Ten for ten . . . St Cyprian’s Church filled with sweet Christmas music

The sweet sounds that were heard coming from the St Cyprian’s Anglican Church in Belleville, St Michael, last Friday reminded all that the Yuletide Season was not quite over.

Roger Gittens and The 10 Voices Choir belted out some Christmas favourites in five segments – traditional, reggae, contemporary, calypso and jazz. The musical maestro, Gittens, gave the occasional anecdote which helped to make the night even more entertaining.

Gittens and his ten voices did a great job. Sopranos included Maiella Best, Dorothy Brown, Faith F. Callender and Fiona John; the altos were Chantal Yearwood and Anthea Maxwell (missing); the tenors included Kareem Agard, Randy Harris, and the basses were Norton Brewster and Nicholas Hoyte.

The group sang: O Sing To The Lord A New Song, King Jesus, Mary Come Let Us Celebrate, Christmas is A Time for Giving, God is With Us, O Come All Ye Faithful and There’s No Christmas Without Jesus.

There were solo renditions from Maiella Best, Dorothy Brown and Randy Harris. Best sang Alleluia, Amen and You Are My Son, Brown performed Glory to God, while Harris did Love Came Down at Christmas.

The choir ended with the hilarious song Tired of Christmas which carried lyrics: “Tired of shopping, tired of eating, tired changing curtains, tired of ham… Just gimme Jesus…”

As if that was not enough, patrons were then serenaded even longer with the music of the band Altered 5th. The group of young men who are students or graduates of the Barbados Community College music programme was simply captivating.

On steel pan was Judah Goddard, on the saxophone was Zukeli Inniss, playing keyboard was David Scott, on bass guitar was Elyan Gordon and Lashon Brathwaite handled the drums. Their set was short but sweet. They performed How Great is Our God, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas and Do You Hear What I Hear.

Saxophonist Zukeli took the lead when they did Silent Night while The First Noel was heavy on steel pan thanks to Judah. The band then changed the pace and did an up-tempo session much to the delight of the congregation.

Sounds in that medley included: At Calvary, Highway To Heaven, Walking Up the Kings Highway, Walk Holy, This Is A Holy Train and A Little More Oil before ending with We Wish You A Merry Christmas. By this time, Zukeli was down the aisle playing the saxophone and interacting with the audience.

From the beginning of the session members of the audience were on their feet, singing along, dancing and making merry. When Altered 5th had finished they were shown appreciation with shouts, screams and loud applause. (IMC)