The sound system!
Well, Akwa-Gospel did its 2007 'coming out'! We have our first 'gig' of the season under our belts and it was pretty OK despite appalling conditions for performance!
Last Sunday we were invited to sing along with Akwaba-a at a gathering of 360 people belonging to an association called "Hospitalité de Touraine" who organise trips to Lourdes for handicapped people. They have a day together : mass, lunch and then entertainment, of which we were a part.
We were told the schedule was tight and we had to be on stage performing at 2pm sharp and off 45 minutes later for the next singer to start. It was agreed that we'd arrive at 1pm to set up the stage as we had many instruments and a sound system to install (there are abour fifty performers in our set-up). There were also costume changes planned etc.
We arrived at 1pm as planned, on a day only ducks want to be outside (torrential rain!) only to find that the venue was chock-a-bloc with people, there was nowhere for us to leave our belongings or even stand (we spent half an hour in the toilet to keep out of the way) and particularly ... there were people having lunch on the stage! No chance of setting up the sound system then as they were still on their main course and as anyone who knows the French will see, cheese, dessert and coffee were still to come!
So we just hung out in the toilet until 2 o'clock when we made a frantic dash to set up the stage (the plinths and daïs, the speakers, the mikes, the instruments, costumes...) in ten minutes flat. Congrats to Ben for the sweat of his brow!
I spent most of my time with Akwaba-a miming, as I have very little voice. The bronchitis I had a month ago has never really gone away and my vocal folds are at least twice their normal size.
I tried to save them for the two solos I had to do.
Needless to say my solo on "Were You There" was disappointing as I couldn't get much subtlety into my voice. The choir did a pretty good job putting nuance into theirs but unfortunately it was totally lost in a place where people were chatting over coffee, walking around to go to the toilet after lunch etc.!! We followed up with "It's Me" and "This Train". These are quite lively and were appreciated (I was sweating buckets by the time I'd finished jumping about at the front as the hall was stifling!). The choir cocked up the phrases "cigarette puffers" and "hootchie cootch shakers and Charleston prancers" but the overall effect was good. The whole of Akwaba-a plus gospel singers on "I'm Gonna Wait" had great impact too.
We had to rush through our last number in which I do a jazz impro, which meant I had to come in white-hot without any build-up which is a bit rough (like my tonsils!).
Anyway, the event was appreciated by the audience who have asked us back next year (??!!?)
As Terry (who is one of our tenors and also a volunteer with this organisation) said, we brought some colour into the lives of people who really need it. In that respect it was a very successful day!
My father was in the audience as he happened to be here for the weekend. It was the first time he had seen me sing since my teens! Not a perfect performance by any means, but it gave him an idea of the service we provide for our community. He was impressed by the gospel choir and said he had no trouble understanding their English. I have passed on the compliment.
The previous evening he and I had been to see New Gospel family perform in the city. Here are a few thoughts on them.
There were 26 performers in total forming a giant semi-circle around the director who leapt around between them like a crazy thing! They were from many nations : France, Switzerland, Haïti, Guadeloupe, some African countries... The sound was a good strong one with some amazing voices. There were several different people singing the solos and they sang a mixture of Urban gospel, Traditional gospel both in English and in French. They had a lot of conviction and indeed, when it came time to bear witness, the director said they were all there from spiritual conviction too. I was particlarly impressed by one tenor who sang a couple of solos as he was technically perfect. He never missed a single beat or note! Some of the other soloists were not always on pitch, which offended my ears at first but then I got to thinking. We are too used to studio perfection these days and it would do us good to be more tuned in to the emotion behind a singer's voice rather than technical prowess! As far as emotion goes : they scored ten out of ten!
One thing that was a little disappointing was that there were no live musicians. Everything was sung to a pre-recorded backing tape, which made the whole concert rather formatted as it didn't give room for any kind of improvisation.
Despite this they did a rather long set (with interval) and kept up the energy for the whole time. They had simple but effective choreography going too. All raising a hand at the same time, or clasping each other's shoulders, or a step in the same direction. I must work on the visual effect with Akwa-Gospel. We meet on Thursday : I think I'll try to get some 'dancing' going to the WOW 2006 CD my Dad brought me back from the States!
A nice touch at the end of the New Gospel family concert was that they were all lined up to say goodbye in the foyer as the audience left. That gave a really warm feeling.
I shall spend the next few days resting my voice and then it's off for our next rehearsal. Let you know how we get on.
God bless.Last Sunday we were invited to sing along with Akwaba-a at a gathering of 360 people belonging to an association called "Hospitalité de Touraine" who organise trips to Lourdes for handicapped people. They have a day together : mass, lunch and then entertainment, of which we were a part.
We were told the schedule was tight and we had to be on stage performing at 2pm sharp and off 45 minutes later for the next singer to start. It was agreed that we'd arrive at 1pm to set up the stage as we had many instruments and a sound system to install (there are abour fifty performers in our set-up). There were also costume changes planned etc.
We arrived at 1pm as planned, on a day only ducks want to be outside (torrential rain!) only to find that the venue was chock-a-bloc with people, there was nowhere for us to leave our belongings or even stand (we spent half an hour in the toilet to keep out of the way) and particularly ... there were people having lunch on the stage! No chance of setting up the sound system then as they were still on their main course and as anyone who knows the French will see, cheese, dessert and coffee were still to come!
So we just hung out in the toilet until 2 o'clock when we made a frantic dash to set up the stage (the plinths and daïs, the speakers, the mikes, the instruments, costumes...) in ten minutes flat. Congrats to Ben for the sweat of his brow!
I spent most of my time with Akwaba-a miming, as I have very little voice. The bronchitis I had a month ago has never really gone away and my vocal folds are at least twice their normal size.
I tried to save them for the two solos I had to do.
Needless to say my solo on "Were You There" was disappointing as I couldn't get much subtlety into my voice. The choir did a pretty good job putting nuance into theirs but unfortunately it was totally lost in a place where people were chatting over coffee, walking around to go to the toilet after lunch etc.!! We followed up with "It's Me" and "This Train". These are quite lively and were appreciated (I was sweating buckets by the time I'd finished jumping about at the front as the hall was stifling!). The choir cocked up the phrases "cigarette puffers" and "hootchie cootch shakers and Charleston prancers" but the overall effect was good. The whole of Akwaba-a plus gospel singers on "I'm Gonna Wait" had great impact too.
We had to rush through our last number in which I do a jazz impro, which meant I had to come in white-hot without any build-up which is a bit rough (like my tonsils!).
Anyway, the event was appreciated by the audience who have asked us back next year (??!!?)
As Terry (who is one of our tenors and also a volunteer with this organisation) said, we brought some colour into the lives of people who really need it. In that respect it was a very successful day!
My father was in the audience as he happened to be here for the weekend. It was the first time he had seen me sing since my teens! Not a perfect performance by any means, but it gave him an idea of the service we provide for our community. He was impressed by the gospel choir and said he had no trouble understanding their English. I have passed on the compliment.
The previous evening he and I had been to see New Gospel family perform in the city. Here are a few thoughts on them.
There were 26 performers in total forming a giant semi-circle around the director who leapt around between them like a crazy thing! They were from many nations : France, Switzerland, Haïti, Guadeloupe, some African countries... The sound was a good strong one with some amazing voices. There were several different people singing the solos and they sang a mixture of Urban gospel, Traditional gospel both in English and in French. They had a lot of conviction and indeed, when it came time to bear witness, the director said they were all there from spiritual conviction too. I was particlarly impressed by one tenor who sang a couple of solos as he was technically perfect. He never missed a single beat or note! Some of the other soloists were not always on pitch, which offended my ears at first but then I got to thinking. We are too used to studio perfection these days and it would do us good to be more tuned in to the emotion behind a singer's voice rather than technical prowess! As far as emotion goes : they scored ten out of ten!
One thing that was a little disappointing was that there were no live musicians. Everything was sung to a pre-recorded backing tape, which made the whole concert rather formatted as it didn't give room for any kind of improvisation.
Despite this they did a rather long set (with interval) and kept up the energy for the whole time. They had simple but effective choreography going too. All raising a hand at the same time, or clasping each other's shoulders, or a step in the same direction. I must work on the visual effect with Akwa-Gospel. We meet on Thursday : I think I'll try to get some 'dancing' going to the WOW 2006 CD my Dad brought me back from the States!
A nice touch at the end of the New Gospel family concert was that they were all lined up to say goodbye in the foyer as the audience left. That gave a really warm feeling.
I shall spend the next few days resting my voice and then it's off for our next rehearsal. Let you know how we get on.
Gospella
posted by Gospella @ 12:37 pm
1 comments
1 Comments:
Merci au papa de Karein pour le compliment, nous travaillons dur pour une bonne prononciation!
Pour la prestation de dimanche, moi, je suis ok pour revenir l'an prochain, même s'il y avait du bruit dans la salle, il y a beaucoup de personnes qui nous ont chaleureusement remercier à la fin. Le principal était donc bien de divertir le public présent: mission réussie !
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