African Children's Choir Comes to Duke

The African Children's Choir, a select group of children from three countries in East Africa -- Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda -- who have lost parents or relatives to AIDS, returns to Duke at 2 p.m., Monday, Jan. 18 in Page Auditorium. Durham Public School students will receive priority seating at the free program, which is being held in honor of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday.

The choir, which sings traditional African songs, American spirituals and contemporary Christian music, performed at Duke last year to a sold-out audience. Performing in the highly selective choir helps the children break the cycle of poverty through education, athletics and music. The choir travels the world performing for dignitaries and has appeared on "American Idol." Last October, it performed for singer Alicia Keys at the ‘Keep a Child Alive' ball in New York.

"We, as a committee, see in them a powerful example of King's view of young people having ‘a true sense of their own stake in freedom and justice,'" says Benjamin D. Reese Jr., Duke's vice president for institutional equity and co-chair of the university's King commemoration committee.

For more information, please visit mlk.duke.edu