Sacred music and jazz -  A lady at church on Sunday told Bert about a choir she sings in that was giving two concerts on Sunday night at a cathedral and then on Monday at the Indian Habitat Center (up the road from us - the venue for the rodent appearance with the classical dancer!).  Bert and I felt it would be a wonderful Advent event for us.

I came from a chiropractor's appointment and met Bert outside the hotel with a rickshaw with only a minute or two to spare.  Our experience at the IHC made me confident that it wouldn't be a disaster if we wandered in a minute or two late.  That assumption proved correct, however, we hadn't calculated that the concert would be PACKED.  The audience was primarily Indian with a smattering of expats and the choir a good mix of nationalities, though predominantly Indian.  There wasn't a seat left in the place and every possible surface had people sitting or standing to  enjoy the entertainment.  We squeezed between people at the back of the balcony and sat on the floor.  Wouldn't have been allowed in the USA, of course, because of fire regulations, but it made for a wonderful atmosphere of anticipation.

The music was an odd mix from Schubert mass to schmaltzy adaptation of classical carols and one superb spiritual "Who's that Baby in a Manger Bed?"  Definitely agony and ecstasy. :) Parts of the concert were superb, some teeth gratingly awful, and at times the poor performance couldn't spoil the exquisite beauty of the harmonies and the profound words. 

Both Bert and I remarked  how surprised we were that interspersed through the songs a very clear presentation of who Jesus was was delivered, although by appearance it didn't seem that the choir was a Christian choir  (Sikh man in the bass section for instance).Somehow couldn't imagine that happening at the Kennedy Center. 

I confess to a tiny bit of disappointment that the local rodent population didn't put in an appearance as they had at our earlier dance recital in the same theatre. Perhaps they felt there were too many performers to compete with.