music and learn about the history of such an interesting topic. I hope that in the future, we have another chance to enjoy the music of StarLights and I wish the group every success in their future concerts.
