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Black Voices To Perform Sunday Evening Concert
By GEORGE LUTER
"Deep down intheSouth, where
Poverty is a common word •.• "
narrates West Point senior Halbert Sykes, just before 30 Mississippi State University black
students unite their voices to
sing.
Together, these 30 students
make up the Black Voices a
choir which grew out of a gr~up
which was composed of Beverly
Cotton, Ronnie Dottery, Alice
Ervin, Tim Holbrook, Mary Sanders and Melvin Smith, to celebrate last year's Black History
Week.
. "The music is mixed.
we
sing music that will reach all
People. We sing spirituals con-
'
t'tempo rary music, a few patrio~c songs such as 'The Declaration of Independence' and such
sons as 'What the World Needs
Now is Love'," stated Ronnie
Dottery, the sophomore mechanical engineering major who dire;,ts the voices.
Somebody have to be a slave
somebodY have to work all day '
somebody h
t
,
that'
ave o be set free,
s 8 why the darkie was born •.• "
,ings the choir. But they don't
Just sing. They feel their mus1c.
wa"It'8 an expression. It's the
Na~ we feel," noted freshman
U an Winston from Vicksburg.
ntn recently the Black Voices
sang acapello ( without musical
accompanyment). Now they're
accompanied by pianist Butch
Malone and Emily Winnbush. Organ, guitar, french horn, saxophone, and drums sometimes enter the scene.
Currently, they're practicing
for a concert of spiritual, gospel, patriotic and contemparary
music Sunday at 7 p.m. in Lee
Hall Auditorium. The Black Voices is morethan
just a singing group. Definitions
of the group vary from one member to another but Malone says,
"It's a dynamic group mainly
because there's so many diversified members. There's only
one music major m the whole
group."
Black Voices have performed
in the MSU Chapel of M1~mories,
Griffin United Methodist Church
in Starkv1lle, on local radio, and
in Columbus and West Point.
December engagements include
performances in Sturgis, Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Jackson television station WLB T, and in concert next Sunday night, Dec. 5
in Lee Hall Auditorium at 7 p.m.
Admission is $1.
Dottery said he felt blacks
like music so much because
"When we first came over, the
only way we could express ourselves, our feeling, was through
music."
Hearing the group rehearse is
an experience. The choir mixes
solos and chorus along with the
piano licks of Malone and then
adds the narrative of Sykes.
"I have a dream •.. " bellows
narrator Sykes, " ... So let freedom ring," he continues the
speech of the late Dr. Martin
Luther King.
With the choir softly singing
in the background Dottery solos,
"God is my friend, He made
the world for us to live •. and all
He asked of us is that we love."
Before Dottery finlshes. Ma-
lone starts the piano as the choir
Hayes,
"Please Return Your
rises to belt out "What the world
Love to Me/'bytheTemptations,
needs now is love. sweet love.
and Aretha Franklin's "This
it's the only thing that there'~
Girl's In Love With You."
just too little of... 11
But the Black Voices is not
Starkville Freshman Minnie
just singers. It's 30 musical
Randle calle<l the voices "really
communicators. They just don't
a great group."
sing the music - they experience
it.
About this time the choir
comes in with the Supremes'
"We're rhythm," says Tupelo
"Baby, Don't Leave Me" tied
senior Charles McBride in exin with the 30 snapping finger.
plaining why they seem to have
They follow with a . medley of • such a feeling for music. "Black
"OUr Day Will Come" by Isaac
is rhythm, music is a story."
i
Black Voices
Director Ronnie Dottery leads the Black Voices as the choral group
practices for their Sunday concert. Admission is $1. (Photo by Otls)
By GEORGE LUTER
"Deep down intheSouth, where
Poverty is a common word •.• "
narrates West Point senior Halbert Sykes, just before 30 Mississippi State University black
students unite their voices to
sing.
Together, these 30 students
make up the Black Voices a
choir which grew out of a gr~up
which was composed of Beverly
Cotton, Ronnie Dottery, Alice
Ervin, Tim Holbrook, Mary Sanders and Melvin Smith, to celebrate last year's Black History
Week.
. "The music is mixed.
we
sing music that will reach all
People. We sing spirituals con-
'
t'tempo rary music, a few patrio~c songs such as 'The Declaration of Independence' and such
sons as 'What the World Needs
Now is Love'," stated Ronnie
Dottery, the sophomore mechanical engineering major who dire;,ts the voices.
Somebody have to be a slave
somebodY have to work all day '
somebody h
t
,
that'
ave o be set free,
s 8 why the darkie was born •.• "
,ings the choir. But they don't
Just sing. They feel their mus1c.
wa"It'8 an expression. It's the
Na~ we feel," noted freshman
U an Winston from Vicksburg.
ntn recently the Black Voices
sang acapello ( without musical
accompanyment). Now they're
accompanied by pianist Butch
Malone and Emily Winnbush. Organ, guitar, french horn, saxophone, and drums sometimes enter the scene.
Currently, they're practicing
for a concert of spiritual, gospel, patriotic and contemparary
music Sunday at 7 p.m. in Lee
Hall Auditorium. The Black Voices is morethan
just a singing group. Definitions
of the group vary from one member to another but Malone says,
"It's a dynamic group mainly
because there's so many diversified members. There's only
one music major m the whole
group."
Black Voices have performed
in the MSU Chapel of M1~mories,
Griffin United Methodist Church
in Starkv1lle, on local radio, and
in Columbus and West Point.
December engagements include
performances in Sturgis, Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Jackson television station WLB T, and in concert next Sunday night, Dec. 5
in Lee Hall Auditorium at 7 p.m.
Admission is $1.
Dottery said he felt blacks
like music so much because
"When we first came over, the
only way we could express ourselves, our feeling, was through
music."
Hearing the group rehearse is
an experience. The choir mixes
solos and chorus along with the
piano licks of Malone and then
adds the narrative of Sykes.
"I have a dream •.. " bellows
narrator Sykes, " ... So let freedom ring," he continues the
speech of the late Dr. Martin
Luther King.
With the choir softly singing
in the background Dottery solos,
"God is my friend, He made
the world for us to live •. and all
He asked of us is that we love."
Before Dottery finlshes. Ma-
lone starts the piano as the choir
Hayes,
"Please Return Your
rises to belt out "What the world
Love to Me/'bytheTemptations,
needs now is love. sweet love.
and Aretha Franklin's "This
it's the only thing that there'~
Girl's In Love With You."
just too little of... 11
But the Black Voices is not
Starkville Freshman Minnie
just singers. It's 30 musical
Randle calle<l the voices "really
communicators. They just don't
a great group."
sing the music - they experience
it.
About this time the choir
comes in with the Supremes'
"We're rhythm," says Tupelo
"Baby, Don't Leave Me" tied
senior Charles McBride in exin with the 30 snapping finger.
plaining why they seem to have
They follow with a . medley of • such a feeling for music. "Black
"OUr Day Will Come" by Isaac
is rhythm, music is a story."
i
Black Voices
Director Ronnie Dottery leads the Black Voices as the choral group
practices for their Sunday concert. Admission is $1. (Photo by Otls)