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Singing for joy and Africa

A woman from Pender Harbour drives to Roberts Creek every Sunday - just to sing. She's part of an informal group called, simply, a song circle.

A woman from Pender Harbour drives to Roberts Creek every Sunday - just to sing. She's part of an informal group called, simply, a song circle. Another woman, without any musical background, has found singing with the circle so fulfilling she has taken up music study. Another is already a member of a local choir, but spends her Sundays singing for fun.

"We're using our natural voices," said song circle leader Karen Stein. "We sing in glorious imperfection."

Stein does not refer to the group as a choir. Singing while standing in a circle allows each singer to see one another, listen and gradually learn to sing in tune.

"The more you learn to listen to others singing, the more your voice is enhanced," Stein said.

The concept of song circles or ubuntu choirs is taken from a Zulu word that means "I am because you are."

An ubuntu choir is open to all faiths and cultures, whether or not you can read a note or croak out a tune. There are no auditions and no tuition. Stein has no music degree and no training other than her time with the Getting Higher Choir of Victoria, a group that offered a community choir leadership program.

Though Stein keeps a contact list of 150 people who attend intermittently, there are usually about 20 who come to the Sunday morning circle at Roberts Creek and about 14 who turn up regularly to a Wednesday evening session in Gibsons.

"I set the space, make the ginger tea and trust that people will turn up," she said.

Most of the repertoire is African or other world music, often taken from an oral tradition of chants and repetitive lyrics. The connection with Africa is real, and it demonstrates another upbeat side of this Coast group.

In 2007, Stein and her husband worked for a non-governmental organization at a school in Kenya. They explored the countryside and were toured to a village in the rainforest, Isecheno, with a neglected school. It had no writing materials or sports equipment, no library or computers, in fact, no furniture to speak of, and worse, no nearby source of water. Many children were turned away because they cried too much and disturbed the others. The Steins were told it was because the children were hungry.

When the couple returned to Canada, they carried thoughts of Africa with them, and through a village liaison, they started a program to feed pupils and provide materials for the school, using money raised in part from the song circles. The singers are asked for a small donation at the weekly sessions, and the group also busks to raise money or sings at fundraising gatherings for such groups as Grandmothers and Grandothers.

In January 2010, the village held a jubilant ceremony. A new well and pump had been installed for everyone to use. Etched in the concrete base were the words: donated by Canadian singers.

Stein and the song circle were happy to raise the funds and decided to embark on something more ambitious - to make a CD and sell it to raise more money for Africa. In March the rehearsals began; only those committed to the CD project came to the group. The quality of singing improved as the group mastered technique, and in the process they were changing.

"My recovering perfectionist was roaring," recalls Stein. "We were one third along before we realized that we were no longer having fun."

The group decided to let go of the CD project and return to sharing the joy in song, but they will not be letting go of the village in Kenya. Along with recently received photos of the new well and the celebration of the villagers at its launch came several heart-warming letters from friends and students.

"God bless your hands that give," wrote one Kenyan friend, Smith Likare.

Watch for singers busking this Sunday at Earth Day in Roberts Creek. This summer the Sunday circle will take a break, but the Wednesday circle will continue in Dougall Park in Gibsons. For more information, contact Karen Stein at oshun_song@hotmail.com.