WEDNESDAY FOLK TRADITIONS
presents
July 2 at 6:30pm
The Goodwin Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church Choir

HADLEY – The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum will continue the 27th season of WEDNESDAY FOLK TRADITIONS on July 2, 2008, with The Goodwin Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Choir, a group that captures the essence of music in the Africa worship experience. The concert will be held in the Museum’s sunken garden beginning at 6:30 p.m., and picnicking on the grounds is welcome beginning at 5 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults and $2 for children under 16.

The Goodwin Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Choir believes that, in the words of Aldous Huxley, “after silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music”. For centuries, the style of music that they seek to recapture has been the means by which hopes and fears, dreams and aspirations, and the quest for holistic survival were actualized. Re-established in 2004, the choir at Goodwin Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church has been instrumental in exciting the worship experience. It continues to spiritually shape and influence the collective and individual nature of those who walk through its doors, by replicating the affect of the ethos of their predecessors through song. Under the direction of Mr. Trevor Hodge and the administrative leadership of Ms. Tracy Sutherland, the choir ministers in the Pioneer Valley and around New England. The choir’s membership is as diverse as its music. Its repertoire includes gospel, contemporary Christian, and spirituals, among others.

WEDNESDAY FOLK TRADITIONS continues on July 9 with River City Slim & The Zydeco Hogs. A zydeco band dedicated to bringing the sounds of the bayous of Louisiana, and
throughout the summer featuring Afro-Semitic Experience, MacTalla Mor, and MarKamusic. Come celebrate over a quarter century of music!

Wednesday’s performances are funded, in part, by grants from: the Marion I. And Otto C. Kohler Memorial Fund at the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts; The Hadley Cultural Council, a local agency, supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency; The New England States Touring Program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment of the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies; and with support from many local businesses.

The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum is located at 130 River Drive (Route 47) in Hadley, two miles north of the junction of Routes 9 and 47 North. The Museum is open for guided tours Saturday through Wednesday from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. For further information about the tours and the WEDNESDAY FOLK TRADITIONS series, call the Museum at (413) 584-4699.