maccamusings

Moments after I sat down at the ANU Arts centre theatre, the lights dimmed and my excitement grew as 105 (or there abouts) people streamed out from stage left. All were dressed in black, seemingly emotionless, avoiding eye contact with the 300 people waiting patiently in the audience. If it wasn't for the fact that the audience knew this to be a choir performance, and that the female singers (including Affrica) all wore bazaar white floral scarves around their necks, one could have been forgiven for mistaking this for some sort of re-enactment of a medieval battle scene. After the 105 strong black army had taken their position, lining up in four very orderly rows, they were followed by four very decorated knights (apparently known as soloists), dressed in shining, sparkling robes. This was no doubt to instill great fear and intimidation in those who sat before them. Then, the King himself arrived, dressed in humble black robes, much like his devout army - a nice touch from a King I thought. He wielded a stick, apparently a symbol of His Excellencies dominance and claim to these here lands. It was an awesome sight. In response, all we could do was applaud, and applaud we did, for quite sometime, prolonging the onslaught. This battle, however, was inevitable, and as the last audience member completed their final clap (I never know when to stop), the King then turned to his black army, raised his big stick, and commenced his attack. And so began the choral charge of SCUNA (ANU choral Society backwards).

Aff had managed to snare the most prominent position in the entire choir. She was standing front row and center, her only shield from the audience being a big trombone in the orchestra, which blocked the far right of the audience from a clear view of her vocal work. I, however, had a seat in the more central regions of the theatre, and so had a perfect view of everything. The choir performed two works from Mozart, enticingly titled "Requiem" and "Mass in C Major". Now I know nothing about music, particularly classical, but boy did the spit fly across the theatre when these two masterpieces were belted out. I suspect Aff may have landed one right in the conductors eye, but he didn't seem to care because he was drenched in sweat anyway. It was intense, and the choir was in full throttle. Well, all except one. I don't want to make any wild accusations, or start a scandal, but I suspect SCUNA has a mimer in their midst! After the show, I discussed this at length with Aff, and was prepared to bring it up with the man in question in the interest of maintaining quality in the choir. Aff, however, advised me against this.

After the concert was the post-concert party. You may remember critical news reports that surrounded the British alt-rock band Oasis when they first toured Australia in the mid 90's. Reports claimed Oasis partook frequently in wild parties and post-concert antics which plagued their entire tour. Well, I can tell you now, those Oasis boys have nothing on the wild childs of SCUNA. The SCUNA post-concert party, hosted by a member who's parents had gone away for the weekend, got off to a wild start with the offering of Turkish bread and dips. It wasn't long before the Brie and watercrackers were being passed around in an orgy of cheese, dips, and sausage rolls. Then someone opened a beer (me), and it was on for young and old. People sat around talking, someone even got on a piano and started playing, followed then by someone else putting on a CD (Delta I think). The party was wild. If I wasn't trying to find my way through the crowds of people to the cheese platter, I was trapped in conversation with someone with a rather deep and disturbing knowledge of Doctor Who. I barely remember what happened (and I only had one beer ... but I can tell you that Doctor Who comes from the planet Gallafrie, and has two hearts. What a night!

So all in all, a great performance by SCUNA, and in particular by their front-centre star soprano, Affrica.

(Concert was Sunday June 7, 2005 @ ANU Arts Centre)