Composer, Chamber Group Perform At Local Detention Center

By Mike DeNardo

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A Philadelphia Orchestra chamber group joined a prominent composer as they performed this morning behind the walls of the Philadephia Detention Center.  

Composer Hannibal Lokumbe led about 100 inmates in a foot-stomping excerpt of his work entitled "One Land, One River, One People."

"Humans should come to understand -- to look more to their divinity.  That was the message that the ancestors gave me to deliver in this piece," said Lokumbe.

Lokumbe's poetry and a string quartet playing Mozart mesmerized inmates including Shawn Bibbs.

"Oh, it definitely touched my soul.  It had me think about my family, think about the troubles and times we all fought through to make it better in life," said Bibbs.

This was one of several community performances to promote the premiere of "One Land" with the full Philadelphia Orchestra this weekend at the Kimmel Center.