Commonwealth Secretary General commends National Youth Choir

Commonwealth Secretary General, Baroness Patricia Scotland, has highly commended the Antigua and Barbuda National Youth Choir that is currently touring the United Kingdom.
Describing the choir as “world class”, Baroness Scotland, said that the raw emotion skillfully expressed through music and poetry by the choir has touched her heart.
The choir, which left the twin island state just over a week ago for a brief tour of performances in the United Kingdom, has created quite a stir in London.
Since arriving in London, the choir has sung at the historic Marlborough House, at the Halo charity dinner of Antigua and Barbuda’s governor general, Sir Rodney Williams, and at Buckingham Palace.
The choir is accompanied by pan soloist, Khan Cordice.
Noting that the choir was formed in 2004, Choir Master, Renee Smith, outlined the objectives of the choir in a brief interview with the Commonwealth media: “Over the years, everybody has spoken about the impact music has and how positive it can be, and so … we hope that we are teaching these young persons, who sing on the choir, the value of being involved in positive activities, and understanding how music helps to relieves stress, and how it binds us together as a people and reaping the benefits from that experience.”
The choir began its U.K. tour at the Steyning Grammar School on Friday June 22.
Antiguan and Barbudan students currently studying at Steyning have raised over £5,000 to support the recovery effort in Barbuda.
Antigua and Barbuda High Commissioner to the U.K., Karen-Mae Hill, attended the performance, which featured a number of pieces in expression of appreciation to the staff and students of Steyning Grammar School.
Barbudan choir member, Lincoln Burton, expressed appreciation on behalf of all Barbudans and Antiguans for the acts of kindness received after the passage of Hurricane Irma.
As a tribute to Barbuda, the singers performed a rendition of the song ‘I See Fire’. The song was introduced by a spoken word piece written by Antigua’s Arica Hill and performed by Kadeem Joseph during the rendition.