Choir - Competition at Thailand, July07

NUS CHOIR
The Third “A Voyage of Songs” International Choral Festival
12 – 16 July 2007
Ambassador City Jomtien Hotel, Pattaya, Thailand

During the summer vacation break, while most students were going through internships, part-time jobs and holidays, we had the most wonderful opportunity representing NUS and participate in the prestigious 3rd International Choral Festival, “A Voyage of Songs”, in Pattaya, Thailand.

Departing at Changi Airport - SiewLing came to send us off!

With a great selection of competition pieces in hand, the choir participated in 2 categories,

Open Mixed Category, conducted by Asst. Conductor, Mr Terrence Toh
Ave Marie Stella - a challenging contemporary sacred Latin piece!
Shima E - a very moving and reflective Japanese song about loneliness and the search for love
Bal-lay Gi - a Filipino war chant complete with bamboo percussion, bringing out the fighters’ spirit and pain

Folklore Category, conducted by our Student Conductor, Mr Adyll Hardy
Yu Yue Hua - a sorrowful Hokkien piece which uses flowers to describe a lady's life
Luk Luk Lumbu - a colorful Indonesian tribal piece, together with choreography and elaborate folklore costumes!

I'm sure you can't tell what this is, coz our dear president Aaron was still fixing it the night before the competition!
It was our self-made bamboo war-drum instrument which was used in Bal-lay Gi.

Practices for the competition were long and arduous, working hard at improving every little detail: the choreography, the musical interpretation, the blending of voices, the notes and right down to the costumes.

Above and below: Preview of folklore and Open mixed pieces to our parents and friends @ Auditorium

Before we knew it, we were at the competition in Pattaya, Thailand. The festival was grand, featuring a total of 33 choirs from 10 different countries, across 4 continents!

The compeition hall - fyi, we took this photo, sitting only at the middle rows! Can you imagine how HUGE this hall was?

The beautiful Thai dancers!

The fun-loving Australian choir!

I’m sure you can see for yourself how different we were before and after the competition!

Sincere Praying session

Intense Focus...

another group photo after our Open Mixed category

The NUS Choir obtained two Gold diplomas in Open Mixed Voices and Folklore category, ranking 6th and 4th respectively. In addition, the judicators were impressed with our performance, Luk Luk Lumbu so much that they selected us to represent Singapore to perform at the closing ceremony!

Take note of their weird-looking beard, our guys put on MAKEUP to look tribal!


Here is our choreographed Luk-Luk Lumbu in front of ALL judges and participants in the finale showcase!

During the festival, the NUS choir also interacted with choristers from other nationalities. The choir almost went crazy upon meeting two distinguished composers, Mr. Ralph Hoffman (our seniors won a gold singing his song, Credo in 3rd Festival of Songs in Olomouc, Czech Republic in 2005!) and Mr. Arwin Tan – the very composer of Bal-lay Gi, the Filipino war chant which we sing for this competition!

Ha~ I'm sure you can't tell! The people with a white logo on their left of their Tshirts were actually from The Philippines!


Here was our President, Aaron again with two of the PRC choir girls!

Listening intentively to Mr. Ralph Hoffman, the composer of Credo, seniors' competition piece in Czech Republic!

Mr Arwin Tan actually said, “I’m so moved by your performance! You managed to bring out the exact mixed feeling of glory and pain of war when I wrote the song. I sincerely thank you for the tears you guys shed on stage.”

Of course, we managed to squeeze some time in the last two days to go shopping, travel around Pattaya, and explore its beaches! After the festival, some members of the choir extended their trip to Bangkok, while the rest of the members returned to Singapore.

It's a small world. Here we met Zhou Chong Qing on the plane, the famous DJ of Radio 93.3!

While the trip proved to be five hectic days, it was an experience worth remembering for a long time to come. Recapturing the very spirit the choir had shown on stage during the competition is nearly impossible, but I am sure glad that I was part of something special.

Our beloved conductors: Mr Terrence Toh & Adyll

and of course, the NUS Choir!

Text: Nadiah and Michelle (NUS Choir)

Caption: GM

Photos: Courtesy of NUS Choir