Sweet Honey Shows Emotional Strength

When used correctly, the human voice is the most impressive instrument of all. There are particular shrills, growls, murmurs and moans that are impossible to duplicate on any synthesizer.

Playing to a capacity crowd Saturday night at the Wilshire Theatre, the deservedly legendary Sweet Honey in the Rock put on a marvelous demonstration of the emotional power and range of pure a cappella singing.

In their two-hour performance, the six women (including sign language interpreter Shirley Childress Johnson) provided a moving overview of African-rooted music of all varieties, from traditional spirituals and folk songs to blues warbles and contemporary treatises.

The group’s version of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song” was so stirring that it rivaled the soulful reggae master’s own. Led by Aisha Kahlil’s throaty tenor, the symphonic blend of voices formed mental images during “Redemption” of everything from rolling hills and the shore to black men and women in bondage.

As Sweet Honey moved on to “Mystic Oceans” and a haunting version of “Motherless Child,” one felt transported to another time and place. The five voices and one set of swirling, virtually singing hands captured miraculously 400 years of survival in the face of adversity.