Last night, I was obliged to attend Rhythm of Life, a charity concert in support of the Adventist Home for the Elders, Adventist Nursing and Rehabilitation Centre and Adventist Community Services.
The concert featured Filipino Sal Malaki of the LA Opera and The Golden Angels from Korea.
I took the opportunity to test out the in-ear binaurals I got from The Sound Professionals and borrowed an old MiniDisc player. (Until the Samson Zoom H2 Handy Recorder is released, I’m sticking with this old mini-disc.)
It being the first time I’ve recorded a live show, I missed out the beginning of the first song. Which was fine anyway, because the levels were too high and the sound got distorted. Then I might have gotten too conservative and made the levels too low. Finally, I ran out of tape and missed out the last two songs.
These songs are best heard on headphones to hear the direction of chatter, laughter and so on. You can even pick me up sniffing.
This is Sal Malaki with God and God Alone. There’s some distortion at the loud parts. Still, I enjoyed it.
The Golden Angels seemed a little cheesy at times. Sometimes they sounded like an African children’s choir because of the way they pronounce English. They really widen and flatten out the vowels. That’s the best way I can describe it.
The Golden Angels – When We All Get Together. My father talks on the left.
Levels a little too low here. The Golden Angels – Daystar:
Their third song didn’t even have a name. Just “Korean Song” was listed on the programme.
What surprised me is the varied styles of singing in this group. I was surprised at how good this girl was. Some distortion at the loud bits.
Don’t know what the song was about, but despite the big soaring notes, I felt quite sad and depleted at the end of the song.
Sal Malaki was mostly accompanied on piano by Emily H. Chu-Fuentes who is a faculty member at the Conservatory of Music at the University of Saint Augustine. Unfortunately little can be found out about Emily H. Chu-Fuentes and the university website is inaccessible.
You’ll Never Walk Alone an old favourite.
Sal is a seasoned performer, and with the batteries going dead in the middle of Climb Every Mountain, he still went on. He cracked jokes even as the wrong music was cued up.
Sal Malaki – His Grace is Greater:
Sal and The Golden Angels sang together for one song, Via Dolorosa. I think the arrangement wasn’t great, but really they should’ve sung together for the final song to close the show as well.
The Golden Angels are a bunch of eight young people in Korea who have committed one full year to travelling and evangelistic singing around the world. These were the ones I saw and it’s clear that one of them is Filipino. But there have been other groups before them and it looks like they are actually more than eight people.
The Golden Angels – You Raise Me Up. Found the arrangement a little more interesting than the usual.
The Golden Angels – His Eye is on the Sparrow:
The bass singer gets to show off his vocals here. The Golden Angels – Our Glory on the Cross:
When You’re in Love. What is it with Christian songs that are titled like love songs?
Back to Sal who obliged us with two arias. His rendition of Verdi’s La Donna Immobile cracked G up. You can hear the laughing on the right hand side.
An adequate Nessun Dorma from Puccini’s Turandot followed. “What is as cold as ice but burns like fire? Tis you, tis you, Turandot”
A rather boring song by The Golden Angels followed. Alpha and Omega:
And a tune from a long time ago that I remembered enjoying singing. Jerusalem! It’s mixed up with another song I think. I quite like this arrangement, except for one high pitched bit in the middle. At parts, it reminded me of Carly Simon’s Let the River Run. No idea why. Unfortunately, I mucked up the recording in the middle. Still, enjoyable.
Well, the tickets were not cheap. For charity, I guess.
But one thing is clear when it comes to these Christian concerts, you can be off-key, miss a few notes, God still loves you.