The Sojourners close this year's Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival, November 10

Juno Award-winning group weaves doo-wop, R&B, country, and blues with themes of social justice and human dignity

SPONSORED POST BY Vancouver Moving Theatre

The Sojourners.

 
 

Vancouver Moving Theatre welcomes The Sojourners back to the Downtown Eastside neighbourhood to close out the 21st-annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival in a celebratory evening at St. James’ Anglican Church on November 10 at 7 pm.

The Sojourners formed when blues artist Jim Byrnes invited gospel artist Marcus Mosely to bring a talented group of friends to sing back-up vocals on a recording session for Byrnes’s Juno Award-winning album House of Refuge. Mosely then formed The Sojourners with Will Sanders and Ron Small (whose place was later assumed by Khari Wendell McClelland).

The ensemble recorded its first album in 2007, and has been performing and touring ever since. The Sojourners’s spiritually uplifting music crosses generations and genres, drawing influence from church gospel songs; quartets and jubilee ensembles from the 1930s and ’40s; anthems of resistance from the American civil rights movement; and 1950s and ’60s tunes. The group weaves doo-wop, R&B, country, and blues with themes of social justice and human dignity.

The Sojourners performed at the DTES Heart of the City Festival in 2010 and 2018. Their connection to the celebration dates back to 2001, when Mosely and Sanders sang at a Strathcona Artist at Home Festival concert hosted by Terry Hunter and Savannah Walling, cofounders of the DTES Heart of the City Festival.

The group’s show at this year’s festival honours a thread of connection to the land. From 1918 to 1985, the African Methodist Episcopal Fountain Chapel cofounded by Nora Hendrix—located at 623 Jackson Street just outside of Hogan’s Alley—was a cultural hub for the Black community up until its displacement. Now, decades later, plans are in place to restore and revitalize the two hundred block of Hogan’s Alley. Folks of Black ancestry are settling into East Vancouver once again, including The Sojourners member McClelland, who is originally from Detroit and now resides in Strathcona.

At the upcoming closing night concert, additional features to look forward to include a poetry reading from Typewriter Tales, guest speakers, and celebratory surprises.

Tickets to see The Sojourners are available here, and more details can be found at the DTES Heart of the City Festival.


Post sponsored by Vancouver Moving Theatre.

 
 
 

Related Articles

Featured
Jennifer Scott and Brad Turner lead big-band celebration of legendary Kenny Wheeler, February 27 at BlueShore at CapU
Jennifer Scott and Brad Turner lead big-band celebration of legendary Kenny Wheeler, February 27 at BlueShore at CapU

Tribute to one of Canada’s most important large-jazz ensemble vocalists stars two Vancouver greats

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra announces first European tour in April
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra announces first European tour in April

Stops include a three-night residency at Austria’s Salzburg Easter Festival, as well as Croatia, Slovenia, Liechtenstein, and Germany

Rising German piano star Julius Asal makes his Canadian debut with the Vancouver Recital Society, February 8
Rising German piano star Julius Asal makes his Canadian debut with the Vancouver Recital Society, February 8

Among the 28-year-old’s recent achievements is winning the Terence Judd-Hallé Award for young pianists on the cusp of international fame

Cosí fan tutte gets a vintage-Canadian refresh under director Robert Herriot at Vancouver Opera
Cosí fan tutte gets a vintage-Canadian refresh under director Robert Herriot at Vancouver Opera

The Winnipeg artist brings experience as a tenor to a Mozart opera reimagined in a 1930s Rockies resort, complete with Mounties and log drivers

Shadbolt Centre hosts Burnaby Lyric Opera’s The Barber of Seville this February
Shadbolt Centre hosts Burnaby Lyric Opera’s The Barber of Seville this February

Romance, deception, and mistaken identities abound in Gioachino Rossini’s beloved comic masterpiece

Theatre review: You’re Just a Place That I Know is a moving musical reflection on family and memory
Theatre review: You’re Just a Place That I Know is a moving musical reflection on family and memory

Based on Adrian Glynn McMorran’s album of the same name, the show at the Arts Club’s BMO Theatre Centre is more than just a concert

Cellist Henry Shapard plays Prokofiev with the VSO at Beethoven’s Eroica, February 20 to 22
Cellist Henry Shapard plays Prokofiev with the VSO at Beethoven’s Eroica, February 20 to 22

Han-Na Chang conducts Beethoven’s revolutionary Third Symphony

Corey Payette spotlights songs from his acclaimed musicals at Closest Thing to Home, January 28
Corey Payette spotlights songs from his acclaimed musicals at Closest Thing to Home, January 28

The renowned theatre artist and composer offers a stirring collection of tunes from acclaimed shows such as Children of God and Starwalker

Ghanaian music scholar Kofi Gbolonyo leads upbeat Celebrate Africa! event at BlueShore at CapU, January 30
Ghanaian music scholar Kofi Gbolonyo leads upbeat Celebrate Africa! event at BlueShore at CapU, January 30

Long-time UBC and CapU faculty member puts on a show featuring dozens of local musicians, plus vocalists Dawn Pemberton and Khari McClelland

Collaboration opens new sonic horizons for jazz guitarist Jocelyn Gould
Collaboration opens new sonic horizons for jazz guitarist Jocelyn Gould

The Winnipeg-based artist looks forward to onstage exchanges with diverse musical peers on International Guitar Night

You're the Top! brings the songs of Cole Porter to the Anvil Theatre, February 14
You're the Top! brings the songs of Cole Porter to the Anvil Theatre, February 14

Event hosted by Michael van den Bos features Hollywood film projections and live music by the Laura Crema Sextet

Vancouver New Music hosts Artifacts I: Zero Input Enclosure Movement, February 14
Vancouver New Music hosts Artifacts I: Zero Input Enclosure Movement, February 14

Sonic architecture of Winnipeg’s AO Roberts explores the interplay of performance, installation, and layered auditory experiences

Folk-rooted string quartet the Fretless finds a voice in singer-songwriter Madeleine Roger
Folk-rooted string quartet the Fretless finds a voice in singer-songwriter Madeleine Roger

Collaborating with vocalists taught the acclaimed, formerly all-instrumental group new ways of listening and working

UBC Opera performs Leonard Bernstein’s satirical operetta Candide, February 5 to 8
UBC Opera performs Leonard Bernstein’s satirical operetta Candide, February 5 to 8

Rarely presented in Vancouver, the production blends musical theatre and opera with a philosophically rooted storyline

Ariel Barnes brings nomadic spirit and intense curiosity to classic and contemporary cello works
Ariel Barnes brings nomadic spirit and intense curiosity to classic and contemporary cello works

The adventurous artist sees his upcoming program with Vetta Chamber Music as a way of expressing music’s power to console and cheer, even in dark times

Ralph Moore Quartet headlines sixth edition of Jazz at the Bolt, February 13 to 15
Ralph Moore Quartet headlines sixth edition of Jazz at the Bolt, February 13 to 15

Hosted by the Cellar Music Group at the Shadbolt Centre, festival opens with a special concert by the Vancouver Jazz Orchestra with Champian Fulton and Klas Lindquist

Vancouver Chamber Choir concludes 46th annual Conductors' Symposium with Neighbo(u)rs, February 13
Vancouver Chamber Choir concludes 46th annual Conductors' Symposium with Neighbo(u)rs, February 13

Five emerging conductors lead a program of pieces by both Canadian and American composers, from Amy Beach to Stuart Beatch

You’re Just a Place That I Know retraces a refugee story through song, at the BMO Theatre Centre from January 21 to February 1
You’re Just a Place That I Know retraces a refugee story through song, at the BMO Theatre Centre from January 21 to February 1

Adrian Glynn McMorran’s moving theatre-concert pays tribute to his Ukraine-born grandparents, complete with a choir and traditional instruments

Stir Cheat Sheet: 5 shows to startle and spellbind at PuSh International Performing Arts Festival
Stir Cheat Sheet: 5 shows to startle and spellbind at PuSh International Performing Arts Festival

Productions that “push” forms include dance works that play with props and stereotypes, as well as ethereal odes to nature and the northern lights

Violinist Gil Shaham joins the VSO for Brahms & Tchaikovsky 5, February 13 and 14
Violinist Gil Shaham joins the VSO for Brahms & Tchaikovsky 5, February 13 and 14

Musician rises to the challenge of Brahms’s sole Violin Concerto on program that also features guest conductor Han-Na Chang

Vancouver Chamber Choir performs Timothy Takach’s nature-rooted multimedia piece We Are Phoenix, January 24
Vancouver Chamber Choir performs Timothy Takach’s nature-rooted multimedia piece We Are Phoenix, January 24

Under the inspiring title I Fall, I Rise, the concert also features the Focus post-secondary choir and winners of the Young Composers’ Competition

FESTS, MUSICStir VancouverPartner Content, Vancouver Moving Theatre, Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival, Downtown Eastside, Strathcona, The Sojourners, Khari Wendell McClelland