At 2pm we gather at the Hall to rehearse with any who want to join us - which turns out to be Neil on guitar and Pat, Eileen, Grace (who has been in CHROMA projects before when she was in the primary school, now at Anderson High and home for the weekend), Phil (here on his holidays) and Abi (WOOFing from New York) on vocals. We workshop Summertime, having fun with harmonies to warm up, then rehearse Moon River making it ready to perform later. After that the ensemble run through the children’s pieces, and the rest of the programme.
open-to-all rehearsal
Neil joining us on guitar
While they rehearse I arrange the cyanotypes and artworks for an exhibition of the children’s work to accompany the concert - Marie’s giant knitted motif has already been hung on the wall (wooden brackets and mounting courtesy of Ian) and the end result looks great.
Brand new piece of textile art by Marie Bruhat - made with the assistance of the children
Cyanotypes
the children’s Lapis Lazuli artworks in blues and gold
A packed Hall
The best Kenaby pizza for tea, then a packed Hall for our concert. It’s a wonderful turnout that includes pretty much every Fair Isle resident (there are currently about 55 living on the island - this week a few are away on fire crew training etc) , several from the Bird Observatory, and various other visiting friends.
We start with the world premieres of the pieces by our young composers - who take their bow afterwards. The programme of blues, jazz and classical with a theme of blue reaches a high point when Stu introduces “the brand new International Fair Isle Choir”, and our friends join us on stage to perform Moon River. It sounds like seasoned rep rather than something we knocked together that afternoon!
Then comes the New Orleans Funk audience drum kit moment - Stu splits the audience into three and the children lead their sections in “boots and cats”, “boom boom boom chikki chikki” and “donkey donkey kong” (which we had done with the children as part of their daily warm ups). When the percussion section happens in the piece they get so into their groove they continue as the band come back in, and carried on with their riffs right to the end. To use Ian’s word it was GLEEFULL!
Post-gig catchups all round - we’ve been coming to Fair Isle since 2002 so there are many old friends to hug and chat with - then we head to Houll for the post-gig drinks and wind-down. Neil picks up the guitar and we have bonus songs - some sung by Neil and Eileen, some we all join in with. It’s a beautiful thing to be with our friends old and new like this - and a very fitting way to round off the evening.
Father and daughter singing a song written by Neil
Such a fine way to round off the evening