KAMSACK — In spite of a snowy, wintery day, the Kamsack Community Choir’s Christmas Concert and Sing-along on Dec. 8, attracted a similar audience to what the Choir has been accustomed to entertaining at previous concerts.
Held at Westminster Memorial United Church, the concert included all but one of the choir’s members under the direction of Susan Bear with accompaniment on piano by Deb Cottenie.
Although Rick Aikman was unable to attend, the other baritones were Kayode Bamigbola and Stan Stone.
Altos were Linda Osachoff, Kathy Galye and Melva Armstrong, while the sopranos were Arlene Smorodin, Audrey Horkoff, Deb Sears, Judy Stone, Milena Hollett, Zennovia Duch, Mary Welykholowa, Liudmyla Obukh and Mary McGriskin.
Susan Bear provided the narration between numbers.
“We are going to start our concert with a song to welcome Christmas,” Bear said, as a trio of Kathy Galye, Zennovia Duch and Bear sang Christmas is Here and then the whole choir sang Ave, Ave, the Angel Sang (Luke 1:26-38).
Originated in the Provence region of France in the 17th century, Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella, was not originally meant for Christmas, but was considered dance music for the French aristocracy, Bear explained. To this day on Christmas Eve in Provence children dress as shepherds and milkmaids, bringing torches and candles while singing this carol on their way to Midnight Mass.
Jeanette and Isabella were two female farmhands who have found the baby Jesus and his mother in a stable, she said as the choir performed Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella.
Introducing Antiphonal Deck the Hall, Bear said that this version of Deck the Hall has two singers repeating after each other and then blending together in harmony, which is a simple but pretty arrangement. Duch and Bear performed the song as a duet.
Members of the Kamsack Community Choir, which performed the Christmas Concert and Sing-along at Westminster Memorial United Church in Kamsack on Dec. 8. From left are: Stan Stone, Linda Osachoff, Kayode Bamigbola, Kathy Galye, Melva Armstrong, Deb Cottenie, Liudmyla Obukh, Susan Bear, Mary McGriskin, Arlene Smorodin, Deb Sears, Judy Stone, Audrey Horkoff, Zennovia Duch, Milena Hollett and Mary Welykholowa. | Photo by William Koreluik
The choir then sang A Caribbean Noel, which, Bear said, is a festive song based on a Puerto Rican folk melody.
The first quartet of the evening, comprised of Duch, Bear, Liudmyla Obukh and Kayode Bamigbola sang Advent Alleluia.
The whole choir then performed Advent Canon, a song based on a Canon by Mozart.
“A canon is like a round,” Bear explained. “Each section sings the same melody but at different times.”
Introducing Liudmyla Obukh, Bear said she is actually a trained singer, “unlike some of us who are just faking it.” She sang a classical Christmas piece a cappella in Ukrainian called The Dark Night.
At the concert in Kamsack on Dec. 8, Liudmyla Obukh, a trained singer, performed a classical Christmas piece a cappella in Ukrainian called The Dark Night. | Photo by William Koreluik
Beautiful Star of Bethlehem, which was performed by the choir, was written in 1938 by Robert Fisher Boyce, a Tennessee farmer and a deacon at Mount Carmel Baptist Church, Bear said. He was inspired to write it one day while sitting on a milk stool in his dairy barn.
During intermission, the choir encouraged the audience to join them in the singing of three well-known Christmas carols in a sing-along.
Bear, Duch, Obukh and Bamigbola returned to centre stage to sing This Christmas, the second quartet of the evening, which is a song by Donny Hathaway, an American soul musician, and Nadine McKinnon, and was first released in 1970.
“Nadine said she felt ‘blessed to have written Donny a song that celebrates the possibilities, the expectations, and the anticipation of Christmas and the good fun and happy loving times,’ and that the creation of the song ‘was a God plan. God was in the plan. And Donny Hathaway was a genius.’”
The Choir sang A Carol for the Baby, which is an arrangement of What Child is This? which was written in 1865 and set to the tune of Greensleeves, a traditional English folk song.
The trio of Duch, Bear and Obukh then sang Noel Fantasy, an arrangement combining two well-known carols, The First Noel and Infant Holy, Infant Lowly.
Introducing Bamigbola, Bear said that the concert’s second solo of the night is Mary Did You Know?.
The lyrics of this song evolved from a series of questions that one of the composers, Mark Lowry, scripted for a Christmas program at his church, Bear said. “He says ‘I just tried to put into words the unfashionable. I started thinking of the questions I would have for her if I were to sit down and have coffee with Mary. You know, what is it like raising God, what did you know and what didn’t you know?’
“None of the questions are answered but the lyrics poetically invite the listener to contemplate the relationship between Mary and her newborn divine Son.”
The whole choir came together to sing You Are My Christmas Angel.
“We are hoping that this pop original with its easy feel will give you a warm, romantic holiday glow, just like a Hallmark movie,” she said.
As an encore, the choir sang Born to Set Us Free.
The Saskatchewan Choral Federation, with funding from Sask Lotteries, provided some of the music performed at the concert.
Bear thanked everyone for their presence at the concert and for their ongoing support of the Community Choir.
A quartet, comprised of Kayode Bamigbola, Liudmyla Obukh, Susan Bear and Zennovia Duch, performed two carols during the Christmas concert in Kamsack. | Photo by William Koreluik
