Wednesday, May 7
The Amandla Chorus has sung in some diverse places, including Lincoln Center with Pete Seeger, soup kitchens, and up near the Canadian border in a gymnasium packed with "lifers" at a maximum-security prison surrounded by 20-foot walls. Amandla will celebrate its twentieth anniversary on Saturday, May 17 with a free concert in Hadley to "give back to the community, to premiere new material, and to bring fans and friends together to sing some old favorites," according to the group's founder and director, Eveline MacDougall. MacDougall was 23 years old when she started Amandla, which grew out of antiapartheid activism; "Amandla" is, in fact, a Zulu word for "power."

Amandla singers have hailed from all over western Massachusetts and southern Vermont, as well as a number of other countries, including South Africa, Guatemala, Nigeria, Croatia, the Netherlands, and Great Britain. Singers' ages have ranged from early teens to mid-70s.

The event will be at the Wesley United Methodist Church, 98 North Maple Street in Hadley, at 7 p.m. Admission is free, but donations will be welcomed to support the work of both the Tibetan

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Association of Western Massachusetts, and the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. The concert will be followed by a reception; the site is fully accessible.

For information, call (413) 773-8655 or visit the group's website: amandlachorus.org.