Swakop Concerts

This morning we had our first official concerts in Namibia -- two school concerts, first at Swakopmund Secondary School and then at Namib High, where we’ve been rehearsing. For many of us, it was our first taste of the live atmosphere created by an African audience. In contrast with our usual North American (quiet, attentive, stoic-faced) audiences, African audiences whisper and react to the music as we sing. If a soloist starts singing, the audience will audibly gasp. If the choir shouts all together, like in the middle of Pakkanen, they will cheer. And the applause at the end of a well-received piece makes you feel like a rock star! There’s so much energy in the air, it’s utterly electric. At first, we weren’t sure if all the whispering was *good* whispering, but the applause at the end of our first piece removed all doubt. The headmistress at SSS told us that her students don’t always react well to new and different performances, but that they were remarkably attentive for us!

Yesterday was a busy day, considering it was mostly a ‘free day’. The bulk of the group went on boat cruises, which were a big hit last time and definitely lived up to their reputation. We visited with a number of wild seals who have learned to stomach dead fish instead of live ones, and come right onto the boat to have a snack from our skipper’s bucket. We also saw the wild seal colonies, dolphins running alongside the boat, an old Russian vessel left for salvage, and cultivated oyster beds. There was amazing food -- fresh raw oysters (though I abstained, being allergic), sandwiches, spring rolls, beer and coke and champagne for everyone. A few people on our boat came prepared with bathing suits underneath their street clothes and jumped into the cold Atlantic Ocean. While we were heckling Adam Rice and Andrew Gibb to hurry up and jump in already, Anne McIntyre (the Edmonton Junior Children’s Choir director) surprised us all and was the first one over the side!

We weren’t the most adventurous of the group, however; Ian Trace and Carolyn Norby trumped us all by doing tandem skydives! We look forward to seeing those pictures!!!

In the evening, we had our first massed choir rehearsal with Mascato. Even though we were getting tired around 7:30 (jet lag! still!) it was great to sing some of our big exciting pieces with Mascato -- Shed a Little Light, It Takes a Village, Baba Yetu. There are so many fantastic people in Mascato, and it’s wonderful to reconnect with the singers who came to Canada last year as well as meeting many of those who didn’t.

This afternoon we are enjoying some more relaxing free time in town, shopping and eating at the cafes and (in my case) taking some time to update the blog. We love hearing from our friends and family back home, so keep commenting! I'm working on a scheme to get some other Kokos posting on the blog -- it's a bit tricky when we are all staying in different places but at the very least I'm trying to get pics of as many different Kokos as possible! I haven't had a chance to seize and plunder anyone's camera because of all the time apart, but I'm going to try to get back here to the internet cafe later in the day and do a post of mostly pictures.

ETA: Lisa Martin just came up and asked about saving her pics on my computer! Hurray! I should have some new pics to post in a few minutes!

ETA 2: Sadly, we don't have the right kind of cable to connect, but I sent Lisa away with instructions to send more photographers to me if she sees them.