“O My Soul”
The Southeastern Gospel Music Workshop Choir
From the NGE Records Let God Arise (Live)
(release date: August 1, 2016)
Available on digital music outlets
By Bob Marovich
The Southeastern Gospel Music Workshop Choir’s debut single, “Let God Arise,” is the type of aurally aerobic song that praise teams use to open a worship service, and therefore also comprises a live album’s opening moments. It is the kind of song popular with today’s gospel radio programmers.
But the choir’s slower and more reflective “O My Soul” grabbed my attention. “O My Soul” possesses in grace, dignity, and reverence what “Let God Arise” has in conventional exuberance. Matelyn Alicia Johnson’s lovely solo voice caresses the lyrics as she weaves adroitly between the choir’s reading of the melody.
Founded in 2014 by Dr. Marcia Leeks and her husband, Earnest, the Southeastern Gospel Music Workshop Choir was formed during the First Southeastern Gospel Music Workshop Convention. The album, which contains “Let God Arise” and “O My Soul,” was recorded live at the Dothan Opera House, in Dothan, Alabama, and includes cameos from Punch Baldwin and living legend Evangelist Dorothy Norwood.
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