The Aborigines of Australia navigated the complex network of invisible roads and wells that criss-crossed the desert outback by 'singing' the routes and committing them to memory. Their songlines are a triumph of oral tradition, a rich history embedded in song. In much the same way, the Diaspora of African musics that stretch across the Atlantic and back-from field hollers, blues, gospel, and jazz to calypso, reggae, R&B, and hip hop-are like an atlas of roads traveled, musical maps of African culture, the joyous song of a people's struggle and triumph.

Sunday 12 July 1998

Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir raises the roof.

They were on their feet, swaying and clapping in the second balcony of Salle Wilfrid Pelletier last night.

Close to 3,000 people were taking the Highway to Heaven with the Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir.

New Album It was the last major concert of the Montreal International Jazz Festival, and the choir, directed by the dynamic Trevor Payne, turned that toughest of halls into a rollicking temple of joy.

Sitting behind a Steinway and setting the tone, Payne opened the show by asking, "Ready?"

Gospel choir's performances a city tradition for Christmas

It's just the same old thing for the Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir this year: "traditional gospel, rock'n'roll, shoot-'em-up music," in the words of Trevor Payne, the choir's founding director.

Oh, yes, and packed houses that turn out every year for concerts that have become as much a Christmas tradition in Montreal as the Ogilvy's window display and the Paul Reid special on the radio.

While some tickets are still available for this year's choir concerts Dec. 6 to 9, some fanatics are already trying to book the best seats for next year, Payne said.

The secret, according to Payne: the energy of the 35-member choir and its nine instrumentalists, and a repertoire that ranges "from Africa to New Orleans to Mississippi to Germany and back.