During the past decade, the Harvard-Radcliffe Kuumba Singers has swelled in membership--from about 60 participants in 1990 to nearly 120 today.

With this growth has come an increase in the group's non-black membership, and this change has raised larger questions about the meaning of a cultural organization.

In a discussion over the group's open e-mail list last week--and a closed forum held this weekend--some members questioned if this demographic shift had compromised the group's ability to fulfill its constitutionally-stated mission to "share and explore the full wealth of the musical culture of Black people."

These issues, said several members of the group interviewed by The Crimson last week, have been the source of underlying tensions, as some feel torn between their love of their fellow choir members and their perceptions of Kuumba's mission.

In an e-mail titled "KUUMBACIDE??," posted last Wednesday, one Kuumba participant asked the choir's members to reexamine their commitment to gospel's history and power and questioned the effects of the changing demographics of the choir.

"Understand that when we stand before Christians and sing to Christ with an air of apathy, we could be interpreted as not taking Christianity seriously," read the e-mail, which was provided to The Crimson by a member of the group. "Understand that when we go before a black church or a black elementary school and say we're about to sing gospel with nearly half our members white, we immediately bear the burden of proof."

The e-mail concluded by requesting that members "take seriously the challenge to represent the black musical tradition AS SUCH at the concert on Saturday. Make it your priority to show that you have rhythm, that you have soul, that you have spirit, that you love one another, that Kuumba is your family."

Last week, while quick to say that all shouldfeel welcome in Kuumba, some members echoed theconcerns raised in "Kuumbacide" and said that theyfelt that Kuumba is not the haven for blackstudents that it was intended to be.

"We are sharing a Christian tradition togetherand that is a beautiful thing," a different Kuumbamember wrote Thursday in an e-mail the writer saidwas intended to explain the perspective of the"Kuumbacide" author. "Can we all honestly saywe're sharing a Black tradition together?"

"The pain comes not just from white people notswaying right, it comes from the fact that we aresharing a multicultural experience, not a Blackone like we're supposed to," read the Thursdaye-mail, which was also provided to The Crimson bya member of the group.

The Evolution of a Mission

The Kuumba Singers, formed in 1970 as theHarvard-Radcliffe Gospel Choir, "was a product ofthe times, of the turbulent sixties and seventies,of the search and struggle for a collectiveAfrican American self," wrote Kenneth S. Ingraham'74 in the choir's 25-year anniversary booklet.

"Alienation was pervasive," said ensembledirector Robert Winfrey in a February interview."[Members] gathered in a small dormitory room, andthey addressed that hurt through musicalexpression."

Winfrey, who has worked with the group for thepast 25 years, said non-black students began tojoin Kuumba in the early '80s.

Since then, "the doors have swung open withwelcome hinges--where everyone can share theKuumba experience," he said.

The group now includes many non-blacks amongits performers, although the majority of the choiris still black.