Following a Freeman Shabbat dinner on Apr. 1, I saw the Grammy Award-winning a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock perform in Palmer Auditorium. Sweet Honey in the Rock is an ensemble of five women who have been expressing their history as African-American women through song, dance, spoken word and sign language since 1973. Given that the troupe draws largely from the gospel to discuss the effects that loss, violence and greed have on society and the environment, the event was merely an extension of Shabbat dinner in a way, save that some of the biblical references would not have been wholly kosher for the Shabbat dinner table. Still, Sweet Honey emanated an incredible energy that made it a religious experience, one that transcended my bar mitzvah and is more comparable to the synagogue youth group trip that I took to Yankee Stadium in eighth grade, where I got a cheeseburger and milkshake and nearly caught a Derek Jeter foul ball. That is, the concert was the kind of holy experience that touches your core and enhances your connection to faith, though perhaps only transiently.
Sweet Honey’s Shirley Childress translated the entire concert into sign language, which was a spectacle in itself. Vocalists Nitanju Bolade Casel, Aisha Kahlil, Carol Maillard and Louise Robinson were joined by Romeir Mendez on acoustic bass. The audience was comprised mostly of New London community members because the event coincided with a Rihanna a cappella concert also on campus. Despite this, their Afrocentric rhythm had most members of the elated audience out of their seats, grooving and singing along to popular hymns, original Sweet Honey songs and covers, my favorite of which was a soulful rendition of Marvin Gaye’s “Mercy Mercy Me.”
Sweet Honey in the Rock performed songs that segued perfectly into each other, telling a narrative of love and hope that has helped many weather the burdens of inequality throughout history. The event was a fun, two-hour celebration of music and humanity because, as Carol Maillard put it in between sets, “You can’t isolate yourself from the universe, so embrace it.” •
