Heinavanker at Tougaloo's Woodworth Chapel, Oct 5, 2010
This was billed as an extraordinary program, and it exceeded
expectations - it was astonishing. Heinavanker, an a capella
singing group from Estonia, consisted of two female and four
male voices. On the face of it, for such a small group to sing
well, it must be highly polished: in voice quality,
balance (among the six), and tuning (and, in the case of unison
singing, precision of attack and release). Heinavanker had these
qualities in abundant excess. Their program began with
a German chorale that became an Estonian folk hymn: "Savior
of the Nations, come". This was followed by "Salve Regina",
a Marian antiphon by Johannes Ockeghem (1417-1497), a composer
of the Franco-Flemish school. Afterward there were more
Estonian folk hymns interspersed with passages from masses
by Ockeghem. This provided continual contrast, because the
style of the folk songs was usually simple, at least compared
with Ockeghem's music, which, being contrapuntal, was often
highly complex, but nevertheless most enjoyable. After the
"Salve Regina" there was a contemporary hymn "Awake up,
my heart", by Margo Kolar, the group's leader and, after that,
the Credo from Ockeghem's Missa Sine Nomine. Two folk hymns,
"Let the Children Come to Me", and "You see, God, here I am,
foolish as I am", followed by the Sanctus from Okeghem's
Missa Cuiusvis Toni, and then another folk hymn, "O Jesus,
Thy Pain", and the Agnus Dei from Ockeghem's Missa Cuiusvis
Toni. After one more folk hymn "Is my dearest life dying like
that?", came the closing piece, a pre-Christian runic song, the
Creation, from Ambla, a small town in central Estonia. It was
about a bluebird who came to a meadow, nesting there and
hatching and raising five chicks. One became the moon, another
the sun, a third the world, a fourth the stars, and the last,
the rainbow. This last song was basically an alto solo over a
tonic drone, during which the group paraded down into the
middle of the audience and back, allowing for a pleasing closer visual
and aural encounter with the singers. It was a dramatic moment,
made more special by the prolonged tonic chords, and by the
final heavenly chord which was in as perfect tune as humans
can make it, and which was held for some time for all to enjoy.
Barbershop quartets do the same thing, and call it "ringing"
the chord. It brings home the vital concept of "singing with
ones' ears". MA'AM has outdone itself yet again, and we are
grateful to them and their leader, Rich McGinnis, for this
latest gift to the community.
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- Glenn A. Gentry