ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia — Just when I think the concert choir can't get any better, they do. On Sunday, May 20, the choir performed for 25 minutes following the Young Ambassadors from BYU Provo in a musical social for the BYU/BYUH/Polynesian Cultural Center alumni, which was the first time the sister schools have shared the same stage at the same time.
For all you Seasider fans, rest assured your choir represented — and then some! The 62-member choir immediately lit up the audience by lining up single file in the aisles and across the stage and singing the Maori favorite, Kua Rongo. "Now that's what I'm talking about!" I said to my husband like a proud parent, as some of the boys, including Tevita Uhi, Teren Taniuchi, Dane Fabricius, John Lang, Paki Toelupe and Keli'i Wesley combusted spontaneously into the haka. From there I fastened my seatbelt and enjoyed the ride through the rich melodies that make up the musical magic of this years choir.
After the performance there were plenty of hugs and high fives to go around. "We're no match for your rich chorale sound" commented one Young Ambassador to a group of Concert Choir members after the show. That may be comparing apples and oranges since the two groups have very different styles, but just between you and me, our kids ROCKED the house.
Shauna Ockey, a member of the BYUH/PCC Presidents' Leadership Council steering committee and one of several donors who accompanied parts of the tour, showered the choir with compliments after the social on their ability to blend and harmonize perfectly. She attributed it to their unity and character, but also gave much of the credit to their director, BYUH music professor Michael Belnap. "I hope you realize how fortunate you are to study under the direction of such a talented musician," Ockey told the choir.
As a captive audience member of a dozen formal performances and a handful of impromptu performances across China and Mongolia, I have little doubt they do realize how fortunate they are. When Belnap leads, they follow. There is a power and beauty generated when the choir leans forward and hangs on his every movement, particularly in the first half of the show when they perform two spirituals, Elijah Rock and The Battle of Jericho. "It's as if they open their souls to sing, rather than their mouths," commented one tour leader.
But there is much more than musical expertise at work when Belnap directs this choir? Lauren Ellis, a junior health and wellness major from Laie, suggested that love is an important part of the dynamic. Speaking poetically, she reminded the choir in a devotional how often Professor Belnap tells each one of them that they are vital to the choir and she compared each choir member to strands of thread which he is weaving into a beautiful piece of fabric. "When one thread snags, it lessens the value of the whole piece," she said, encouraging the choir to stay unified and to obey their "master weaver," even when they don't agree with him.
In a concluding testimony meeting, which ran late into the night on Sunday, May 27, the choir members paid emotional respect to their director. "I wait every night to look out and see Brother Belnap smile," said one choir member. "He makes me feel like somebody loves me enough."
I love him with all of my heart. He is is my best friend," said another. Others thanked him for inspiring them and for helping them see the very best in themselves.
Professor Belnap returned the compliments in full in a heart-felt testimony: "As passionately as I feel about music, I feel ever more passionate about each of you. More than anything, I wish you could see yourselves as I do. I have watched you grow into beautiful sons and daughters of our Father in Heaven."
The tour is now in its final stretch, but before we return to Hawaii on Tuesday morning, I am compelled to report there is one thing missing from this choir: Ego. Where is the contention, the murmuring and the drama that would naturally accompany a group of talented, tired travelers on a rigorous schedule? If you had a nickel for every story I could tell you about the love, the support and the kindness they have shared with each other and with the people of China and Mongolia, you'd be a rich reader. I stand all amazed.
Duane Roberts, BYU-Hawaii Director of Communications & PR, got emotional when he spoke of the choir members at a meeting with the tour leaders. "They're prepared, they sing like angels, and they behave like ambassadors," he said. "They are possibly the finest group I've ever traveled with."
Professor Belnap told them the same thing when he gathered the choir together for prayer before their final concert on Saturday, May 26, at the Ulaanbaatar Drama Theatre in Mongolia. Expressing gratitude that their paths had crossed for this short but important journey, he read the special blessing given them by Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve before departing on tour. "It meant so much more hearing it now at the end of the tour than it did at the beginning," said April Fisher, a senior hospitality and tourism major from San Diego, California. "Just knowing that the blessing has been fulfilled is incredible."
The blessing promises the group they will be able to "kindle in the hearts of people in areas of the world that need it very badly, a desire to know what gives such radiance to their life: The message of the Gospel and the spirit of the Holy Ghost."
"Everyone seems to feel the deep and profound spirit that comes for this choir," said President Shumway at a musical fireside at the Children and Youth Cultural Center on Sunday, May 27. "The radiant spirit of God shines through their countenances and voices of this choir just as the blessing promised." He went on to say that in one city in China he met a woman after a performance. He asked her what she thought of the concert. "It was as if heaven opened and the angels of God took me in their arms," was her response. Shumway then quoted Elder Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve by saying, "Music reverently presented is akin to revelation. This music cannot be separated from the voice of God." He thanked the choir for being conduits of love and added, "I believe our choir has sung with the voice of God."
Emiko Dodson, a recent interdisciplinary studies graduate from Japan told the choir in her testimony, "Even if we could change the life of just one person it would be worth it, but the effect of this trip is unimaginable." Every choir member testified to that as they shared story after story of ways they had been touched, strengthened and softened by their brothers and sisters here in China and Mongolia.
Their final performance was a fitting climax to the tour. The crowd gave two standing ovations and after a tearful Aloha 'Oe, each choir member was presented with a rose. There were plenty of shaka's and aloha's exchanged between the choir and the crowd, and all the male members of the choir surprised the VIP's by presenting them with their kukui nut leis. "It was my favorite performance by far," said Riley Mills, a pre-professional biology major. "We sounded so good and everything about it was just perfect."
One of the most poignant moments of the tour came after the performance in an interview with Dr. Lkhagvasuren, President of the Health and Science University of Mongolia. He tapped into the objective of this Harmony with Aloha tour by saying, "After I heard the choir sing, I realized that only love can change this world."
— Photos by Mike Foley, (bottom): the choir group at Forbidden City, Beijing
