A fairly early call at 8am had us in the bus and heading to a Workshop with Aaron Jensen - the composer of the Serenade Festival song and the creative artist of the group Countermeasure, who we met last night. All the choirs gathered to work through his song (We are as one) and he is a funny guy with a great talent!
After a short break, we had an amazing experience with the Imilonji KaNtu Choral Society, which is an older group of men and women from various tribes in South Africa. They all dressed in their tribes "costume" and the host explained each one, and we witnessed their specific dances. It was very interesting and then we all got to dance the Zulu dance - and sing a song together that the African people sand (and still do) about Nelson Mandela's incarceration - it now reminds them that they are free. Really beautiful and generous people.
Five choirs then headed to Alexandria Square for a quick concert. It was incredibly hot - so all the care was taken in staying in the shade and keeping the fluids up, until our performance - which was reduced to 2 songs - then we escaped to the bus! An amazing thing happened (as they do) - some Adelaide people just happend to be in the square at that time - and their daughter is in the same class as one of the Choristers....
We headed back to the Smithsonians for lunch and to escape the abhorrent heat (near 42 degrees). We had the opportunity to see other parts we missed yesterday (and get more souvenirs!)
We rejigged our schedule (thanks to our lovely bus driver, Chris) and had an hour back in the hotel to freshen up before heading of to the performance tonight.
The other choirs were
Cantare Childrens Choir - Canada
Verata e Liberi - Colombia
Young Adelaide Voices - Australia
Boston City Singers - USA
Countermeasure - Canada
It was a great experience to hear the other choirs, and to hear them perform pieces we also have and are doing.
Once again - Currawong had them mesmerised - followed by Waltzing Matilda - there was a flurry of activity to get to know YAV at the interval that followed. (When we got back to our hotel - the Canadian Choir were applauding us as we returned to our rooms!)
Countermeasure is Toronto's hottest new vocal group, known for its upbeat sound, sophisticated marmonies, and infections energy. That is certainly true! All of their music is either written or arranged by Aaron Jensen and they blew us all away. We are soo excited that their Bass vocalist has offered us a percussive voice workshop - oh yeah!
The weather was still incredibly hot at 9.30 when we returned to the hotel, but a massive storm came through with lots of rain and wind - lights flickering in the hotel - all very exciting - but very safe!
Tomorrow brings some more exciting workshops and an early afternoon Concert performance before heading out of town to Annapolis, Maryland to watch another concert.
YAV,
ReplyDeleteThank you for all the updates, I am enjoying every one of them.
It sounds like you are doing a lot of singing and meeting many singers from other Country's, what a wonderful experience you are all having, it is something you all will reminisce and talk about when you are older and never forget.
Wishing you once again lots of success.
Barbara Reis
2 performances of Currawong and 2 standing ovations! Fantastic effort! :))
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