10 voices from afar singing a new song

Can a room smile? Can it lean back on two walls like they were elbows, and turn itself to the sun?

Because I swear that's what happened the other day in a Fremont recording studio, after the Walmer High School Choir from Port Elizabeth, South Africa, had warmed up a bit. Ten young singers raised their voices and bowed to the floor, arms churning, feet stomping, bird-like whistles popping over them like sparks from a fire.

Then a door opened, and Pearl Jam front man Eddie Vedder walked in with his hand over his heart.

"Your voices... ," was all he could say.

They are the surest things in their lives, for these kids — aged 15 to 18 — are living in the poverty and racism that is the legacy of apartheid.

School costs dollars their families seldom have. Their communities are shantytowns. Their options are few.

It seems all they can do is sing and dream — and two days in the studio last week with Vedder allowed them both.

"It's been one of the must moving musical experiences I've ever had," Vedder told me Thursday. "The immediate, positive consequence of being involved. ... That, I think, will settle in later."

The experience was made possible through a program called Molo Care, started by Ed Taylor, a professor at the University of Washington School of Education.

Taylor, his physician wife, Sue, and other UW faculty members work with school leaders in Port Elizabeth to put computers and books in the classrooms, vegetables on the lunch menu, and music and art in education.

This year, Molo Care brought South Africa to Seattle, in the form of this award-winning high-school choir, to let people see — and hear — firsthand what their support can do.

Vedder was included in the project by his friend Dick Patterson, a friend of the Taylors.

Vedder sent three Pearl Jam songs to Port Elizabeth for the choir to learn before their trip here. The plan was to record the choir and perform with it live, to raise money.

The group sang with Vedder Friday at the Vera Project, and will play two more benefit shows alone: At 3 p.m. today at Kane Hall at the UW; and at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Seattle's Franklin High School. There is no admission fee, but donations will be accepted at both events.

Vedder chose three songs to send the group: "Better Man" "Love Boat Captain" and "Long Road."

"You had to think what could be appropriate to a cooperative," Vedder said. "What could give them room?"

Choir director Nomalungelo Timba told Vedder that, on first listen, the songs were "an abuse to her sensibilities," which Vedder loved. ("Isn't that what good rock 'n' roll is all about?" he asked with a smile.)

Lazola Nabo, 18, explained they had never heard rock 'n' roll before, "So we had to start from scratch."

The five girls and five boys are staying in a local hotel, the guests of two anonymous donors. They have spent time with the Pattersons and the Taylors, who sat in a kitchen off the studio the other day, talking of the students like new parents recalling firsts:

The first time away from home, on a plane, on a boat. Their first pizza and Cheetos and hot-tub soaks. Their first time hearing their recorded voices played back to them.

And their first talk with a white man.

"Never in their lives have any of these kids sat with an adult white male and had a personal one-to-one conversation," Patterson said. "How far in a box did apartheid put these people?"

Many of the kids live in fabricated shelters made of sheets of zinc and cardboard — "bucket houses," where water is brought in and waste carried out in a bucket.

"The legacy of apartheid is very much in their lives," said Ed Taylor. "But they are proud of the gifts they have. They move in and out of languages and sing pretty easily. It seems to bring them comfort when they do that."

"One body and 10 voices," said Kelly Patterson, Dick's wife. "They even sing when they're walking down the street."

I asked the kids about their lives and got a travelogue, of sorts. Port Elizabeth is "a beautiful city, called 'The Friendly City' because of its people," said Sindiswa Speelman. A city with sandy beaches and water all around, even though their school is far inland.

Driving home after sessions with the choir, Vedder thought about the dreams these kids may never realize, loving their country despite the fate it offers them. Meanwhile, in America, Vedder said, too many young people dream of being "the next Jessica Simpson."

"These kids, they sing their national anthem with tears in their eyes," he said. "And here, we're doing a Vote for Change tour to get college kids to vote."

With that, he was ready to record.

"Everybody OK?" Vedder asked. "So, this is just for practice. ... See where it goes."

He played the first few notes of "Better Man," and 10 young faces turned to their song sheets, ready for the chorus:

"She lies and says she's in love with him," Vedder sang. "Can't find a better man."

The voices echoed back in Khosa, their native language.

Can a room smile? Can it lean back on two walls like they were elbows, and turn itself to the sun?

It can. Along with everyone in it.

Nicole Brodeur's column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.

Reach her at 206-464-2334 or nbrodeur@seattletimes.com.

She hopes to say "molo" again.