Helping make history doesn’t come easy or cheap. But the toll, both physical and financial, is well worth it to the members of the Nathaniel Dett Chorale.

A multicultural Toronto-based choir dedicated to Afrocentric music of all genres, the Chorale was chosen by the Canadian embassy in Washington as “Canada’s gift” to the celebrations surrounding U.S. President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration on Tuesday.

The choir’s symbolic significance is clear: Composer Nathaniel Dett, the grandson of an Underground Railroad refugee, was born Canadian in 1882 in Niagara Falls (then Drummondville), but trained and composed widely in the United States and Europe.

“He’s someone we share,” said chorister Carolyn Williams.

But as the voyage to this landmark political event started to take shape, their performances at the Canadian embassy and the Smithsonian Institution began to look like the easy part.

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