Singing the change they want to see in the world: Amandla marks a milestone

By MELISSA GARBER Bulletin Contributing Writer

Published on May 16, 2008

From Lincoln Center to a maximum security prison, the Amandla chorus has spent the past two decades singing for social activism. Twenty years ago, at the age of 23, Eveline MacDougall started the Greenfield-based chorus that has expanded from a group of 40 to almost 400 past and present members.

The chorus is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year with a free concert at the Wesley United Methodist Church in Hadley Saturday night.

Amandla started grass-roots style. When MacDougall moved to Greenfield from a community farm that raised food for soup kitchens, she decided to put together a singing group. At the first meeting, the group sang for three hours.

"We didn't really advertise it that well and 40 people came," MacDougall said. "We got invited to some concerts and it took off from there."

The word Amandla originates from the Zulu word for "power." After taking note of the word's presence in the South African freedom songs the group performed, MacDougall chose Amandla as the name of the chorus.

"We were more of a political activist group in the beginning that happened to sing," MacDougall said.

When Amandla first began, the apartheid system in South Africa was still raging, and the group's repertoire ran strongly to South African freedom songs. With the destruction of apartheid rule in South Africa, the group has expanded to Croatian, Japanese, Hebrew and Xhosa songs. Xhosa is a Bantu language spoken in South Africa.

"If I had to boil it down to one sentence, we sing to celebrate life and to reflect on and articulate social concerns," MacDougall said.

While the majority of the chorus are Pioneer Valley residents, Amandla's rica, Guatemala, Croatia, Nigeria, the Netherlands and Great Britain. They have performed for Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Cesar Chavez. They have performed at the bedsides of the dying, and at Lincoln Center with Pete Seeger.

"What I love about [the group] is the feeling of community," said Amandla member Tom Plaut of Amherst. "All the members are interested in social change, and it's not just intellectual; people help each other.

When Wally Nelson, the founder of CORE, was dying of cancer in Greenfield, Plaut took him out and about every week. He remembers the chorus singing to Nelson just before he died.

But MacDougall's most memorable experience with Amandla came from a prison performance. In the early '90s the group traveled to a maximum-security prison near the Canadian border.

"The whole thing was surrounded by the tallest walls I'd ever seen," MacDougall recalled. "By the time we got to the metal detectors, everyone was kind of rattled. It was this very surreal environment."

The group was set to perform on a raised stage in the middle of a massive gymnasium. Guards, armed with rifles, read the rules to the singers, explicitly stating, "Don't step off the stage." When the prisoners, all male and mostly from New York City, entered the gym, the South African members of the chorus were shocked.

The majority of inmates were black, and memories of black South African prisons came flooding back. MacDougall said the first song was a disaster - the sound was awful and the mood was dismal. "This is going to be one long hour," she thought.

At one point, one of her South African friends couldn't take the tension anymore, so he left the stage and walked down the middle of the aisle to the back. The guards raised their rifles in preparation for a potentially disastrous situation, while MacDougall's friend sobbed in the back of the gym, head against the wall.

Then, "The prisoners did something brilliant," MacDougall said. "They lifted their butts off the chairs and said, Come on back. Come on back. Come on back bro, it's okay.' "

The prisoners clapped as he made it back to the stage. After that dramatic moment, the concert continued.

"A lot of these guys were lifers," MacDougall said, "but what they showed to me was immense tenderness. It was a lesson for me."

At their anniversary performance Saturday night in Hadley, Amandla will revisit songs from their past and perform new material as well. MacDougall has written music for the group in the past, and some of her new work with be performed for the first time.

One of the songs she wrote is about a young man who died in Iraq. The material is intense, and MacDougall warns it might not be suitable for young children.

In addition to Amandla, the Hadley performance will include special guest Juanita Nelson, who MacDougall describes as "a lifelong activist, farmer, soap-maker and amazing story teller."

The group Sister of the Drum, made up of four 14-year-olds from Northampton, will also perform. "They are so energetic and really good drummers," MacDougall said.

Also on the program are members of the Holyoke Catholic A Cappella Singers. Although the concert is free, Amandla will be accepting donations for the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts and the Tibetan Association of Western Massachusetts.

"We're definitely a shoestring- budget organization," MacDougall said, "But it's our 20th anniversary. Let's just keep it completely open to everyone and help these organizations."

After 20 years of performing, the Amandla chorus has come full circle with their Hadley show. In the beginning they focused on the international apartheid crisis in South Africa and now, two decades later, they are tackling local issues.

"We don't pretend to think we are going to change the world with our songs," MacDougall said. "But maybe if we could make an effect in our community it would ripple out."

Amandla performs Saturday night at 7 p.m. at the church at 98 No. Maple St. in Hadley. For more information, visit the Web site www.amandlachorus.org.