For the past two Saturday nights I have been subjected to two very different live singing performances. The first was entitled A Night in Middle Earth, performances of Tolkien's verse to the music of Donald Swan and Benjamin Britten, interspersed with my youngest brother reading excerpts from the books and his wife performing interpretive dance. I have posted a couple of pieces recorded on my mobile phone here and here. We were only able to stay for the first half. I have to admit I did prefer Howard Shore's music.
Last night we attending the wedding of one of our close friends, a bridesmaid at our wedding. There was a Catholic ceremony, which was a lot shorter and more relaxed than the crazy evangelical Christian weddings we have suffered through. The reception was at the Marigold Restaurant in Chinatown with most of the usual dishes served. There were some good speeches and we enjoyed catching up with a couple of B's school friends and their partners.
The bride is of Cambodian descent, while the groom was Anglo-Saxon. At the reception she wore a really interesting red Cambodian traditional dress with ornate gold designs. A feature of Cambodian (and Laotian) weddings is the live music and dancing. The old folk get up and dance in circles around the floor in front of the band, their hands doing these little movement as they sway. The problem was the band had the volume up at maximum, in competition with another band in the adjacent room. Thought I would lose my hearing. Should be a big market for hearing aids in future.