“Great honour” to be part of presentation to Dr. Angela Davis
A cappella group Four The Moment reunited last week in honour of Dalhousie University bestowing an Honourary Doctorate to U.S. Civil Rights activist Angela Davis (centre). Singer Andrea Currie of Port Hood is second from right.
-by John Gillis
An Inverness County woman, social worker, activist, and artist told The Oran this week that it was a great honour to be part of a large celebration last Tuesday at Dalhousie University during a presentation of an honourary Doctorate degree to U.S. civil rights leader and activist, Dr. Angela Davis.
Andrea Currie, of Port Hood, is a member of the four-member a cappella quartet, Four The Moment, which opened for Dr. Davis Tuesday evening at a packed house at The Rebecca Cohn Auditorium.
Four The Moment made its debut back in 1981 in Halifax at an anti-Ku Klux Klan rally, inspired by the U.S. a cappella quintet, Sweet Honey in the Rock.
The group disbanded in 2002 but have come together for special occasions such as this since that time.
“Four the Moment has appeared at folk festivals, women's events, and black culture celebrations across Canada, and performed at Expo 86, the Olympic Arts Festival (Calgary 1988), the Ottawa International Jazz Festival (1989), and Sound Symposium (St John's, Nfld, 1990). In 1987, Four the Moment made the album We're Still Standing (JAM FTM 1987) and recorded two songs with Lillian Allen for her LP Condition Critical. It also performed in the film Black Mothers, Black Daughters (NFB 1990), the title of which was taken from the refrain of Bernard's 'I Love You Woman,” The Canadian Encyclopedia of Music notes.
“It was of course a great honour for us to be asked to open for Dr. Davis and it was also a great honour for us in the group to be able to sing together again,” Currie said from her home in Port Hood this week.
Four the Moment performed three songs prior to the Davis speech/presentation. They sang, I Love You Woman (an original), A Woman, by Sweet Honey in the Rock, and another original called In My Soul.
Currie noted that in the Question and Answer period that followed the Davis presentation priority was given to people of colour and of African descent to ask questions to Dr. Davis.
