Nigeria Content Online

The expansive
church hall of the West and Central Africa district headquarters of the
Apostolic Faith Church situated at Anthony Village in Lagos was packed
to capacity as multitudes came out to attend the church’s 2010 annual
Christmas concert on December 19.

The concert
featured the Apostolic Faith choir and orchestra, touted to be the
largest symphony orchestra in Africa. Former Head of the Interim
Government, Ernest Shonekan, deputy governor of the Central Bank of
Nigeria Tunde Lemo and the Chancellor of Crawford University, a private
University owned by the Apostolic Faith mission, were some of the
public figures at the event.

There was a large
screen overhead which stated the title of each rendition, provided
lyrics when necessary and showed the performances for the benefit of
those who were far from the altar.

The performances

“This first part of
the show is for music masters like Handel and Bach. They are brought
back for you who like classical music,” said the compere. The choir and
orchestra went to work as they performed extracts from Handel’s
‘Messiah’ and Bach’s ‘Christmas Oratorio Part1’.

They also performed
some pieces which were arranged by members of the Apostolic Faith
Church. ‘O Christmas Tree’ and ‘Mary’s Boy Child’ were arranged by John
Aina, a renowned music expert at the Apostolic Faith Mission. The
melodious ‘Ring out the Merry Bells’ and ‘Merry Christmas (Tune: Rock-
a My Soul) were arranged by Kayode Oje, another music director at the
church.

In spite of the
drone of conversation in the audience which sometimes distracted, there
were some brilliant performances. ‘Lu Agogo (Jingle Bells), a
performance in Yoruba, was one of such.

Also during the
performance of ‘Beautiful Star of Bethlehem’ the lights were dimmed and
all eyes were drawn to the glowing star dangling from a rope above the
altar.

Defying an earlier
admonition to keep clapping to the minimum, as the concert was sacred
and not for entertainment, the congregation responded to the
performance with reverberating applause.

A choir of all ages

Remarkably, the choir and orchestra were made up of people of different age groups; young, middle aged and the elderly.

“We start teaching
children music as soon as they are four. So in our orchestra and choir,
we have teenagers and even those in their 50s and even 70s,” said the
compere, before introducing the Morning Star choir whom he said
consisted of people whose ages ranged from 17 to above 30.

The morning star
choir performed Ron Nelson’s ‘On Christmas Night’ and ‘Hallelujah,
Praise the Lord’. The ‘Surprise packet’ finally sealed it for the
Apostolic Faith Church choir and orchestra.

The compere
declined to mention the performance, but before he called out the name
of the person who would conduct the performance, the crowd went into
rapturous frenzy. “The retired but not tired music director who is now
72 years old”, the compere went on amidst the shouts.

Father of the choir

The grey bearded
and sprightly John Aina got on the stage while the congregation
continued to hail him. With a flourish of the wand, he sent the choir
and orchestra into a wonderful rendition of the ‘Hallelujah’ chorus.

Dynamic and
demonstrative on the stand, the performers responded to him as though
he were a magician drawing out the performance from them. And it
wouldn’t be too far-fetched as Aina has been dubbed the father of the
choir.

Everyone got up to
watch this performance from start to the climax to the end. Aina is the
immediate past music director of the choir and orchestra. “He is an
expert. He is a multi-instrumentalist,” said one of the church members.

Aina who is also a
reverend and a computer specialist by profession, is a veteran music
director and composer; and apparently has a large fan base as the
Apostolic Faith Tabernacle at Anthony Village is the church
headquarters for west and central Africa.

Having retired two
years ago as music director, after working for many years, he is
presently a music consultant at the church. Our source also admitted
that the choir and orchestra is indeed the largest in Africa.

“We are known for
symphony orchestration,” he said and added that there was an ongoing
live broadcast of the event which was being viewed by branches of the
Apostolic Faith Church worldwide. The event culminated in a special
dinner hosted by the District Superintendent Rev. Adebayo Adeniran.

Founded in 1906, the Apostolic Faith Church’s international outreach
has spread far and wide, with over six hundred congregations in Nigeria
alone. The church headquarters is in Portland, Oregon in the United
States.