Choirs

Mmm...it has been a good few days. As expected, Chorale concert was fantastic =) Got there real early, cos Chun Long and gang wanted to be able to get the best seats...so, even though the doors were only slated to open at 7.15, we were stoning outside the concert hall at 6.30. Ah well...it was nice to be back downtown in the old civic district, at any rate.

Hmm...but a note to self. Don't buy the more expensive tickets for performances of auditory groups. I could have done with cheaper tix for Band as well as Chorale...for Band, the second most expensive tix puts you right in front of them so they can blast music down yr tired eardrums. For Chorale, though, the more expensive tix get you circle seats, which gives you a good view, but really nothing else. The circle had so many teachers and miscellaneous GOHs that we really couldn't have fun =S And seeing all the pple downstairs...the 1B and 13A people, and the gang from CHS, basically all the young normal people. Clearly it's more fun to be among the plebian masses. We tried to escape downstairs after the intermission, but me and my bro were too slow.

At any rate, the performance was really good. The first half was a tad draggy, I thought. They repeated songs from last year...like Pokpok and Mamayog. Gosh, I've heard Pokpok so many times that I can almost memorise the lyrics already =P But their Latvian pieces were cool. I especially liked the wistful and mournful tunes of the one about the dream and the lost love. It was particularly cinematic...I was imagining a dark vista an a lonely traveller wandering a night-time trail. Kind of like the first scene of Return of the Native. RI Voices were cute in singing Pokpok...Grace tells me that that song was originally meant for a choir of kids.

Hehheh, but the second half really picked up. Punch was excellent with their plot! They did that segment from Shrek 1 with the wind-up introduction to Du-lop the perfect kingdom. And then there was Chern doing her imitation of the MRT announcements about standing behind the yellow line...in all the languages except Indian =P And then they had this hilarious segment set in India, with attached phonetics and accents...

Indian 1: Hello, I am Sri-Wan.
Indian 2: Hello, I am Sri-Too.
Indians: And we are your Happy Sri-Friends!
(All burst into Bollywood-style musical number of Munaeru Vaaliba)

It was amazing. I wonder who was the genius who wrote the script...and why that same genius did nothing to improve Drama Feste! Me and Greg were having the time of our lives laughing away through the performance. Greg says that Punch should just put on their own concert so they won't steal the limelight from everyone else. I say that Punch should appear during Guitar's concert as a guest performance =P

Anyway, they ended off with two encores...the first one was a Beatles song that I haven't heard before. The second one was an overtone piece, in which the choir sang a chord and a high-pitched note just gets generated out of thin air. And we were all marvelling at the fascinating quality of singing, when the overtone chord suddenly transformed into...the first line of the school song. Naturally all the teachers stood up like proper patriots. And that's why I think the school song is a cheapskate way of getting a standing ovation =P

Not that standing ovations were unheard of. There were several genuine ones. Punch got a few, I think.

When the thing finally ended, there was bedlam on the stage, because everyone who recognised someone on stage was trying to shake that person's hand. And there must have been almost a thousand dollars' worth of flowers onstage...and to think that in a few days, all that would be worthless and dead and dried. How's that for depreciation? Anyhoos, Grace and Chern nearly escaped my clutches by sneakily taking the side exit, but in the end managed to catch them and give them their due. Heh, let's just say that I won't buy flowers cos they depreciate too much, and those girls needed some real sustenance after their Choir-Diet regime of deprivation and starvation...

Afterwards, we were all supposed to hang around. Heh, Soph was determined that we spend some time outside rather than disperse immediately. So there I was, leading them towards Lau Par Sat via Raffles Place MRT (cos Kels had to go), and then suddenly like two-thirds of the group disappears into the MRT station, Soph included. In the end only me, Grace, Chun Long and Wiggy settled down to ice kachang and satay at Lau Par Sat. And we all heard the story of how Grace got so many flowers that she immediately became the envy of Chorale =P

Yep...so that was Chorale concert. It was well worth the money, to be sure. And I was wishing for lots of encores, especially for Punch =P And who would have guessed that the next day, that wish came true? Well, sorta. Accompanied Grace to go have a peep at ACJC's Choir who were putting up a free performance at the Esplanade. AC Choir, along with AC Drama, are like the fabled arts groups that have excellent reputations, but which I have never seen. So, being Bohemian at heart, I seized the opportunity over the option of doing Kwok's SBQ at home =P

AC Choir is really excellent too. Grace is right...the two choirs have different styles of singing, and it's rather unfair to compare them. All I can say is that AC sounded good in the Esplanade foyer last night. They really laid on that overtone technique, and their stageplay was first-rate. Each face was really expressive, and you can tell that the singers were all sincerely trying to sing their best (not that Chorale doesn't do that too...but with a circle seat, I couldn't see anyone's face at all). And spookily enough, they sang Pokpok and Mamayog too =P

Now, are these people psychic or not? So there I was, with Grace to one side, and then the emcee declares that the next piece is Mamayog, and I'm thinking whether I should push Grace into the choir so she can just join in. Their Mamayog was quite striking, I think. Especially when the scream was delivered by not one, not two girls, but the entire Soprano section. I nearly fell down the stairs at the foyer in shock. I wonder why the heck choirs like to sing those particular Filipino songs so much...to date, I've heard Mamayog 3 times (1st time at VJ's concert last yr, 2nd time on Sunday at Chorale's concert) and Pokpok 4 times.

But I liked their Latvian piece the best. It was about the Latvian people being orphaned within their own homeland, apparently. The mournful and grieving melody invoked images of refugees straggling down a country trail and tired troops trying to stem the flow of Imperialist forces into their country. Quite evocative, really, especially when you pay attention to the singers' faces.

Anyway, met Elke there purely by accident. Heh, somehow or other our paths keep crossing. The last time I saw her was on the train homeward bound. But now she's in JC (TJ actually), just as I predicted. Hehheh, it was a nice surprise to find her there, and to realise that really, things don't change as fast as we think. Or at least, I found that I could still chat with her quite naturally, despite her name slipping my mind until she helpfully and tactfully reminded me that her name comes with a K (I was thinking "Ellie", actually). It's funny how these things keep popping up, to remind me that there is a social world out there that extends beyond RJ Humans Programme. I wonder how Shixuan and Brenda are doing in TJ...

Well, strolled back to Raffles Place after that performance, just to complete the entire Encore performance. The last two nights have been so symmetrical that it's almost poetic. I always like going to the riverside...despite its unabashed artificiality, it really is quite a nice place to be. Quiet, and comes with flowing (well, more or less) water. Rivers, no matter how small they are, are natural attractions for human settlement and fascination.

Anyway, was chatting with Grace about the nature of love and relationships. Why is it that we keep coming back to this topic even though we know that we can't solve the dilemma? I guess it's because we have to grapple with it that makes it so enduringly fascinating. Hmm...but I find it remarkably easy to talk to her about this kind of thing. Maybe it's because she's so chummy towards guys (and I say that in all admiration). And partly it's also cos she has all the experience, and I really do think that her relationship with Qiheng still remains the model for a mutually healthy and enriching one, something that is really quite rare...a relationship at our age largely devoid of resentment or mutual insecurity. But I guess it's also partly because she doesn't know me that well...I find that if I am careful enough, I can unburden myself on people like her without infringing on privacy, because she'd understand the situation without needing to know the identities of the parties involved. At least that's how I'd like to see it.

Hmm...but have been thinking again about that perennial question. But I shall not carry out a psychoanalysis here. Been writing enough for one night =)

pondered by phoenican @ 19.4.05