Local choir welcomes New Zealander
Dorchester Reporter, June 5th 2008

By Braidie Connors
Special to the Reporter

A New Zealander made a visit to Dorchester’s Boston City Singers on May 19th in hopes of creating a network of chorus groups around the world. Sharon Thorburn is the founder of New Zealand’s very own Kotuku Voices of Hope, a choir group that works to “transform lives through music.” The choir has helped many teens who were previously involved with gangs or had suffered abuse.

Thorburn’ s most successful pupil, Titus Alapati, joined her in her quest to find choirs all over the world with the same “morals and values” as her Kotuku Choir.

According to Thorburn, Alapati was a troubled boy before joining the choir. He was in a gang by age 12 and arrested for robbing a liquor store by 17.

Alapati said that working side by side with Thorburn helped him to turn his life around; he dedicated himself to music and teaching others the power of song. Titus and Thorburn received the Winston Churchill fellowship to travel the world and meet with different choirs; they said that Boston was not a part of their plan.

Thorburn found BCS by chance and immediately, “fell in love with the group.” During their rehearsal, Thorburn recorded BCS as they sang a
song called Khulala. She is bringing the recording back to New Zealand to play for her choir in hopes to “unite the choirs and find wisdom through song and people with similar values.”

BCS has been a part of the Dorchester neighborhood for 13 years; they have toured through Canada, much of New England and have traveledas far as Australia and New Zealand.

After meeting Thorburn and Alapati themembers Natalie Condon, Melanie Mulvey and Riley Doenges said they felt transformed. Condon, a 17-year-old college-bound senior involved with BCS, said that she found the opportunity amazing. She said that Titus “inspired me and taught me that when you’re down you can always take the better road.” The BCS choirs along with their friends in New Zealand wish to inspire hope and unite people of all background and affiliations through song.

Braidie Connors is a Reporter intern from the Boston Collegiate Charter School.