Gospel Music in Gabon

One  of the really good activities of the US government is "Arts America," a program sponsored by what was then the US Information  Agency.  American musical groups, one of the most popular of which were gospel singers, were sent overseas as a way of sharing our culture.

 

While I was in Gabon, I learned via cable that a group called the Stars of Faith would be arriving in a month, giving me four weeks to turn a hitherto unknown ensemble into national celebrities.  I did this via TV (I had a sample tape) and radio interviews.  I persuaded our ambassador, Warren Clark, to propose to President Bongo a concert in the presidential palace to which ministers and other dignitaries would be invited.   When the idea was accepted, I knew we had a first.

 

On the evening of the event we were all gathered, Ambassador Clark,embassy officers, ministers, generals and the like with the president's daughter acting as hostess.  The Stars of Faith came on stage: four women singers and a male pianist.  But when they started to sing, it became obvious something was wrong with the pianist.  Whereas he had played well during rehearsal, he was now banging out irrelevant and discordant chords.  While we wondered what was going on, he fell off the piano stool and crawled on all fours off stage.

 

The Stars of Faith quickly switched to a Capella songs.   Then, towards the end of the concert, the pianist reappeared on stage dragging a chair and resumed "playing."  As the group stood to bow, pianist and singers, the pianist fell off the stage to "oohs and ahs."   It turned out he was full of drugs and alcohol and there we were, the ambassador and staff, to absorb the embarrassment..

 

The Gabonese carried on with an after-concert reception, complete with Dom Perignon, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, ministers and generals shaking hands with us.   In the picture above with me smiling and bowing obsequiously, I'm shaking hands with the president's daughter (the lead singer is on the right) with Ambassador Clark in the background and Deputy Chief of Mission Ken Scott on the left.  

 

In the aftermath, I sent cables to all the posts on the singers' schedule describing what had happened, the pianist was sent back to Paris, and the gospel group, all professionals, completed a very successful stay in Gabon, relying solely on their a Capella repertoire. 

 

We were fortunate to have had such gracious Gabonese hosts.