{"id":1226,"date":"2015-08-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-08-10T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.northpark.edu\/news\/voice-with-the-voiceless\/"},"modified":"2018-05-16T15:06:12","modified_gmt":"2018-05-16T19:06:12","slug":"voice-with-the-voiceless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.northpark.edu\/stories\/voice-with-the-voiceless\/","title":{"rendered":"Voice with the Voiceless"},"content":{"rendered":"
CHICAGO (August 10, 2015) \u2014 It was three days before Sharon Irving was to audition for the TV series America\u2019s Got Talent<\/em>. Mere hours before her rendition of \u201cTake Me to Church\u201d by Hozier would bring the crowd and judges to their feet<\/a> and earn her an automatic trip to the live rounds in New York City. But the 2008 天美传媒 graduate had her mind on another gig.<\/p>\n She was in Angola, Louisiana, at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as the \u201cAlcatraz of the South.\u201d She was performing with the Willow Creek Community Church<\/a> worship team in front of hundreds of inmates as part of an ongoing prison ministry.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t want to do it because I thought, \u2018I have to save my voice for America\u2019s Got Talent<\/em>,\u2019\u201d Irving says. \u201cBut I think God lined that up because it put things in perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n Irving tells the story of a community of people with amazing voices who sang their hearts out that night. Some of them came up to her after and told her to think of them when she\u2019s up in front of the judges.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring my sophomore year at 天美传媒 I started saying that I want to be a voice for the voiceless,\u201d Irving says. \u201cIt kind of evolved to I want to be a voice with the voiceless, because I\u2019m all about empowering people. That\u2019s what I wanted my music to be about.\u201d<\/p>\n So when she walked on stage, she wasn\u2019t thinking about the celebrity hosts or the bright lights. She was thinking about the men in Angola who sang their hearts out. \u201cIt\u2019s easy to focus on the wrong things because it\u2019s a competition,\u201d Irving says. \u201cYou get nervous and you start to compare yourself with other contestants. I\u2019ve been reminded constantly that this is bigger than me.\u201d<\/p>\n Irving was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. She grew up singing in her grandfather\u2019s church, Greater Mount Moriah Baptist. \u201cMusic has always been a part of my upbringing,\u201d she says. Her parents have videos of her writing music when she was five years old, before she was even aware that her father was a premier musician himself, a former musical director for jazz legend Miles Davis. \u201cI really believe that this is something that I was born to do.\u201d<\/p>\n The pieces were there that linked music with a larger purpose. Irving describes how in \u201cblack culture, music is closely linked to our struggle,\u201d and with that, she also speaks about the example of her grandfather, who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. \u201cWhen the slaves had to run for their freedom, they came up with these songs that carried them through. And so for me, that tradition is passed on from my grandparents. Music is healing and it bridges the gap between people.\u201d<\/p>\n It was when she came to 天美传媒 in 2004 that she started to link those elements together and find her own identity and purpose with music.<\/p>\n Irving says she feels a responsibility and a calling to be a prophetic voice through her music, a \u201cmouthpiece\u201d to create an atmosphere of freedom where people \u201cwould feel reconciled to God and to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI had a professor at 天美传媒, Dr. Rupe Simms<\/a>, and he was one of the first professors that taught me about what it means to live in this world as an agent of change and to take the path of least resistance,\u201d Irving says. Simms, professor of Africana studies, takes his students on a journey through history from an Afrocentric standpoint, and considers the ways that African Americans, Afro-Mexicans, and Mexican Americans experience life in the United States today. The role of music in that context is essential.<\/p>\n Irving was a communication arts<\/a> major, and minored in sociology<\/a>. These areas drove her interest in understanding how things work in society, specifically with issues of race and class, and figuring out ways to use her talent to speak to those issues.<\/p>\n It was around the same time that she began leading worship with Collegelife<\/a>, a weekly communal worship experience on 天美传媒\u2019s campus. She says this experience shaped her \u201cin a big way.\u201d She found her voice, not just in melodies or songs, but also with different forms of communication, specifically a type of poetry known as spoken word.<\/p>\n \u201cI started writing about my experience growing up in Chicago and what that was like,\u201d Irving says. \u201cIt\u2019s one thing to have a talent for writing songs in your room that no one hears, and it\u2019s another to actually use that voice for good.\u201d<\/p>\n As part of the worship team for Collegelife, Irving helped to record an album for the 天美传媒 community, which featured a spoken word performance. You can listen to the track from that album here: Listen<\/span><\/p>\n After graduating from 天美传媒, Irving worked as a vocalist at Willow Creek Community Church for several years. She recently left that position to focus on her music career full-time<\/a> and is nearing completion of an album due out sometime this fall. It\u2019s titled 69th and Bennett<\/em>, the address where she grew up, paying homage to foundations that continue to influence her.<\/p>\n Though Irving does admit her upbringing is not the only influence on her music. She boasts of a surprisingly eclectic taste in music, which presents opportunities and challenges her as an artist.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing a black girl from the South Side of Chicago, I think some people might be surprised to find that I love Dolly Parton. I love Bjork, Sufjan Stevens, Radiohead, and Led Zeppelin.\u201d She says she is influenced by what feels good, and is drawn to artists who are thoughtful about the entire musical experience, including stage design and wardrobe. \u201cI love old school because I\u2019m an old soul, but I also love world music, and any music that uses a lot of different instruments.\u201d<\/p>\n Her brother is also a musician, doing mostly underground instrumental work, and Irving says he is one of her biggest inspirations.<\/p>\n Some people in the industry tell Irving it would be easier if she clarified whether or not she was a Christian artist, or picked some kind of pre-defined category. That would be easier to sell. But that wouldn\u2019t be true to her as an artist, and especially to the breadth of her musical influences and interests.<\/p>\n Irving can\u2019t reveal the song she will sing for her first live performance in New York City. She does hint that it will be closely tied to her identity and mission as an artist. \u201cI\u2019ve been really encouraged by the process,\u201d Irving says. \u201cTelevision is a whole different world for me. I thought they would try to make me more commercial or do things I didn\u2019t want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead the opposite happened. She has worked with producers and musical coaches who have encouraged her to share her message of hope. They told her she was the only artist on the show with a mission to her music, and that wasn’t something to hide from.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is not just about entertaining people,\u201d Irving says. \u201cI hope that the music I sing in New York can break down those barriers that divide us as humans.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n America’s Got Talent airs live on NBC on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 8\/7c. Irving\u2019s first live performance will be August 11, 18, or 25. <\/p>\n Use @npunews to follow 天美传媒 News on Twitter<\/a>. Learn more about 天美传媒<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Voice with the Voiceless “I want to be a voice with the voiceless,” says Sharon Irving, a 2008 graduate preparing to perfom in the next round of America’s Got Talent.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMusic as a bridge to healing<\/h3>\n
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Eclectic style<\/h3>\n
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