by Charles Kirkland Jr.
Pharrell Williams produces the story of the assembly of a gospel choir in his hometown in the Netflix series Voices of Fire.
Bishop Ezekiel Williams has a dream. He wants to assemble a gospel choir. Not just any choir but a fresh new choir to debut some fresh new music. Most of all, he wants to do it with talent from his home in the Hampton Roads Virginia area. To accomplish this, Williams enlists some gospel legends to assist him in the assembly of talent, the arrangement of music, and the direction of his choir. He also gets the help of his nephew, pop icon Pharrell Williams.
Voices of Fire is a new six-episode, documentary, reality show from Netflix, produced by Pharrell Williams that documents the assembly of the super choir known as The Voices of Fire. In essence, it combines American Idol with Making The Band to document the auditions, the selection, and the production of the choir. The documentary part of the show is that the group Voices of Fire has been performing for almost two years now everywhere from concert stages and churches to late-night talk shows so the series is documenting its inception. Each episode runs about thirty minutes in length so the pacing of the show is very fast and just chocked full of beauty and emotion.
Unlike American Idol, Voices of Fire does not engage in an audience vote to select a winner because the winner is…the choir. Some would say that the best part of Idol’s auditions were the horrible singers who come out and just destroy the songs and break the eardrums of the judges. On this show, the singers who come out are all phenomenal. There’s not a bad one in the bunch. In fact, the singing talent is so good that talent alone had to be taken out of consideration for making the choir. Because gospel music is about proclaiming the goodness of God, the testimonies of those who audition will be a major decision-maker for acceptance. Even then, the choice is very difficult.
Episodes 1 and 2 are all about hearing those “unicorns” who are trying to be a part of this special choir and change their lives. These episodes are the most entertaining. The audience is really treated to the beautiful voices of the auditioners and given the chance to see who they are and where they come from spiritually. Episode 3 “Decision Day” is the episode where the Bishop and his friends select the 25 sopranos, 25 altos, and 25 tenor voices that were unique enough yet cohesive enough to make the group. These episodes are the most dramatic showing the nearly impossible selection process given the level of talent to which the judges have been exposed. Episodes 4 and 5 are all about preparing the choir to present itself in the best way possible. These episodes are the ones that the most informative and dramatic. It is in these episodes where viewers are given the opportunity to understand what gospel music is, how it is constructed, and how it ministers.
The last episode is about the concert. This is the most anti-climactic and superfluous episode. The biggest problem with the finale is that the concert is only seen in pieces and not in totality. Just like the assembly of the choir is an amalgamation of the parts, so is a concert. Viewers are only given glimpses of how great the concert could be not what it truly is.
Rated TV-PG for dramatic themes, Voices of Fire is a beautiful and engaging look into the construction of a truly unique choir. Along the way, it documents the quality of talent in the Hampton Roads area of the United States but even more, it gives a look at the human spirit and how when it connects to God can be a glorious and exciting testament to the power to overcome all obstacles.
Grade: B+