Strings & Steel Take MLK Day To Church

Steel pan vibrated through the core of First and Summerfield United Methodist Church, knitting sound into prayer. Violins, violas and cellos unfolded across the carpet, the sound enmeshed with the bounce and roll of the pan. Sheaves of mid-afternoon sunlight streamed in through the stained glass, as if they had been called to appear. Aaaaaa-men! sang over 100 voices, all in unison. 

Strings and steel summoned the revolutionary, intersectional, and too-often whitewashedspirit of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday, as Music Haven and St. Luke’s Steel Band came together for their first Martin Luther King, Jr. Day concert since January 2020. Bathed in the church’s honeyed light, musicians honored King the activist, labor organizer and sharp-tongued orator, carrying his legacy into the present. 

First and Summerfield felt like the right setting: it is home not just to a sanctuary congregation, but also to the labor union Unite Here!. It marks the concert’s 11th year, and the first since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020. Over 150 people attended.