On Saturday 23 April 2022, we participated in the Sunflower Fundraising Event at the Wyness Hall in Inverurie. Some of us dressed in yellow and blue to show support to The Uklraine. It was great to be singing in public once again, in our role as Inverurie’s community choir, and not a face covering in sight! We did a short set of popular songs, starting with three well-known pieces Old Folks at Home, Beautiful Dreamer and Oh, Susannah by Stephen Foster (1826-1864), sometimes called “The Father of American Music.”
Old Folks at Home – Ukraine Fund Raising Singing
Beautiful Dreamer – Ukraine Fund Raising Singing
Oh Susannah – Ukraine Fund Raising Singing
Then our special song for the day – The Willow Board – a traditional Ukrainian Tune made famous in March 2022 by the lone young fiddler playing it in a bunker, and 94 violinists across the world then taking it up as a virtual performance. See YouTube video https://youtu.be/VCYsjcOrK7U Inverurie Choral Society sing it as “The Willow Board.” Although the words don’t relate to the current situation in the Ukraine, the melody captures exactly the heavy sadness and despairing hope that is very much a feature of how we are responding to the news of what is happening there just now.
We finished with some of our favourite traditional Scottish pieces, all arranged by our MD Gordon Jack: The Selkirk Grace, sung as a rousing round; The beautiful and romantic Ye Banks and Braes, Robert Burns’s words set to an old tune; and Auld Lang Syne, also Burns’s words set to a traditional tune.
The Selkirk Grace and Ye Banks and Braes. Ukraine Fundraising Singing