Voices of Antioch offers spirited gospel music

When Kimya Williams first got involved in the Antioch Church Family she was interested in finding a place where she could find a good influence for her two sons and a place for herself in an established church choir. In the past four years she has found not only what she was looking for in a church, but also an award-winning choir that she has been able to grow with.

"Antioch Church Family was the first church I ever belonged to," Williams said. "I joined the choir because the pastor asked me and because it was something I always wanted to do. When I joined the church, the pastor said to me I need you to join the choir. I didn't know how he knew it was what I wanted to do, but I didn't hesitate."

Williams said that Pastor Mario Howell asked her just to try it out for three months to see if she liked it. She has been with the group ever since.

"The choir is very spirited," Williams said.

The Voices of Antioch Choir is under the musical direction of Rev. Schez Carter and Sister Elena Nixon. Williams said that she isn't sure how long the choir has been in existence, but at least 10 years that she has heard of. Over the past four years, she says, that have been very active. Williams said that the choir has competed in three choir competitions and won each of them.

The first was at the El Campanil Theatre in Antioch three years ago. The competition was with other local choirs and the award was $1,000. Williams said that the Voices of Antioch took home the top honor. The winnings from that competition were donated to the Antioch High School. The next year the group competed in a Bay Area-wide choir competition that took place in Oakland. Again it won first prize.

In October the Voices of Antioch Choir had the chance to enter a competition called "How Sweet The Sound." They won the first place award of $10,000 for this contest.
How Sweet the Sound is a national competition, but the Voices of Antioch were only permitted to go as far as the regional competition because it had fewer than 100 members, Williams said.
They were still given the honor of Best Regional Choir for the Bay Area and Sacramento regions. The contest is taking nominations for the contest starting this month, but Williams said that the Voices decided not to compete this year to let some of the other churches have the chance to win. She said that the group has asked them if they would like to open the show in October. The group is still working out the details.

The Voices recently performed in Antioch at a Martin Luther King celebration. For the most part when they perform, they play both original and cover gospel tunes. The original music is written and produced by Sister Elena Nixon. "She is a master with music," Williams said.
Williams said that when the group sings gospel cover tunes they usually change the beat or the tempo to make the song to fit its style. They currently have a CD of their songs available for sale in hopes of raising some money for the church. Copies can be requested through the church.

Coming up for the group will be a performance at the Oakland Mormon Temple.
"We will be back up singers for some big names in the gospel world," Williams said.
The "Rejoice and Celebrate Jesus" concert will be June 27 and is open to the public.
The Voices of Antioch can be heard on the group's My Space site at www.myspace.com/antiochchurchfamily or for more information, call the church at 778-7454.