“Sing like no one’s listening, love like you’ve never been hurt, dance like nobody’s watching, and live like it’s heaven on earth,” Susan Bear, as emcee, said at the beginning of Heaven and Earth, the Kamsack Community’s Choir’s spring concert held June 16.
“Another saying goes ‘Ah, there are so many things betwixt heaven and earth of which only poets have dreamed,’ and I might add to that, musicians,” Bear said. “Another observed ‘Music is God’s gift to man, the only art of Heaven given to earth, the only art of earth we take to Heaven.’
“And so, tonight we sing of all things heaven and earth,” she said. “You will hear about the sun, moon and stars, the sky and the land, rivers and mountains, morning and evening, rain and storms.
“We hope you enjoy the music that the choir has worked so hard to present tonight.”
Introducing the first song, Morning Has Broken, Bear said that it is a popular and well-known Christian hymn that was first published in 1931, set to a traditional Scottish Gaelic tune. The choir sang a version by Cat Stevens, a pop musician and folk singer, who included this song on his 1971 album Teaser and the Firecat.
Some Enchanted Evening is a 1949 show tune from the Rogers and Hammerstein musical, South Pacific, she said. It is the single biggest popular hit to come out of any Rogers and Hammerstein show. Zennovia Duch joined Bear to perform it as a duet.
“It seemed like everytime we had practice it was raining, so it is appropriate that we have a couple of songs about rain,” she said. The first one is Singing in the Rain, performed by the choir.
This song was the centerpiece of the musical film of the same name in which Gene Kelly memorably danced to this song while splashing through puddles during a rainstorm, she said.
“Well, the rain has stopped so Here Comes the Sun. This song, written by George Harrison, was first released on the Beatles 1969 album Abbey Road.”
The girls’ trio of Bear, Kathy Galye, and Zennovia Duch sang it.
“You may think you know the popular children’s song Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, but the original poem from the early 1800s that it was taken from actually contained several more verses. Our version, performed as a round by the ladies in the choir, will include some of these.
“Stormy Weather is a traditional Nova Scotian song which John Adamyk and I will do for you.”
Marilyn Marsh, the pianist, introduced and then played A Good Morning Melody.
“Our second rain song is Joy is Like the Rain,” she said, explaining that the Medical Mission Sisters are a religious congregation of women in the Roman Catholic Church founded in 1925 and dedicated to providing the poor of the world better access to health care. In 1964, like the Singing Nun had done a year earlier, the sisters began singing their own home-grown brand of spiritually-themed folk music as an aide to the medical health and wellness they professed. In 1965 Sister Miriam Therese Winter composed their hit song Joy is Like the Rain which was performed by the choir.
Tin Pan Alley is a name given to a collection of New York City music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States during the late 19th and early 20th century, she said. Tin Pan Alley was the street on which they worked. Several of their songs were moon related.
Bear, Brian Izumi, John Adamyk and Bruno Lemire performed two of those songs in a barbershop style: Shine on Harvest Moon and By the Light of the Silvery Moon.
Coffee and dainties were available during the intermission when a draw was made for a large hamper provided by the meat department of the Co-op grocery store.
The second half of the concert began with the choir singing Down by the Riverside, a popular spiritual in which Bear said one of the suggested images that is meant to invoke is that of ascending to heaven.
Catch a Falling Star is a song made famous by Perry Como in 1957, and was performed by a quartet comprised of Duch, Bear, Galye and Adamyk.
“At our practice last Thursday (June 9), my mother brought a picture of herself and my dad at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas (that had been taken) about 40 years ago when they had listened to Sunrise, Sunset being performed. It happened to be their 70th wedding anniversary last Thursday. This song is from Fiddler on the Roof and took place at a wedding. So, even though she has to perform it with us (as a member of the choir), I would like to dedicate this song to my mom and dad on the occasion of their 70th wedding anniversary.
“Follow the Sun is a song composed by Joyce Elaine Eilers, who was a prolific American composer of choral music whose compositions are well-known to school choral directors,” Bear said as she introduced a quartet of Duch, Adamyk, Galye and herself.
Moonlight Bay, originally published in 1912, became a hit when it was sung as a duet by Bing Crosby and his son, Gary, she said as the choir rose to sing it.
Blue Skies is a popular song written by Irving Berlin in 1926 as a last-minute addition to the musical Betsy, she said. “It was such an instant success that the audience on opening night demanded 24 encores of the piece from star Belle Baker. During the final repetition, Ms. Baker forgot her lyrics, prompting Berlin to sing them from his seat in the front row. Our ladies’ trio (Bear, Galye and Duch) will only be performing it once, but if we forget the lyrics please feel free to sing along.”
Climb Every Mountain, which was performed by the choir, is another Rogers and Hammerstein song from the musical The Sound of Music, she said. “In keeping with our nun theme, it was sung by the Mother Abbess as an inspirational piece to encourage people to follow their dreams.”
That Lucky Old Sun is a popular song from 1949, she said. The lyrics contrast the toil and intense hardship of the singer’s life with the obliviousness of the natural world. It was sung by the choir’s only bass, Brian Izumi.
Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In is a medley of two songs written for the 1967 musical Hair, and released as a single by the American rhythm and blues group, the Fifth Dimension. The lyrics are based on the astrological belief that the world would soon be entering the “age of Aquarius,” an age of love, light, and humanity. The good news is that the proposed dates for this to happen are still in the future, so there is still hope.
Bear, Duch and Galye returned to the front of the stage dressed as flower children of the 1960s to perform the medley and included appropriate gestures of “peace and love.”
“We all know the words to This Land is Your Land, but it was actually written and recorded originally by Woodie Guthrie with American geography,” Bear said. The Canadian version was written and popularized in 1955 by the folk music group, the Travellers.
She said that with Canada Day “right around the corner” it was only fitting that the concert’s theme of Heaven and Earth should include that patriotic song, which was performed by the choir.
As the choir returned for an encore, Bear said that they would like to “send you out tonight with the inspirational song When You Wish Upon a Star.”
This song is from the 1940 Disney adaptation of Pinocchio and was sung by Jiminy Cricket. It has since become the representative song of the Walt Disney Company and is the first Disney song to win an Oscar. The ships of the Disney Cruise Line use the first seven notes of the melody as its horn signal.
“Tonight we remember those who recently lost their lives in Orlando, home of Disneyworld, most of whom were very young and are not now going to have a chance to follow their dreams.”
