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By KELLEY BOUCHARD, Staff Writer Saturday, April 28, 2007

The call to help others is a tenet of many faiths.

While Voices from the Heart isn't expressly a religious singing group, the alternative women's chorus of Portsmouth, N.H., is reaching across belief systems, cultural backgrounds and international borders with a message of peace and understanding.

About 130 women in the 200-member chorus are preparing for a cultural and humanitarian trip in July to Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia, in the former Yugoslavia. The chorus includes Maine residents, and Maine churches have donated money to support the group's trip.

While each member will pay her own way, the group has raised an additional $30,000 to help clear land mines that were buried in Croatia in the 1990s, during the war in the Balkans. The money will help the United Nations' Adopt-A-Minefield Program remove about 30 land mines at a location to be determined.

Nine years after Croatia banned the use of land mines, hidden explosives still threaten lives, restrict travel and impede recovery from the war, according to Adopt-A-Minefield.

Land mines remain in 13 of 21 counties in Croatia, scattered across more than 1,000 square miles. More than 1,700 people have been maimed or killed by land mines in Croatia since 1991.

"They're in fields people used to plow and around schools where children used to play," said Joanne Connolly, a York resident who is director of Voices from the Heart.

The 12-year-old chorus performs "soulful" world music, much of it spiritual. It draws members of all ages, faiths and backgrounds from throughout southern Maine, New Hampshire and northeastern Massachusetts.

Many, including Connolly, are also members of South Church, a Unitarian Universalist congregation on State Street in Portsmouth, where the group rehearses each Monday evening.

Voices from the Heart will give several performances during its 10-day trip abroad.

Two performances will be at former minefields in Bosnia and Croatia. One of the minefields will have been cleared with money from the group. A plaque will acknowledge the contribution.

Another performance will be outside a monastery in Rijeka, Croatia. It will be broadcast as a telethon in Croatia to raise money to remove land mines throughout the region.

"We're looking at ourselves as ambassadors for our country at a time when world opinion of the U.S. isn't very good," Connolly said.

Voices from the Heart took its first cultural and humanitarian trip in 2001, when it traveled to Ireland and raised money for programs that promote understanding between Roman Catholics and Protestants. The group is trying to raise an additional $8,000 to bring two filmmakers to document this trip and inspire others to do the same.

A variety of church groups, civic organizations and individuals have already contributed to the group's minefield effort. The Portsmouth Rotary Club gave $5,000. Connolly's mail carrier gave $20.

Thornton Heights United Methodist Church in South Portland recently held a potluck dinner and raised $527.

"Giving to a cause like this is one way we can reach out and impact the lives of other people," said the Rev. Lynne Campbell, pastor at Thornton Heights. "It speaks to our connection as human beings and our connection within the church. Often, there is a sense of powerlessness in the face of great need. Giving in this way enhances the unity of the spirit and enriches the community. In this case, it's the global community."

During the trip, Voices from the Heart will perform songs with a global scope. The group favors folk choral music from around the world. Much of it was passed down orally rather than in writing. Much of it addresses big, spiritual questions in a way that allows the listener to cross boundaries without a passport.

"I'm attracted to music that is powerful. That music often wants to address the great mysteries," said Connolly, who grew up in a musical family and has a bachelor's degree in classical voice and choral conducting. "It's music of the people, by the people, without a composer. It's born out of need and inspired by everyday life."

The group's repertoire includes "Viyo Viyo," a South African song that contains the lyric, "I caught it, it was frightening and I let it go." A West African song, "Ise Oluwa," asserts that "whatever God has created can never be destroyed."

Performances also will include African-American spirituals, such as "Deep River" and "Glory Train," and an American Indian song, "Now I Walk in Beauty," accompanied by flute.

"We sing these songs and people take whatever they want from them," Connolly said. "They're just messages from one group of people to another."

Messages sung from the heart.

Staff Writer Kelley Bouchard can be contacted at 791-6328 or at: