A-Zamar is the choir and music ministry of the Agape Family Worship Center, which is under the leadership of Pastor Lawrence Powell.  Their first CD, Agape Live, was released in 2000.  Their latest release “Agape Live 2” was released in the summer of 2005.  The choir was voted “Choir of the Year” by 98.7 Kiss-FM in New York. 

NewYorkGospel.com recently caught-up with Pastor Powell to discuss A-Zamar’s ministry and their latest release.  Check out what he had to say as we bring you up and close with some of New York’s hottest gospel artists and choirs. 

NewYorkGospel.com: How long has A-Zamar has been around?
Pastor Powell: The name A-Zamar is actually the title in which we refer to our choir and music ministry. The choir started years ago not too long after the church was actually established.  The A stands for Agape and the word Zamar is the Hebrew word for Praise.  Therefore you have Agape-Praise.

NewYorkGospel.com: Tell me about the current CD – “Apape Live 2?”
Pastor Powell: It’s a great project. We started initially with the concept of a continuation of what we did with the first one. Taking the music ministry of the church and pulling together resources of the worship leaders, worship team, band, choir, and having just the blend of an agape worship experience of what a person may feel and experience at the church. We recorded that and put it on a media that can be played over and over again wherever people are - in their homes, offices, working out, or in the car. We always tell people however that we may need to add a disclaimer on the CD because if they are driving and listening at the same time their hands may tend to go up.  It has a nice feel.  It’s a good worship CD, choir stuff, just a nice mix. That’s what we wanted and I believe we were able to accomplish it. It has a good feel.  You can worship, you can “kick it,” it has something for everyone.  It even has a traditional number on there.

NewYorkGospel.com: Whom are you trying to reach with your music?  
Pastor Powell: With this one it’s more of a general gospel audiences but it has a flavor that I think will touch various segments. From the radical praise and worship piece that we have on there called “High Praise,” which has been selling long before we recorded it.  The writer is one of our worship leaders. His name is Timothy Harper. That song has been done and others have recorded it as well, even in Japan. I understand there is a Japanese version. As the title “High Praise” and that’s what it is. It’s upbeat. It’s strong. It’s radical. Then we have a jazzy type of flavor to a couple of songs like I mentioned earlier. It just has a nice blend.

NewYorkGospel.com: What choirs have been an inspiration to A-Zamar?
Pastor Powell: I’ll tell you that will probably require an answer that will date us somewhat. I guess when you think about the persons that are in the decision-making capacity as far as what music is selected.  You’re talking about Mark Torres, Musical Director, and Percy Robinson, probably the youngest of us all. We’re all young.  Of course in New York we have persons like Hezekiah Walker.  The classic sounds of the Institutional Radio Choir, Benny Cummings & The Benny Cummings Singers, Donnie McClurkin.  You have all these persons who obviously have made an impact on music today. The Hawkins, Andrae Crouch, we can go on and on.  We’ve had the privilege of working with persons like Walter Hawkins, Edwin Hawkins, Tramaine Hawkins, BeBe Winans, and Vanessa Bell Armstrong.

NewYorkGospel.com: What has been some of the biggest challenges to the choir recording?
Pastor Powell: The biggest challenge is probably having the idea or concept and wanting to do something that we feel strongly about and not having a familiar name as some of the prominent artists of today. You are going have to bring the baby from birth to maturity.  That includes working on some of the things with distribution. We put the whole thing together. We’ve had tremendous input and assistance from persons like Joe Wilson, who is one of the members of the church as well. He along with Mark Torres produced the project.  He’s got experience and the feel for quality and excellence.  It’s a wonderful project from the look of it to the sound of it.  Then there is the challenge with being able to get distribution. We’re still working on that. We thank God for the support of our church family, AGAPE, and friends of Agape as well who have helped us.  We recently had the privilege of appearing on Bobby Jones Gospel.  They did a spotlight on “Lift Every Voice.” We’ve been added to the video rotation.  Things like that have been very encouraging and positive.

NewYorkGospel.com: What about being chosen as the “Choir of the Year” on KISS -FM’s radio station?
Pastor Powell: A distinguished honor!

NewYorkGospel.com: What’s in the future for A-Zamar?
Pastor Powell: We want to get the project out more so it can be distributed and people can get a hold of it, hear it, and be blessed by it. We are prayerfully considering our next project, the how, when, and what. We certainly could use all the intercessions and prayers of everyone out there. We want to do some things with traveling.  We were able to take portion of A-Zamar to Cape Town, South Africa back in November 2005. That was a great experience.