Almost 1000 gospel fans in Wuppertal: on 9 May, the International Gospel Festival invited people to concerts, a flash mob, sing-alongs and a church service. The free of charge festival was organised by Wuppertal gospel singer Tine Hamburger and Jörg Spitzer from the United Evangelical Mission (UEM). You find the film about the festival on this link (Youtube).
It began with a workshop in the City Church in Elberfeld with around 250 participants, led by Rune Herholdt and Stephen Nørrelykke from Denmark. The two have been singing together in a music group since 2008 with a mixture of gospel spirituals and gospel / soul.
At 1.30 pm, a flash mob began at Wuppertal Central Station, where the singers used the acoustics of the new station building for a short performance. Here you find the flash mob film (Youtube).
Lord Mayor Dr Uwe Schneidewind opened the festival on Laurent's Square. Nine choirs not only sang themselves, but also invited the audience to sing along. and Daniel Njikeu led a workshop with gospels from various African countries. He leads the International Protestant Community Wuppertal and has been involved in various gospel concerts in Wuppertal and UEM events as a choir leader. "Gospel im Osten" from Stuttgart was by far the largest group with 80 singers. Groups from the Bergisches Land region and the Ruhr area were also represented.
The worship service at the end of the festival was held under the motto “Welcome Home”. The participants of the various workshops contributed to the service. After the Festival, Jörg Spitzer summarizes the festival: "Wuppertal joins voices in singing Gospel! "Welcome Home", this good news was on the stage in different styles of music, thanks to the Gospel Coaches and Choirs on Ascension Day in our City Church, at the Main Station and on Laurent's Square. And in our closing Worship Service, the topic was central, too. A wonderful day, where we all could see how Music brings people together."
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