Fiery Hope: an evolution of the Amandla Chorus

Forbes Library (20 West St, Northampton MA 01060)

Art + Entertainment + Music

Forbes Library presents the final event in a series of workshop-performances about the role of music in social justice. Eveline MacDougall founded the Amandla Chorus in 1988 as an anti-apartheid activist choir. ("Amandla" means power in Zulu--a name chosen by a South African member.) For three decades, the chorus continually broadened its mission to include local and global social justice issues. In 2019, the group adopted the name "Fiery Hope" to reflect the many shifts necessary in our era of accelerating environmental challenges and diminishing freedoms. Fiery Hope offers songs that are both rousingly joyful and deeply meditative to honor the spectrum of experiences on our Earth. Also among the chorus's large repertoire are songs celebrating our natural world, the many struggles for justice, rites of passage, and the strength of community.