Harlem Boys Choir faces its swansong

NEW YORK - They have sung for the Vatican, swelled the vaults of St Paul's Cathedral in London and performed for Presidents in the White House, but 30 years after the founding of the Harlem Boys Choir, it is fighting for survival with US$5 million ($7.3 million) in debts and looming eviction from its headquarters.
The 125-strong choir, for years a symbol of hope and unlikely prestige in the neighbourhoods of upper Manhattan, has been in deep crisis since one of its employees was convicted of molesting a chorister in 2002. But now that it faces homelessness, the end may be near.

City officials have said that the choir must leave the space it occupies in the Choir Academy of Harlem, a high school with an emphasis on music that it has helped to operate for more than a decade because of serial financial improprieties.

The city claims the choir also failed to honour a deal reached after the molestation scandal to replace founder Walter Turnbull as chief executive.

The complaints may be valid, but the prospect of the choir being thrown on to the street has triggered hand-wringing in the black community. Turnbull has publicly suggested the choir is a victim of racial bias.

"They want to marginalise me as a black man," he said.

The city softened its stance slightly last week, saying the choir must still leave the premises, but it could be invited to run after-school projects.

That does not resolve the question of where it will be based. The choir has only until January 31 to leave the school.

Charles Rangel, who represents Harlem in the US Congress, and former New York Mayor David Dinkins have launched an appeal for donations.

Dinkins agreed to become the choir's interim chairman on January 6.

"We ain't going nowhere," Rangel declared this week. " We'll get the money. We'll bring the professionals in.

"All we need is a little help. These kids have been ambassadors not only for Harlem, but for our country."

Turnbull, who first began moulding the choir in 1968 with 20 boys, was accused of trying to cover up the molestation case and failing to fire the man convicted. The scandal refuses to go away and has severely affected the choir's ability to raise funds.

- INDEPENDENT