Island Soul Choir is back once again with another concert of amazing soul music. Over the years, every concert has seemed like the best one ever. Under the direction of Tom Arntzen, Island Soul Choir will take their performance to yet another higher level! Tom has selected such a variety of songs, including Aretha Franklin’s “Rock Steady”, Carole King’s “Beautiful”, Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” and Billy Preston’s “Will It Go Round In Circles”, along with other standards and African songs. To support one of their favourite singer-songwriters as she navigates her healing journey through cancer, the choir will be singing Coco Love Alcorn’s “Unbreakable” song to remind her of her innate strength and determination.

Island Soul Choir is delighted to have Buwa as their guest artist for this concert. Buwa is an emerging Nigerian artist who now lives and performs in stage productions on Vancouver Island… someone you want to keep on your radar! Drawing influences from the late Whitney Houston, as well as Jill Scott, India Arie, Billy Porter, and Brenda Fassie, Buwa is an exciting contemporary soul artist, with pop and R&B sensibilities and a penchant for storytelling. He channels his infectious melodies, versatile voice and captivating song writing, into poetry and performance art to change the way the world sees Africa.

Island Soul Choir is a community choir in its purest sense. The choir welcomes members from all over Vancouver Island, from Victoria to Port Hardy, and from Bamfield and Ucluelet to neighbouring easterly islands including Gabriola, Protection, Salt Spring, Cortes, Lasqueti and Quadra. Members don’t need to have any prior choir experience; they don’t even need to know how to read music—they just need to love to sing.

NanGo Grannies will partner once again with Island Soul Choir at this concert. They will be selling crafts and baked goods in the theatre lobby before the concert and during the intermission, and all proceeds will be used to support The Stephen Lewis Foundation’s Grandmothers-to-Grandmothers Campaign. Even after almost two decades since the Campaign’s inception, thousands of grandmothers and “grand/younger-others” are more committed than ever to raise awareness, build solidarity, and mobilize funds for community-based organizations that support African grandmothers and the children in their care who have been orphaned by AIDS. We encourage our audience to take advantage of this opportunity to support this truly worthwhile endeavour.

“Fantastic! I love the upbeat music!… Loved the range of music and the enthusiasm of the choir!… Well done. A good mix of content… Enjoyed it from beginning to end!… Creative adaptations of traditional scores… Everyone had fun!… Time flew by! Lots of energy… I always find the music uplifting and come away feeling joyous!”
- Comments from past audience members