Amy Biehl memorial

We started with the African freedom medly, the men singing very slow and loud with the women echoing. As soon as the percussion started in, the ladies in the back cheered and started clapping and dancing. We finished “Gabi Gabi” and the crowd started to clap, but we jumped in with “Asikatali” and they went wild! Smiles of recognition lit up the faces of the Amy Biehl women, and they all started singing along. The workers in the back were singing and dancing and cheering and whooping, and many older men and women were swaying in their chairs. We were singing and smiling and crying and it was the best reception we've ever had. Imagine singing civil rights songs to a crowd of African Americans right after the Civil Rights Act was passed. Maybe that's a bad comparison, but that's what it felt like. When we started “Singabahamba,” everyone was just high on the emotion in the room.

“Pie Jesu” was next, and so many of us were moved to tears with the soaring harmonies and absolutely beautiful sopranoes of Julie and Carmen. It was stunning, even in the small, hot room and piano and violin as the only accompaniment. “In Remembrance” was beautiful, even though it was not our best performance. The gospel songs KILLED. The percussion, the dancing, the clapping, the awesomeness of Julie / Diana / DTP, the full harmonies, the songs with African origin. They LOVED the gospel. And then the audience was cheering, “Encore, encore!” in their accents, and we sang out “Akekho” to more dancing and singing. The ladies in the back came up and sang with us and it was exactly what we had all been waiting for since we dreamt up this trip over a year ago across the oceans in Los Angeles.