Shannon Jacob on Directing the “Voices of Imani” Gospel Choir at Boston College

Founded in the fall of 1977, Voices of Imani is the only chorus on BC’s campus which emphasizes music of the black religious experience. Directed by Shannon Jacob, members sing everything from “spirituals, traditional gospel, contemporary gospel, and works of the European traditions” (bc.edu). However, the greatest goal is, arguably, to help each other grow in faith.

Originating from the Swahili translation of the word “Imani” (“faith”), the Voices of “Faith” work within and surrounding the African and African Diaspora Studies Program to foster a community where all students, regardless of race, religion, or ethnicity, can worship their Almighty God. The Voices of Imani webpage emphasizes this specifically, highlighting one of the central hymns of the black religious experience in bold, yellow letters. It reads, “We’ve come this far by faith, leaning on the Lord, trusting in His holy word, He’s never failed us yet.” 

Thus, this group is more than a choir. It’s a community of support and trust, bolstering both personal and shared testimonies while being rooted in the sanctity of black religious experiences. It’s a collaboration of rich complexities and African American traditions. So, today I sit down with Shannon Jacobs, the director of Voices of Imani, to contextualize these traditions and dig deeper into what these undergraduates bring to BC’s campus.

Shannon, you’re a very busy professor. Not only do you teach at BC, but you are also the vocal director for BC bOp! (jazz band) and BC Theatre’s Christmas Carol. AND you are the Assistant Director of Faculty Development at Berklee College of Music. So why Voices of Imani? What made you want to pursue directing this ensemble on top of everything else?

Quite honestly, after I graduated college, I was obviously looking for ways to stay engaged in music. “Voices” was looking for an assistant director at that point, and I’ve always been the kind of musician and composer/creator who likes having multiple genres and multiple roles going at the same time. I think that is really enriching because the experience that you draw from working with one group and one particular genre always kind of cross pollinates with the other work that you do. It makes you like a well-rounded musician and artist. 

So, gospel was something that I’ve always been engaged with, even back in Sri Lanka, and then through my studies at Berkelee. And I really wanted to dig deep into that, so I took the role as assistant director, and then the year after, had the opportunity to become the director. And right now (and even back then), I have always been at this point of looking at music and global cultures and understanding how the history informs our present. Especially with gospel music, spirituals, and black history in general, I think what’s really important to understand is how it shapes all of the music that we listen to and engage with today. A lot of it is interconnected.

So why gospel and why Voices? Well, Voices is the only gospel group on campus, and gospel music and spirituals are something that I’m deeply interested in because of its connections to what we listen to today, and the role that it plays in the larger music industry.

What is your interest and experience with African Diaspora studies and music rooted in African American traditions?

Voices was actually formed in 1977, and this was right after the Civil Rights Movement, you know, in the ‘60s. So, a lot of colleges across the nation started having black studies programs, and Boston College followed suit. It started off as a black studies program. And Professor Walter, who was the first director of Voices of Imani, he formed this student group on campus as a safe space for black students to meet and sing songs that were related to their culture and history. So, it really started off as that, and then as the years went on, it opened up to anyone on campus who was interested in carrying the legacy of black music on campus forward. That’s where it’s grown since then. 

And then Boston College rebranded the black studies program as the African and African Diaspora Studies program to really engage it from a global perspective. At Voices, we then do the same where we, yes, sing spirituals and gospel music that were created by the enslaved people here in the United States. But we also sing in Swahili, we sing in Creole, we sing in different languages that also capture the broader diasporic experience.

Why do you think it’s important to have representation like the Voices of Imani on campus?

Yeah, so I’m from Sri Lanka, right? It is an Asian country. So, I do get this question sometimes of “What are you as a Sri Lankan doing in a black studies program?” And I think it lends to the wider conversation of cross-cultural collaboration, right? As a Sri Lankan, I actually grew up singing spirituals and gospel music without having the context of the people that actually created it, without having the context of the transatlantic slave trade and what that did to our global culture and history. So, when I finally moved to the United States and understood the bigger picture with that, it was something that made me realize that, even in Sri Lanka (we have a small community of folks of African descent), that this one institution of slavery actually changed all of the music across the world. 

I feel like, as a musician, I bear responsibility to bring that message forward, especially when a lot of the music that I write and create has roots in blues, gospel, jazz, etc. I feel a responsibility towards black music, black history, and black culture. And because, you know, the transatlantic slave trade existed, and the British East India Trading Company, both of those institutions worked hand in hand in things with like servitude and slavery. So, all of these musical cultures also migrated around the world. […] I have a responsibility as a global musician to immerse myself in this culture that brings forward that message. 

Finally, I draw a lot of connection between music in Sri Lanka and Asia, and also music across the African diaspora, especially like in the Caribbean. For example, Soca Music from Trinidad sounds very, very similar to music back in Sri Lanka. And that’s where my passion lies in understanding how struggle and resilience and hope spread across the world through music.

I know you teach the students music, but what do the Voices of Imani singers teach you? 

I think they teach me patience. Most of all, though, Voices is a very unique group where we are like led by a director, but we are also student group. So there is a really fun dynamic there. We all lead together in a way. They also teach me gratitude and resilience and hope for a brighter tomorrow. 

As cheesy as that sounds, we all come from different backgrounds, but we all share humanity together, all humanness together. And being able to uplift each other in song and study history together so that we can make the present and the future better is such a blessing and a privilege. So, yes. They share a lot with me.

How do you select pieces which embrace and aid in the faith experience of participants within your ensemble?

I have to actually first look at the makeup of the group because it changes by the semester. For instance, this semester we have 12 students. Last semester, we had close to 17, so it changes by the semester. I will also, before choosing any repertoire, hear them out for a week or two, and in those first two weeks, I will teach them some kind of standard gospel and spirituals. Then we make the decision. 

I will also try to make sure that we have spirituals like “Keep your Lamps Trimmed and Burning,” “Go Down, Moses,” etc. that are standard spirituals in our repertoire. I also make sure we have some very contemporary songs like Kirk Franklin or Israel Horton. Finally, the middle kind of goes to old school gospel, so think things that are more of a jubilee. And then we also make sure we have a global diasporic experience. So, we’ll sing songs like “Siteng Sidiba” or “Kumbaya” that have different languages. 

Next week, we’re going to be performing at the Macmillan Art Museum for International Education Week. So, part of the repertoire for that is a cross section of everything I mentioned, plus we’re also singing some black folk tunes that are not spirituals or not gospel, but still like lending to those genres. It really depends on the program that we have coming up, like the concept we have coming up, but overall, I make sure that we have a good cross selection of all of these things because that then lends to the faith experience. I will also say not everyone is of faith, but everyone there comes with the understanding that we’re carrying this fit practice and we’re carrying this legacy forward. But those who do still are engaged in different levels. So just making sure that we are really centering the African and African like American diaspora, as opposed to only like singing songs from one genre or one time period, and then also, like looking at, you know, just like a lot of music genres, making sure that gender wise, we represent composers and music directors. So yeah, kind of looking at it from a multi-pronged level. And that, I feel like is also part of, like, global musicianship and artistry, which is something I’m very passionate about.

What can we expect to see from Voices of Imani in the future?

Well, what’s really exciting that’s coming up is, in about a year and a half, we turn 50 years old, which is incredible. So, we’re planning a big event on campus that we will also invite alumni back for and, in the near future, we’re performing at the McMullen. We’re also partnering with the marching band for the halftime show coming up. We are going to be doing a Michael Jackson medley with them. And then we’re also a community-based group. So, in December, we have a concert. It’s an open-air concert in the community of Brighton in Boston. We do carols, we do Kwanzaa songs, and we sing Irish songs. It’s free of charge. 

Then the semester after, we always have our big spring concert in April. We’re looking forward to collaborating with the jazz band, BC bOp!. For instance, I know that we’re going to be singing a song with them and bringing gospel to the group. And then we always have a lot of Black History Month celebrations that we will sing at two. So that’s what’s coming up.