Return Performance Tour, American Barbershop Chorus
September 15 - October 01, 2002
(Last modified: $Date: 2002/12/13 20:44:04 $)
We had the same general tour schedule as the 2001 Barbershop Chorus
of America (see the entry in this section for that trip), but due to
the enthusiastic reception we received last year, our performances were
held in larger theatres, to larger audiences. The only MHBQA members in
this year's chorus were repeaters Holly Beck from Kindred Spirits
and Kim & Jerry Orloff from Mixed Metafour, who have been to
China several times as part of the teaching quartet, Hao Yun Qi Singers.
Holly also was there in March of this year as part of the gold-medal teaching
quartet. (For more information on the MHBQA-supported barbershop teaching
project in China, see the MHBQA Helps Barbershop in China section on this
website.) For this tour the Hao Yun Qi Singers were reconstituted, with
the director of the Barbershop Chorus of America, Ken Hatton, singing
lead. (Also the lead of Bluegrass Student Union, 1978 SPEBSQSA International
Quartet Champs and still a top show quartet, Ken makes a passable lead!)
Performances were in Xi'an, Shiajiazhuang and Beijing. Songs performed by the
chorus included an audience favorite, Ung Ha HiYo, (known in English as
Rainbow Sister.) It is a Chinese children's folk song on the order of
America's Row Row Row Your Boat. Mainland Chinese of all ages recognize
this song from their childhood; inevitably the audience would start clapping
along in rhythm. Other songs sung by the chorus, both in English and Chinese, were:
Songs performed by the Hao Yun Qi Singers were
Barbershop in China continues to be an ongoing adventure; the tours there
combine a fantastic series of sightseeing days with some up-close-and-personal
sharing adventures in barbershop singing. This time one of the highlights
was performing both Jingle Bells and Auld Lang Syne in chorus that
combined our tour chorus with the Hebei Seniors Chorus in Shiajiazhuang, and
mixed the Chinese and American singers on the risers. It made it much easier
for all of us to sing those words in a foreign language when the person on either
side was a native speaker of that language! Another highlight was at Tsinghua
University in Beijing, when we joined forces with the outstanding Tsinghua
University Chorale for the show finale, performing our barbershop arrangement of
Auld Lang Syne in both English and Chinese. We spontaneously joined hands
with our fellow singers as we sang - in Chinese - "we'll take a cup of kindness
yet..." as our view of the two directors, directing each with one hand, the other
arm around each other, was dimmed by tears. International "diplomacy" doesn't
get any better.
This page is maintained by
Tom Arneberg
(
toma@arneberg.com)
(Last modified: $Date: 2002/12/13 20:44:04 $)
For more info about MHBQA, email Kim Orloff at
korloff@ix.netcom.com