Voices of Imani

At Boston College n the fall of the 1977 a small group of black students feeling the need to be closely connected in their new academic environment, congregated to encourage and support one another by singing the songs of their religious tradition and to give praise to almighty God. The students chose the name Imani, the Swahili word for faith, as the name for their group. In choosing the name Imani, the students were recalling the lyrics of one of the great hymns of the black religious experience: "we've come this far by faith, leaning on the Lord, trusting in His holy word, He's never failed us yet." The repertoire of the group is reflective of this great faith tradition in that it includes the breadth of musical expression in the black worship experience, i.e., spirituals, traditional gospel, contemporary gospel, as well as music of the European tradition.

In the fall of 1982 Prof. Hubert E. Walters was appointed as lecturer in African and African Diaspora Studies and Music at Boston College, and was asked to be the musical director for the Voices of Imani. Professor Walters served as musical director until the spring of 2010, when he handed the torch to Chauncey McGlathery.

Voices of Imani is a student-based organization that is connected to the African and African Diaspora Studies Program. Membership in the organization is open to the entire BC student population and the group is quite diverse in its make-up. For the past several years the group has toured various parts of the country during the spring break. In recent years they have visited Tennessee, Florida, Texas, California, Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Georgia.

To view upcoming events please visit Voices of Imani's homepage.