African Children's Choir comes to Santa Rosa

When Tony Were was a small boy in Nairobi, Kenya, his single mother struggled to earn enough to feed the small family. After hearing about a program from a missionary, she enrolled young Tony in a Music for Life camp, which sponsors the African Children’s Choir.

From a pool of thousands of children, Were was chosen for the choir; months later the 8-year-old boy was touring the United States.

“People hugged us; they loved us,” Were (pronounced Way-ray) said. “We had all come from an environment of despair and poverty, and now we were singing and dancing for people who were clapping and cheering. We went to Disneyland and saw Mickey Mouse — it was mind-blowing.”

Two decades after first performing in the choir, Were is a broadcast journalist in Nairobi; he is volunteering as a conductor and chaperone on the choir’s western North America tour.

The choir performs at the Wells Fargo Center tonight Fri and the Napa Valley Opera House on Saturday.

Clad in colorful costumes, 23 children, ages 7 to 10, will perform upbeat songs and dances that evoke the effervescent spirit of Africa, said tour leader Stacy Alan.

The children also sing American spirituals, such as “This Little Light of Mine,” with an African backbeat. The kids on this tour are from Kenya and Uganda.

Children are chosen based on musical and dance ability, social skills and academic promise, she said. When they finish touring, ACC pays for their education, through college.

The fourth criterion is need: the children come from backgrounds of hardship. Some are orphans; others have parents who, due to disease or other issues, aren’t able to care for them, Alan said.

The kids spend five months developing their talents at an academy in Kampala, Uganda, before hitting the road. Last month the choir appeared on “The Jay Leno Show.

The African Children’s Choir is a faith-based evangelical group and imparts Christian teachings to all the children in its programs. Alan says parents or guardians are consulted before the kids’ enrollment.

The choir was founded in 1984 by Ray Barnett, a relief worker in Uganda during the civil war there. While giving a ride to a boy who sang during the journey, Barnett got the idea for the choir.

“Inspired by the singing of one small boy, we formed the first African Children’s Choir to show the world that Africa’s most vulnerable children have beauty, dignity and unlimited ability,” Barnett says on ACC’s site.

Were, who worked at a radio station before embarking on this tour, said the choir transformed his life.

“As a kid, it opens your eyes to hope that life can be so much better,” he said. “It helped me see I could get an education and make a living.”

And he’s still amazed by how the joyful music and dance of the choir connects cultures.

Recalling his boyhood travels, he said: “People from so far from where we live cared for me and sponsored my education.

“It showed me the world really can be a village.”

Michael Shapiro writes about entertainment for The Press Democrat. Contact him at michaelshapiro@yahoo.com.