Sing... Sing... Sing... look, feel, think, share...

It's time again for light and darkness, warmth and cold, myth and meaning… a time when to be honest we get a bit giddy. When we sing jolly songs, tell fantastic tales, and polish the tarnished days so that charm glows through once more. It’s been a long year. January seems an age ago.

However, This was shared with me and I just have to pass it on...

From all here, we wish you a hearty Christmas time.

May all cockles be warmed and your lamps burn bright so that your new-year starts with warmth, light and story or two to cherish.

You can't beat a good old SING!

Global Harmony is a mixed a cappella world music choir based in Melton Mowbray. I've been part of GH since 2008. Last week we had a great Christmas Concert at St Mary's Church in Melton!

Above is a recording of  'the blokes and Vera' singing the traditional Croatian song 'U poju se mala'.
(Photo from last year)

Rough Translation:
In the field, a little, Orange tree is swaying. It's not because of the wind, a little, Nor for the bright sun.
But a maiden, a little, In a great sorrow, For her mother, a little, Is giving her to a widower.

Below is a video of the choir singing 'Kakilambe', an African ritual dance tune. This name is also used to refer to different percussion patterns in African music.

It really is a great experience to be part of Global Harmony over the last few years. It truly is a privilege and a joy to experience and be able to sing with such a vibrant bunch!  It is perhaps only as a collective that the human spirit really excels.

If you live near Melton and fancy a challenge on Monday evenings, come along!  www.globalharmony.org.uk

Don't listen to the words, listen to the...

Hummm... nowt sp’cific to say... however...

We’ve started back with Global Harmony this week, which will be my 4th year with them - time flies.
What I enjoy about GH is the 'expressive' experience - ‘meaning’ comes later. This idea sort of harmonises with my recent encounters with 'awareness' etc. Drop the baggage and dance dude!

I enjoy much of the eclectic offerings from BBC Radio 3’s ‘Late Junction’, I enjoy the ‘hopelandic’ non-language of Sigur Róss, and find some of Bugge Wesseltoft's musical language enchanting(?)...
I guess it's the sound/s, rhythms and unorthodox mixes and ideas/feelings that they evoke... yes, it's hard to drop cultural accretions but music or “new sounds” can be a start to ‘something new’.

The ‘world sounds’ that GH choir ‘play with’ are a breath of fresh-air in the polluted saturated world of signification that we encounter daily... the harmonies, resonances and layering that the MD introduces really do have something even though no meaning us readily clear to us. I find this is possibly more often encountered in rehearsals than in scheduled performance - pressure related i guess. Often the sounds are hypnotic and the parts really dance with each other.

I’ve always been interested in the idea of ‘free play’ as the creative tool and perhaps the choir, although structured, touches on this. We definitely experience ‘free’dom and also ‘play’(dom).

Bring it on?