Van Gilmer: the Harmonious Voice of Diversity

Van Gilmer

When we sat down with Van Gilmer, the music director of the Baha’i House of Worship, he played this video for us from the 3rd Annual Choral Music Festival Program. The song is “O Baha’u'llah” composed by Tom Price, a well-regarded composer, producer, and conductor.

Mr. Gilmer wanted us to see the faces of the soloists in the piece:

Opening is Roya Bauman from Maryland.  Her parents are Persian and White American
Roxie McPherson is from Naperville, a member of the House of Worship Choir, and African American Female
Sean Gilmer from Palmdale, CA, is African American Male
Mitko Gerensky is from Bulgaria and resides in Virginia
Red Grammer is from CA and is White American Male
Carrie Lynn Kurianski is from CA and White American Female closes with Roya.

But Mr. Price had composed the piece for a single soprano voice singing all the solos. What happened?

VG: : I could have easily followed suit, but I wanted more than a beautiful solo. I wanted several people to represent so many of us from different backgrounds to sing of Baha’u'llah so that it might be clear that we all sing of Baha’u'llah, the Prophet-Founder of the Baha’i Faith.  We also share our love for all of the Messengers of God who have brought religion to humankind.

That is Mr. Gilmer’s vision for the inclusive and authentic nature of music at the Baha’i House of Worship.  A cornerstone of the Baha’i faith is that “humanity is one single race and that the day has come for humanity’s unification into one global society” (www.bahai.us/about-bahai) We may not all look the same but we share our common humanity.

Mr. Gilmer became a Baha’i 45 years ago. We asked how that came about.

VG: I knew about the Bahai faith. I had heard the word Baha’i.  In my neighborhood in Greensboro, North Carolina there was a woman who lived on the corner who was a Baha’i. If white people came into our African American Community we knew they were going to her house or, as we called it, her church.

We didn’t know much about the Bahai faith. I met some of  the Bahai’s who parked on our street and they smiled as they walked by. And that was unusual for the 1950s. These nice people came into our neighborhood. I wondered about it.

The Greensboro 4

In February 1960, four freshman from North Carolina A & T went to downtown Greensboro and sat at the Woolworth’s counter.  I knew two of them. We were from the same high school. They were freshmen in College and I was a  senior in high school. When we heard that these four guys had gone downtown and sat at the Woolworth lunch counter, we couldn’t believe it. Because we always went downtown and went by the counter but we knew better than to sit down at it.

The sit-ins continued through the early 60s, There was a resurgence in the tactic in 1963 and the Greensboro jails became so filled with protesters that the city was about to go bankrupt. Gilmer was one of those protestors. It was about this time that Gilmer was invited to his first Baha’i event. He eventually was invited to sing at a “fireside,” an informal gathering normally held in the home of a Baha’i to acquaint people with the Baha’i Faith.

VG: It was in a white community that was normally off limits to African Americans. I asked a friend to come with me. The people there at the fireside were the sweetest people. Afterwards, my friend and I went back on campus. We talked about the meeting and my friend was angry with me and said I’d “bamboozled” him.  He was angered by what he’d heard. At that time if you were Christian, black and in the south, you’ve never heard of anyone but Jesus.

I didn’t initially feel an attraction to Baha’u'llah, but felt an attraction to his teachings; the oneness of mankind, the elimination of economic, racial, and national prejudices. The Baha’is demonstrated the equality and acceptance of all people. Over a period of years I grew to accept Baha’u’llah though I almost immediately accepted His religious teachings.

I recently took my mother to our home church. It’s still an all black church with not a white face in it. We don’t easily break out of what we are. (In the Baha’i faith) I came upon something that I believe and I see in action.

Van Gilmer in the recording studio

Has music always been a part of your life?

VG: : I majored in architectural engineering in college. With that heavy course load, my relief  came from music. I sang tenor in the concert choir, played clarinet in the marching band and oboe in the orchestra. The choir director appointed me to be the student choir director. He recognized the potential that I didn’t know I had.

In 1992, Mr. Gilmer was appointed director of the Bahá’í World Congress Gospel Choir and has directed the Bahá’í Gospel Singers, who have toured the United States, Canada, and Europe, and are featured on several recordings.

On 2003 tour, Van Gilmer, Tom Price, Rachael Price(bahai.org)

Although he is best known in Bahai circles for his Gospel music, Mr. Gilmer’s background is classical. Mr. Gilmer pointed out to us the connection between the Negro Spiritual (like I’m Going Back To The Father) and classical Christian church music. The Negro spiritual was the first encounter of African and European music in America. Gospel is an offshoot of the Negro Spiritual but incorporates popular culture.  It was not easily accepted by the African American church because it sounded more like jazz and blues. Today, Gospel is more accepted and still reflects popular culture

Where can we next hear the Baha’i choir?

Precisely 12:30, on the first three Sundays of the month at the Baha’i House of Worship (call to confirm 847-853-2300 specific dates). The 30-member a cappella choir sings from the balcony above the auditorium. The program lasts about 30 minutes and includes readings from sacred texts of all faiths.

“The singers are literally out of sight (in the balcony above the auditorium) so listeners can feel the music with their heart and soul.” The style of music may be classical, gospel, or Negro spiritual. The music is all sacred based on religious texts.”

October marks Van Gilmer’s fourth year as music director of the Baha’i  House of Worship.