muoayiyoum and other Swedish choral music

A thankfulness of sound.

We are born to sing.  For no other reason could the intricate machinery of the voice-box exist:  six pairs of muscles stabilising the oft-rocked cradle of three cartilages that adjust the vocal folds according to whim or will.  To use the vocal instrument only for speaking would be a tragedy akin to driving an All-Terrain Vehicle round the corner to the local 7-11.  For a packet of peanuts.

Thus, as we 'worry' the overtones out of our system this evening, we are thankful for this natural ability to sing; and also for each unique singing instrument - a composite of body, mind and desire to communicate - that augments and amplifies the others to produce the sensuous "buzzing" sonorities that massage our spirits on and off stage.

It was an encounter with just such a lush soundscape that seduced us into inviting Gary Graden to conduct the SYC.  Three years ago, at the World Symposium in Minneapolis, Gary and his St Jacob's Chamber Choir enraptured us with music and a musicianship of the highest order.  Flawless intonation, warm translucent colour, liberated individual performances yet in perfect ensemble, a sensitive architect crafting exquisite music form.  We ticked off every item on the list of ingredients fora singing dream team.

And then there was the 'value-added' component.  In ending their performance, Gary sang with the choir - a full-voiced no-holds-barred rendition of the spiritual Ain't got time to die.  Such unabashed enjoyment, and passion for the music.  What a show.  We had to have him in Singapore.

Every guest conductor has left his or her mark on our music-making.  With Gary, we re-capture the childlike joy of singing simply because we want to, the fun of making sound for sound's sake, of exploring all the nooks and crannies where resonance hides.  We hope to lose ourselves in the sonorities where music resides and in so doing, recover a lightness of being.

Often in getting the notes right (always musically critical of course) in our competition-driven world of not-good-enough-better-best, we sometimes forget why we sing.  But tonight, we remember, and through the media of Gary and Swedish choral music - the dramatic incantation of nonsense syllabless, the zen-like meditation on vocal sound, the piercing kulning calls - we offer wholeheartedly the voices and choir-sounds which are uniquely ours.

With thanks.