F
ollowing on the success of last year’s benefit concert for Haiti, the Sooke Community Choir is holding another concert with a wide variety of talent.
The Sooke Community Choir and Friends will be presenting Sooke Sings, a concert of songs about Sooke and West Coast life.
The choir, conducted by Sarah Wilson, has chosen songs about sailing, fishing, logging, and the beauty of nature.
Three local musical groups are joining the celebration of our home, each singing several songs in their respective styles.
Change is always a good thing, it allows a choir to remain fresh and enthusiastic.
“We thought our music library needed some new Canadian, preferably local songs,” says Laura Dowhy, spokesperson for the choir. “For example, we have sung The Log Driver’s Waltz (about log driving in the Maritimes) many times. It was a big hit when we toured Holland, but we are tired of it. We heard some great logging songs at the Good Timber Show at the B.C. Provincial Museum last summer and asked Victoria-based composer Tobin Stokes to arrange one of them for us. Then we asked the Sooke Region Museum to find us some old logging photos for a slide show to enhance our performance of the Logger’s Alphabet.”
The other reason for the theme was to revitalize the choir and allow them to attract a community grant from the District of Sooke.
“We doubled our fee, worked hard to increase membership and had more vests made to allow for 50 singers. The more musical friends we have, the more likely we will find new singers,” said Dowhy.
On the playbill along with the Sooke Community Choir is the T’Sou-ke Nation Singers and Drummers, Group Therapy and Gord Phillips and the Assimilators.
The T-Souke Nation Singers and Drummers will welcome the audience. Group Therapy is a folksinging group from East Sooke. Their Al Planiden wrote a song about Sooke called Wild By Nature.
For a recent concert of Sooke’s elementary school choirs, an annual event sponsored by the Sooke Community Choir, Wild By Nature was learned and performed by all the children and the adult singers.
Gord Phillips and the Assimilators is a local rock band. Gord wrote a song called Sooke Hiway, reflecting the thrills and risks of our favourite stretch of road. The choir hopes to match their singing energy.
The Sooke Community Choir is grateful for the support of the District of Sooke. The theme of the concert is our way of thanking them.
All of Sooke is invited to take in the spectacle of Sooke Sings, Friday April 29 at 7:30 p.m. in the theatre at Edward Milne Community School.
Tickets are available from choir members, at the South Shore Gallery, and at the door.