This is Me
Singing is such a joyous past-time, and certainly kept me occupied for many a long hour while on the long drive to Broome. Probably a good thing I didn’t have an audience – but I enjoyed my warbling a lot!
Even my little grandson starts to sing along when he hears me start to sing, albeit simply a rendition of ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’.
I recently joined the Broometime Singers, and was thrilled to be part of the finale for The Kimberley Girl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-LMnlzdbLw Finals on Friday night October 5th here in Broome.
We sang the wonderful song ‘This is Me’ from the musical ‘The Greatest Showman’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjxugyZCfuw
It was such a magical night – exciting, exhilarating, entertaining and emotional – held at Goolarri Media Enterprises venue, an Indigenous owned organisation formed in Broome in 1991.
We were indeed fortunate to have been trained by our wonderful leader and conductor, singer Tania McKenna, who, together with opera singer Mary Attracta-Connolly, performed their solos on stage with us.
It has been many years since I experienced the joy of singing in a choir. The very last time was in ‘The Messiah’ at the Anglican Church in Napier, New Zealand when I was 18 years old. Prior to that, I was involved in Gilbert & Sullivan productions at Hastings Girls High School, and even further back, was a member of the Marton School Choir, Marton being a small country town in the Rangitikei province of New Zealand. Incidentally, that particular choir won many awards for our performances and made two recordings during the time I was in Marton. I still have the original records but have yet to digitise them.
Whilst on the topic of singing, when we were kids growing up in New Zealand, we were taught poi dances and Maori stick games and songs. We sat in rows on the ground facing each other, singing the songs and passing the sticks to each other to the beat of the music. Kiwis might recall the song ‘Pokarekare Ana’ – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DANPs-YjFdkthe beautiful love song, written by a homesick soldier, serving in the Maori Battalion during World War I – with it’s tale of longing, for home & loved ones.
I’d love to hear from any fellow New Zealanders who remember those school days.
