02.09.2012 - Sunday

02.09.2012 - Dar es Salaam
Our last concert day in Tanzania... and we are getting another taste of the big city of Dar es Salaam, which seems quite Western Euorpean to us after those days in the countryside. This is not only because of the much more modern buildings (there are even some high rises) but also because of the church service at 8.30 a.m. to which we are invited and which begins almost on time at 8.45 a.m.:-)

Despite the big city feeling the church is packed although there are no less than 6 church services on this Sunday.

The classical a capella choral pieces performed by the choir as a whole (including the adult singers) are particularly well received by the audience in this service.

We soon realize why...Unlike the singers and conductors in the rural areas the "city singers" first of all have qualified conductors and secondly...

...they know sheet music and thirdly "classical" music (by "classical" in this context we mean music which can do without a great deal of technology (keybord with midi function an so on) and which is sung by using vocal techniques instead). At this point we remember the people in Itigi (600 km from here) asking us what those lines and dots on the white sheets of paper stood for and we are wondering how there can be such a difference in the understanding of people living only a few hundred km apart from each other in one and the same country.

After this really short service (only a little more than one and a half hours - not even half as long as the service in the rural areas:-)) we have to get ready for our concert after lunch.

As a special treat our band performs a jazzy intro.

Like all our previous concerts our last concert in Africa proves to be a real magnet to the audience - we are performing (together with other choirs as usual) in front of full pews...

...and paparazzi.

Unfortunately we had to leave our priest Philemon (see previous reports) behind in Manyoni. We miss him already and so we ask Elisabeth to keep him up to date about our activities by MMS.

Some of our activities are hard to capture for an MMS. But we have a solution for this as well - if necessary by posing uninhibitedly as the statue of liberty.

Very important: As we have experienced on several previous occasions during our concerts and in general: "remember to drink plenty of water!"

The local choirs of Dar es Salaam hav a lot to offer. We see beautiful costumes...

...as well as traditional and also some quite unusual instruments.

We are presumably the first choir ever to sing the German National Anthem in the Cathedral of Dar es Salaam. The situation was as follows: the last choir is singing a hymn with the same melody as our national anthem. Practically immediately after the last verse we spontaneously get up starting to sing the German National Anthem - the audience's reaction is enthusiastic.

The conductor of the last choir has - spontaneously of course - the idea to perform Händel's Halleluja together with us and all the loacl choirs. The African motto is: everyone sings everything by heart and everyone who's trying to chicken our is out. So we sing the words as good (if this term can be used in this context at all) as we could (or could not) covering up our disgrace with a friendly smile and a very loud Halleluja;-)

After this glorious finale we are waiting for our bus outside the church together with another choir. We spontaneously organize a little "queuing-up party" dancing to the Bonga rythm together with our local friends.