Long time coming

Funny to drive for 2 days to attend and record a concert but that's what I just did.  I'd been in Adelaide visiting family and other than the rain, the 2-day trip was pretty comfy.  The concert was Kompactus Youth Choir celebrating their 15th anniversary at Wesley.  The first  numbers were by the current youth choir under MD and conductor Olivia Swift and the last 5 tunes included older alumni and variously  David Yardley, once Kompactus MD, and Olivia conducting.  Olivia also provided two songs, David one, and Kompactus  alumnus Patrick Baker another.  It was hard not to notice how varied were the songs presented, as well as how challenging and well performed.  This was seriously satisfying a cappella singing.  Olivia was beautifully in control of a choir that responded with delicacy and care and joy at times.  Especially for a few amusing pieces, like time with its tongue clicks for clock beats and I'm a train with all manner of trainy noises and of course a more complex take of the well known What shall we do with the drunken sailor.  There was a song on Turing which referenced his sexuality and well as thinking machines, and a song that was all the world like an instrumental, with foot taps and thumb clicks (Olivia called it body percussion) laying down a groove and singing providing a synth-like overlay.  And the two tunes by Olivia, something touching and complex called Soldier's grave, and another on creativity from hard work called Sleepless.  Interestingly, the lyrics for many tunes were poems; I guess that's the/a way in many choral works.  David Yardley led an early Kompactus tune called Butterfly, on the short life of the animal, and one of his original musical overlays for mediaeval lyrics missing music, A doomsday we schull ysee.  Then something that seems local, Rachel by Idea of North singer Trish Delaney-Brown, which seemed to be a call to Rachel, slow and pensive, then another amusing number called How to reach the Sun which detailed paper folding kites ultimately to the distance of the Sun (?!?), I think, and a final contemporary madrigal, Orange from Mounts of more soft ascent.  The tunes and lyrics were from all manner of countries and local and from some Kompacti.  The singing was dreamily good or amusingly playful.  I went away realising how much I love the human voice, at least when well done like this.  OK not perfect, but so bloody good.  So glad too that I could record this and worthy of the 12-hour drive to the gig.

Kompactus Youth Choir and Kompactus alumni celebrated the Kompactus 15th anniversary with a concert at Wesley.  Olivia Swift (musical director) and David Yardley (past musical director) conducted and Patrick Baker (alumnus), Olivia Swift, David Yardley and many others provided the compositions.