The holidays are here again.
Ranging from the Christmas tree and menorah on the Krentzman Quadrangle to the dorm room decorations and jubilant attitudes of students, the festive spirit seems to be everywhere.
Boston City Singers (BCS) and the Northeastern University Unity Gospel Ensemble continued to bring this spirit Friday night to Blackman Auditorium at the Holiday Concert.
There were 150 students and community members in attendance, said Jay Vultaggio, manager of the Northeastern box office.
“It’s a great opportunity for the two worlds to meet,” said Del Lewis, director of the Center for the Arts.
BCS and the Gospel Ensemble performed international carols, gospel selections and lullabies related to Christmas, Kwanzaa and Hanukkah.
“We hope to offer a program of very varied holiday songs,” said Jane Money, the artistic and chorus director. “It won’t be the standard Christmas carols.”
This commitment to diversity has always been one of the main initiatives of the BCS, according to their Web site.
The BCS is a predominantly female group of children and young adults from all over the greater Boston area, started by Money in 1995. Their mission is to reach out to the diverse community of Boston by performing for various audiences in the city and beyond, according to the Web site.
Students, like freshman business major Monique Harrington, were pleased with the wide-ranging program the evening offered.
“I liked them a lot. They were definitely new to my style,” she said.
The repertoire of songs the BCS performed offered a wide variety of languages and melodies.
The first song, “Tutira Mai Nga Iwi,” was a New Zealand Maori folk song featuring hand motions and clapping. Later on, two Japanese songs, “Takeda no Komoriuta” and “Red Dragonflies” and three Hebrew songs, “Vus Vet Zayn,” “Sim Shalom” and “S’vivon” brought changes in style and language.
A change of tone took place when the Gospel Ensemble took the stage. The Gospel Ensemble sings music ranging from traditional spirituals to contemporary gospel, and they began their performance with “I Call You Faithful,” a lively and spirited tune. “When I Think About the Lord” was their finale.
The evening concluded with the BCS’s performance of “Walk in Jerusalem,” and featured traditional spiritual singing as well as a call-and-response format.
Lewis said the diversity helped make the performance so important to Northeastern.
“The Boston City Singers do a well-rounded concert in terms of celebrating all of the holidays,” he said. “They really speak to a diverse community.”
