When artistes flocked UK capital to paint the royal wedding black

“It was just a wedding!” Trevor Noah declared during his show in London, which coincided with the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

According to Noah, he did not go out looking for the guests and performers of colour who painted the royal wedding “black”.

But even as he said that, he acknowledged, tongue-in-cheek, that his favourite part was the British media “talking about how black the wedding was”.

For me, besides the bride, one of the most outstanding part of the wedding was the performance by the Kingdom Choir, led by Karen Gibson. Choirs dress in robes, but the 20 members of this choir, chose to turn out in their “Sunday best”.

STAND BY ME

Except for the men, whose colours approximated each other’s, the women were a colourful constellation, each standing out satorially though part of a whole that performed as one.

But who would have thought that the iconic black anthem, Stand By Me, would ever be performed for British royalty (one of the whitest and most elite institution in the world), and by a black choir? And did you notice that moment when the bride, squeezing the Prince’s hand, looked into his eyes as though to say: “Told you!”?

First performed by Ben E King, an African-American, in 1962, Stand By Me has become one of those ever green R&B songs whose beauty and appeal have defied time and generations.

Over the years, musicians, including John Lennon and Tracy Chapman have done covers that are as uplifting as they are unique in their personal interpretation of the song. But the magic of that choir, in that Windsor church is likely to linger in the minds and hearts of many for weeks to come.

Then there was the outstanding performance by Sheku Kanneh-Mason, the 19-year-old winner of 2016 BBC Young Musician competition.

LIGHT OF HOPE

The black British cellist has since been described by some Twitter users as “Cello Bae” and though he had an electrifying performance during the competition, it was his rendition at the wedding that catapulted him to the attention of the rest of the world.

Not only was he a young performer at one of the most watched events of the year, he was also a young man “of colour” and, even if one were not looking for “minorities” who stood out at the royal ceremony, he was still hard to miss and his appearance ought to shine a light of hope to others like him in Africa and its diaspora that, as Lupita Nyong’o famously observed, “their dreams are valid”.

As Kanneh-Mason admitted, you could see Markle’s hand in the selection of the performers. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Kanneh-Mason said he was “bowled over when Markle called me to ask if I would play during the ceremony, and of course I...said ‘yes’!”

If you were to consider religion as theatre, the performance at St George’s Chapel by Bishop Michael Bruce Curry catapulted the African-American to the centre stage. One would have expected the Archbishop of Canterbury to deliver the sermon, but, according to Bishop Curry, the royal couple requested that he be given the pulpit.

According to Vox Magazine, the bishop took the black American church to royal wedding, quoting Martin Luther King Jnr and making references to slavery. He made references to poetry and to Negro spirituals, saying: “When love is the way, there’s plenty of room for all of God’s children. When love is the way, we actually treat each other, well, like we are actually family.”

What went unremarked was how his message alluded to Langston Hugh’s poem, I, too, Sing America.

I am the darker brother.

They send me to eat in the kitchen

When company comes,

But I laugh,

And eat well,

And grow strong.

Tomorrow,

I’ll be at the table

When company comes.

Nobody’ll dare

Say to me,

“Eat in the kitchen,”

Then.

Besides,

They’ll see how beautiful I am

And be ashamed—”

But on there was nothing to be ashamed of on Saturday, and everything to be proud of, not just because royalty had embraced diversity but also because the message the wedding sent was that there is space for everyone at the table of humanity.

And if nothing else sticks in our memories, I hope we never forget the striking picture of the bride’s mother, Doria Ragland, every inch the strong black woman in her styled dreadlocks and nose-ring, sitting alone in quiet dignity in a space that would have never accepted her only a few short decades ago.

Ragland’s presence and the infusion of black performers at the wedding were a reminder that though Markle’s hair has betrayed no trace of its natural curls for much of her adult life, she is of black heritage and proud of it.

According to ABC News, the ceremony was recorded live by the UK-based record label, Decca Records, and went on sale yesterday.