Singing ambassadors perform again
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BUSAN _ This time they were definitely different. The Singing Ambassadors showed a much better performance at the 2006 Choral Festival in Busan on Saturday (Nov. 18) compared to their previous ones. They had good reasons for it.
The 17 foreign ambassadors, who went down to Busan to sing, had practiced very hard for the big day. They didn't care about where they practiced as long as they could sing freely.
They tried to sing as much as possible whether it be in their embassy office or residence. They even sang in the KTX bullet train on the way from Seoul to Busan as a special rehearsal while moving at 300 kilometers per hour.
“The train moves so fast that we need to adapt our voice to the high speed,' Romanian Ambassador to Seoul Valeriu Arteni jokingly said. “We are singing in the `train' not in the `rain.'”
A whole compartment of the train was filled by the ambassadors, their family members, and Dho Young-shim, president of the Korea Choral Institute, who has organized the Singing Ambassadors since 2002, offering a unique rehearsal room.
They practiced “Yesterday” by the Beatles and “In the Flower Garden” by Korean singer Jo Gwang-wu under the guidance of professional pianist and vocalist Naomi Al-Midhadi, wife of Qatari Ambassador to Seoul Ahmed Al-Midhadi.
Mrs. Al-Midhadi played the piano for the accompaniment, and taught envoys how to sing from basic theory to practice.
As Spanish Ambassador Delfin Colome, professional composer and conductor, who was scheduled to conduct the singers, couldn't make it to the event, Dho asked a bigger role of Mrs. Al-Midhadi.
Dho's request to her was quite rewarding as envoys agreed that one of good reasons behind the successful performance lies in great coaching by Mrs. Al-Midhadi.
The ambassadors held four rehearsals before singing in front of an audience of more than 500. They even skipped dinner during their rehearsal to squeeze in as much practice time as much as they could.
Finally, they sang the two songs in the annual festival to celebrate its award ceremony. The audience applauded them.
“We've survived,” Pakistani Ambassador Masood Khalid said with a happy and relaxed look on the way from the stage to his seat in the hall.
The performing ambassadors were from Brunei, Bulgaria, Chile, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Finland, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Lebanon, Pakistan, Qatar, Romania, the Republic of Serbia, Slovakia and Tunisia.
“Every year we've come to Busan to sing for Busan citizens since 2002 as Singing Ambassadors,” Honduran Ambassador Rene Francisco Umana said. “We develop our good relations with Busan by singing songs through we are not professional singers.”
During the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Busan in November 2005, the Singing Ambassadors established their fame by joining the international meeting and singing.
“They are playing a diplomatic-mission role that is original and unprecedented,” Dho said.The source of news : Korea.net November 20, 2006
