BuzzFlash Reviews

March 31, 2006

The Power of Harmony (DVD)

BUZZFLASH REVIEWS

This documentary doesn't have a distributor in the United States yet, but it certainly should.

A choral group would not normally make for a spiritually engaging documentary, but this DVD is about a gay chorus that has performed for 25 years deep in the heart of Texas, with its home base in Dallas. It's the story that includes the moving, often majestic, music of the Turtle Creek Chorale.

And this is no storefront enterprise, this is a professional caliber (although composed of volunteers), tuxedoed choir that can sing soaring songs or pull off wicked musical parodies.

The film intersperses performance footage with the personal stories of several of the chorus members, and the challenges of coming out as gay in the Bible Belt. The earnest, emotional biographical accounts are set against the healing power of singing in the Turtle Creek Chorale.

The chief figure in the film is the chorus's conductor, Dr. Timothy Seelig, formerly a Baptist Church musical director. He speaks of his personal recognition of being gay and of the tremendous community and support system created by the chorus.

Seelig writes on the group's web page: "The Turtle Creek Chorale is much more than just a chorus. It has so many different facets on so many levels it is difficult to begin to describe exactly what it is. It means different things to different people. To some, it is a family. To others, it is an avocation. For others, a lifeline. The Turtle Creek Chorale has been described by a patron as a 'sanctuary.' And the Chorale is definitely an agent for social awareness and change."

More than 140 members of the choir have been lost to AIDS in its 25 year history, but it moves forward.

There is a deep spirituality to "The Power of Harmony" -- and an honesty and frankness that is as joyful as it is painful.

No person of compassion and love can escape the profound humanity of "The Power of Harmony."

This is an extraordinary story of gay men, mostly Baptist, who have joined together to create great art in the most unlikely of places: George W. Bush's home state.

BUZZFLASH REVIEWS