Up and away

I’m currently sitting in Oslo airport waiting for my flight to be called. That’s not technically true, by the time this is published I’ll be sitting at home in my living room. In fact, if we’re going to be particularly pedantic about this, I’ll probably be in a rehearsal, out on my bike, or shopping at the precise time you’re reading this word. THIS word. This one here>>”This one“. But you get the point…

It’s been a fantastic week. The second concert (last night DCT (Dury’s current time)) almost moved me to tears. Not the playing, although that was obvisouly fantastic and tear-jerking in a professional, you know, moving way, but just the warmness of the people. The concert was in a small town in the Telemark district of Southern Norway. Expectations of attendance were very low, but as 6.50pm arrived, so did half of the town. Our little church was suddenly becoming a giant people magnet for most of the town’s inhabitants. We were not just performers, we were a public event.

Anyway, the tear-jerking bit came at the end. Having finished our concert we had the clapping in the unison-rhythm that had become customary (a local way of showing complete satisfaction with the performance). Then we were invited back on stage to be presented with gifts from the local church society. They were CD’s presented as gifts from the community and contained examples of local musicians in all sorts of styles, from chants to pop music. We had given them the gift (their words) of our music, so they wanted to give something back. They showed immense gratitude for us having chosen their town as they very rarely have classical music performances.

It all made me realise why I’m a musician and a performer. To give something to the audience.

It also got me thinking about how isolated most parts of Norway are. Everyone knows everyone else, because they have to. Town’s could be isolated for weeks in the winter and everyone has to get by. Then in the summer, they just tend to stay that way. So our choice of location really was a gift for them, and a real night out.

So there you have it. Why I play music and why I do it.

The end.