The Tribune

THE Bahamas Christian Chorale will celebrate its director who has given more than three decades of service during a special event tomorrow night to close out the season.

Darville "Sonny" Walkine has led the Bahamas Christian Chorale for 34 years, leading the group to new musical heights with their gospel compositions.

The Chorale will now be closing out the 2017/18 season with a fitting expression of appreciation for its director.

Under the auspices of the two congregations, the Mount Moriah Baptist Church and the St Anne's Anglican Church, where Mr Walkine serves as organist, a night of celebration is set for the St Joseph Parish Hall on Boyd Road tomorrow night beginning at 7pm.

Mr Walkine migrated to the Bahamas from his birthplace at Bottle Creek, North Caicos, in the Turks and Caicos Islands with his parents in the summer of 1959. He has fond recollections of his early years in his island home. He continuously muses on what was his limited exposure to music in those early years, for the most part a cappella singing since there was no musical instrument of any kind in the local Baptist church where his family worshipped. There was a piano in the school played only by the headmaster, Raymond Gardiner, at the time.

After moving back to the Turks and Caicos Islands in 1962 for a short period, he was introduced to the sol-fa method of reading music by an older cousin, Rhosada. This whet his appetite for music practice.

Mr Walkine's junior and senior school years in Nassau were spent at the Eastern Junior and Senior Schools. There, he had music teachers in Hilda Barrett, Erna Messiah and Timothy Gibson. He was particularly drawn to Mrs Barrett and associated with her until her passing. Later, he would associate himself with Kayla Lockhart-Edwards, E Clement Bethel and Father Fred Fleischer. Although none of these persons was ever a personal teacher, he credits his music education, in large measure, to these individuals and others. He says his music education was achieved, in the most part, by "keeping good company".

As for the playing of the piano and organ, Mr Walkine taught himself these skills, largely by observing the Wildgoose sisters - Veronica, Carrie and Jenny - while attending Zion Baptist Church. Opportunities came for him to practice and play, particularly if they the sisters were running a little late - for which he prayed all of the time - for the start of the evening youth training programme of the church, the Baptist Training Union.

Mr Walkine conducted his first choir at age 14 when he took members of the 14th Bahamas Boys' Brigade Company to the what was then the National Arts Festival. The group competed against the Aquinas College Boys Choir led by Andrew Curry and lost to them by eight points overall over the two pieces performed.