As the gentle afternoon breezes cooled off the day’s sweltering heat, dozens of families gathered in Roosevelt Park to celebrate Holy Thursday with a special gospel concert featuring a newly created choir made up of local middle school students.
The Mass Middle School Gospel Choir is an amalgamation of youngsters from Bertha C. Boschulte and Addelita Cancryn middle schools, who used to practice separately until they were brought together by a swinging, singing group of women bent on spreading their messages of spirituality through music.
"We prepared a proposal and approached the principals of these two schools to see if they would be interested in putting together the Mass Choir," explained Cherise Creque-Quain, one of the three founding members of SENT, which spearheaded Thursday’s concert.
"We also went to PTA meetings to get permission from the parents. We started practicing in the individual schools and then eventually brought everyone together for full rehearsals," she added. "They’ve been practicing for a solid two months now."
Creque-Quain said there was a lot of rivalry between the students when the choir first started, but that died down once everyone was together.
"Our goal was to squash all that stuff — and they discovered that once they got into it, it was all about the music," she added.
And the music filled the air Thursday, with students hitting everything from the soulful notes of Aretha Franklin in their rendition of "How I Got Over" to the cool sounds of Donnie McClurkin in a "Caribbean Medley."
"It was great," BCB eight-grader Ajayi Anthony said after the performance, where he soloed in two of the songs. "At first I was a little bit scared, but then it was fun. I’m surprised that more guys aren’t out here singing, because it’s something I want to do all the time."
Brothers Julian Jackson Jr. and Julius Jackson seemed to share Anthony’s thoughts, as they hit the stage afterward with a montage of Christian-inspired songs they wrote and mixed themselves. Called Brothers of God, their four-man-strong group is the result of Saturdays spent with their friends and father, world-famous boxer Julian Jackson Sr., doing fun activities, such as camping and fishing.
"As another activity, we began playing instrumentals," Julius explained. "Then we started writing into it, and it eventually turned into this. Now we compose our own songs, and we’ve started making beats to go along with them."
For Julian Jr., the group’s mission is to show other young men that they can be spiritual and still have fun.
"I see a lot of young guys out there choosing to do some of the wrong things instead of looking to God," he said. "I was able to do that on my own, with my dad’s help, and hopefully, we can show others that they can also stand up and make that decision."
The group, which also features their brother, John, will soon be coming out with their own CD, produced by ISW Studios. A concert might also be in the works, Julian Jackson said.
Though it was only the two of them on stage Thursday, Julian and Julius had developed a huge fan base by the end of their performance, which finished off with a rap and a choreographed "Holy Dance."
"They were really doing it," Julius said later, a grin lighting up his face. "They were doing the ‘Holy Dance.’"
Thursday’s performance, which also featured a dance selection by Gems of Glory, was funded through a grant from the V.I. Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
