Busy, busy weekend

I mentioned in the last post that I was going to see a concert that night (Friday, 7th August). The performers were 4 vocalists (I'm not sure of their ages), who formed the Bel Canto group. From what I can gather, they all reside in Kuching and were lucky enough to find a vocal coach in this city. They do not do this full time (wouldn't be able to make a living out of it here!).

The night was themed 'An Affair to Remember' and it was held at the Sarawak Tourism Complex Performing Arts Hall. The 4 vocalists were each a bass, tenor, alto and soprano, who performed a wide range of songs from Mozart's Requiem to the the more contemporary 'When You Believe' (off the soundtrack to The Prince of Egypt) and even the Turkish March. They were accompanied by a pianist, a drummer, and for one song, a (somewhat out-of-place) traditional dancer.

Each vocalist performed a solo piece, the best of which, to our family, was Cinema Paradiso by the bass singer. The tenor tried to give a lively performance - a lot of hand gestures and moving around the stage - and this was fine during the solo performance; unfortunately it made him stand out a bit too much in the group performance, and he overshadowed the rest of the singers.

There are a few ways in which the concert could have been improved, such as forbidding the consumption of food and drinks during the performance - there was a family behind us who kept munching on sweets and the rustling of wrappers and plastic bags was annoying and keeping me from concentrating fully on the beautiful rendition of Cinema Paradiso - and prohibit late comers from taking their seats until the song has finished. Also, perhaps turn up the microphones on the vocalists so we can hear them when the drums are thrown into the mix, as they were quite drowned out.

Each performer had their strengths and weaknesses. For example, the tenor noted above, and the soprano whose voice was quite mesmerising, but was a little stiff (and, in my humble opinion, a little overdressed) in comparison with her fellow performers. Their inexperience showed with some patchy parts, and they seemed to really tire at the end, however it was a good effort by the performers over about one and a half hours, which is no easy feat. Good entertainment overall.

On Saturday, I met up with 2 groups of friends - one here for the weekend, the other the group of school friends because L was going back to Germany the next day. Had dinner with dad's younger brother who is back for a holiday from KL.

Sunday, we went out for a family lunch to celebrate Mum's bday, and in the arvo we presented her with the tiramisu ice-cream cake that sis and I made, as well as some CDs we bought to go with her new car :) It was a bit tricky getting it out of the pan I'd assembled it in, but we managed.

Mum was pretty pleased with it all, and the family seemed to like the cake, which was good. I didn't want the same thing that happened to dad's. It (literally) went to the dogs.

Then it was off to futsal for what may will probably be my last Sunday session for a couple of months (hopefully it won't be longer than that), but that's IF the team stays together. Female politics I think.