SALT LAKE CITY — Today during Music and the Spoken Word, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir featured soloist Pam Laws singing songs selected from African American spirituals.
Laws hails from Tallahassee, Florida, and was asked by choir director Craig Jessop to appear with the choir for their weekly broadcast. “Are there words for this,” she said when asked about her experience singing with the choir. “You can say it is an honor. You can say it is a great privilege. For me, it is beyond all understanding.”
Attendees at the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS) conference — which was held this week in Salt Lake City — attended the choir broadcast. Carolyn C. Rowe, president of the society, said she has listened to the choir since she was a child, so to see the choir in person was a dream of a lifetime.
The choir sang seven spirituals with Pam Laws singing solo on “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” and “I’m Runnin’ On.”
“It was an overwhelming, musical experience,” said Lorraine McCullen, president of the New Jersey chapter of AAHGS.
Lloyd Newell, announcer for Music and the Spoken Word, commented on the importance of the African American spirituals. He said, “These spirituals speak to all who mourn, all who are burdened, and encourage us to seek beauty and hope in our time of affliction.”
Khadijah Matin, vice president of AAHGS, said the significance of today’s concert and music selection is the coming together of diverse communities. “It symbolizes new openings and new relationships.”
Following the broadcast, the choir sang “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” for the AAHGS members.