In The Media
New Straits Times, Life & Times, 27 July 2004
Kokopelli and Operafest sing a happy tune
By
Dahlia Martin
EAST "met" West at the recent Life Is Great! Across Borders concert.
They gathered at the PJ Evangelical Free Church for a musical evening held in support of children's charity, ChildrenCare. The recital, sponsored by insurance company Great Eastern, featured the Kokopelli Choristers from Canada and Malaysia's Operafest Children's Choir. Together, both choirs enthralled the crowd for 2 1/2 hours.
The youth choir from Canada was founded in 1996. Its members, aged 14 to 23, had the crowd enchanted with their rendition of the ethereal Irish folk song, Dobbin's Flowery Vale.
The choir's artistic director, Scott Leithead, explained how the event came about. "We were on our way to South Africa and we decided to take the long way there. When it was decided we'd visit Malaysia, I recalled hearing the very talented Operafest Children's Choir at a choral festival in Montana, the United States last year."
He finds Malaysia beautiful with "friendly and generous people". The audience got to taste some of Leithead's homeland's culture as well, with the performance of the traditional Watane. A Finnish yoiking (part chant, part singing) song - Fairest Lord Jesus - was also a rare treat, followed by Bach's haunting Come Sweet Death.
The movements of the choristers added to the significance of the lyrics, turning our thoughts to matters such as patriotism and death. Eternity heightened the introspective atmosphere, as did Kpanlongo and the heavily African-influenced Sage of Lamberne.
Kokopelli chose to end the first half of the performance on an upbeat note - the rousing "ho-down" Cindy was performed to an enthusiastic dance, which the crowd thoroughly enjoyed.
The second half of the performance was preceded by a speech from Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk M. Kayveas. He applauded the efforts of Great Eastern to raise money for ChildrenCare. Kayveas and Great Eastern representative Alex Foong presented a mock cheque for RM20,000 to the Operafest Children's Choir.
The choir presented its repertoire of a selection of songs from the operetta The Merry Widow to quirky and hilarious dance moves. The audience was delighted, particularly with the "declaration of love" from an eight- year-old Danilo to a much older Sonia.
Then followed a series of American barbershop songs - My Blue Heaven, Goodnight Sweetheart, Side By Side, On the Sunny Side Of The Street and Ira Gershwin's cynical It Ain't Necessarily So.
"That's it," Operafest Children's Choir director Kam Sun-Yoke announced to the crowd after the Gershwin number. "If you want an encore, you're going to have to really ask for it!" The audience immediately began to cheer and applaud. The Kokopelli Choristers were invited by Operafest to join them on stage.
Leithead and Kam, happy with the success of the choir groups' first concert together, hoped there would be more such opportunities in the future.
With Auld Lang Syne, the performers bid adieu, much later than had been scheduled. |
