David Kettlewell

Henk Kooij

An evening of Music and Words

What a star-spangled gallery of abilities and openness! We started off knowing that Henk and David could both sing and lead singing for as long as anyone would want, and longer, so there was a guaranteed basic programme to build on ... on top of that everyone was invited to come up with their own suggestions ... and at the last minute we went round and persuaded those people who only needed a bit of persuasion ... and finally we had a program richer in variety and talent than anyone could imagine - a veritable New Age Music Hall ...

Henk started off and got things warmed up with some of his special things, leading into some well-loved favourites with David on keyboard and Adrian on guitar, like Imagine, Guantanamera, Hey Jude ... David proposed some songs from the English tradition which everyone can sing ... Adrian had an Irish ballad too, counter-balanced by a sung story which in a few minutes took us through the whole gamut of feelings evoked during a rich human lifetime - backwards - and a talking 'Conference Blues' which everyone wanted repeated - except Adrian himself.

John Heaney's been away from Ireland for 20 years or more, but the musical impressions he gave of his 'old country' were still as vivid and moving as they ever might have been. Carla read a story which Fabiana had written to celebrate the coming of music into her life, of the Music Fairy ... Isabella read one her own poems with great effect ... Eva gave a very touching rendering of Greensleeves to David's harp ... and the hours just wizzed by as if they were minutes...

But mere words cannot hope to capture the atmosphere and the experience of 120 full-blooded Latins singing their hearts out as they gathered to celebrate a common concern for the human issues which learning and living touch...