It is no secret to those who read this column that for 25 years of my life my principal hobby was singing barbershop harmony, and that I had been with an exceedingly good group over that time -- one that had, more despite my presence than because of it, won several world championships.
Certainly being announced as a gold medalist in about anything is a really great moment. I particularly recall the first one (1986), as it had been my very first international competition, and the third one (1995), when our group had been thought to have slipped a bit the previous few years and were not the expected winners. The comeback -- ah, we really love that.
However, I want to say that the particularly most memorable experience I had in the hobby was not even as a competitor but as an audience member. It was one that I wish I could share, but at this writing, I only have an undigitized VHS tape and no way to link it for you to appreciate. So I'll have to go with words.
The year was 1993 (yes, I hate writing trite phrases, so forgive me). The world championships that year were in Calgary, Alberta, as the Barbershop Harmony Society (formerly "SPEBSQSA") was also very active in Canada as it was in the USA. The Alexandria Harmonizers, my group, would go on to finish third that year later in the week, a pretty disappointing result for us -- but I digress.
One of the annual convention highlights is the "AIC Show", held on the second or third day of the convention week. The AIC is the Association of International Champions, but is made up only of those who have won by singing in a quartet. We're talking maybe 100 living members at any one time, given that some guys have won in multiple groups. And when a quartet wins, they are "retired" from competition, and no more than two members can even compete together in a new group.
These are some seriously good singers, even those whose wins had been a couple decades earlier. In the AIC's show, most of the time is taken by 3-4 song sets by those five or six quartets still active at any time. But there is a set done by a chorus made up of all the living champion quartet singers who attend the convention and choose to participate. And as you might guess, even without choreography, that's a pretty good-singing chorus.
In 1993 in Calgary, the AIC actually produced two shows, an afternoon and an evening, as they knew it would be one of the most highly-attended conventions on record. I had tickets to both for some reason. For the afternoon, I was in a very good side balcony seat with my best friend Dave, who was a Naval Reserve officer as well as the bass in my quartet at that time.
There had been an overarching theme to the show (and the week) of Canadian-American friendship and good will and all, but that had mainly been just a few jokes by each quartet during their set. The AIC chorus (remember, they were really good singers) came out for their set to end the evening, a few more jokes, some more nice words for Canadian-American friendship.
Then came the final number.
The director of the AIC chorus then was named Jay Giallombardo, a Chicagoan who was in the 1979 champion quartet. He would also win chorus gold as a director in 2001 to become one of a very few men to have done both. Jay was also, and still is, a very highly sought-out coach and a prolific arranger -- the arrangements, and the skill of the arranger, are often underappreciated factors in a song's impact, and we knew the last song would be his work.
It was time for the finale, and as the lights dimmed, two quartets -- the 1990 and 1991 champions -- stepped off the chorus risers, and each took its place before stand-mics, one each on stage left and right.
I will say that there had already been a little buzz that the finale would be a real treat, but we didn't know what actually to expect. The pitch was blown, and the sound of the words "America" and O Canada" -- just those words -- sung by the chorus in beautiful harmony, echoed around us, through to a held chord.
While that chord was held, one of the quartets began, to the Beethoven melody "Ode to Joy":
"In the Western Hemisphere two peoples living side by side"
... to which the other quartet responded:
"Each a nation strong filled with determination and with pride"
As the remaining chorus filled out the sound, they continued ... and I hope you're hearing the Beethoven melody of this:
"Each a brother helping brother, each a land of liberty
'Tis strength that binds us, none divide us, bastions of democracy
Ever watchful, ever-peaceful, ever faithful is our plea
Never failing, all-prevailing is our global destiny
"Our destiny ... two lands so free
Ever faithful is our plea to live in peace and harmony
"Oh, say, can you see -- two peoples living side by side
O Canada -- each nation strong and filled with pride
With glowing hearts we see thee rise -- each loving peace and harmony
And the rockets' red glare -- the price we bear for precious liberty
"O Canada ... America ...O Canada ... America!" (long held chord, and a pause)
You might guess that the audience was pretty geared up by what we had heard just to that point. Now as you could easily tell, the tune of the last verse alternated between the two nations' anthems and the Ode to Joy, because, of course the two anthems don't actually, you know, fit together.
Yeah, sure they don't.
Jay again raised his arms to direct, and the lower parts of the chorus carefully began the "Star-Spangled Banner." Before they reached the second word, the upper voices began an equally carefully-phrased "O Canada." The arranged mixture of the two melodies, and the realization of what we were obviously hearing and about to hear, blended with the ambience of Can-Am passion and friendship, and the audience rose as one. We wanted to cheer, but we were musicians in the presence of a miracle, and we more wanted to hear. And the chorus continued.
Artfully they sang, as artfully the arrangement wound the two anthems around each other throughout. As the two songs approached their dramatic climax, two figures appeared from the wings -- a tall Canadian Mountie in full dress red carrying his nation's flag, and an equally tall American soldier, an Army sergeant carrying the Stars and Stripes -- each man marching toward center stage, where they and their flags met as the final bars echoed around us to the last chord.
I can tell you from the videotape that the cheer that rose from the four or five thousand in the Saddledome, the split second after the final cutoff, was so loud, so overwhelming, that even when listening to the recording that cheer is almost as memorable as the piece itself. We were all yelling to each other in awe of what we had just heard -- not only the performance but the brilliance of the arranger in what he had given us ... "But those songs don't fit together!" "Well, I guess they do!" If I had been standing next to a Canadian, I'd have hugged him. It was just Dave, and he's from Albuquerque, so a high-five worked.
Truly I wish that I could find a link to a recording of that day, and I will provide it in a comment below if, and as soon as, I can find a digitized version. If you are anxious to hear the piece right now, you can listen to this version, a studio version done by Acoustix (the 1990 champions who happened to have been one of the two quartets in the Calgary performance) -- it is musically fabulous, though obviously a quartet redubbed to sound like a chorus, and it's just audio, of course, and without audience. There is a also video of a 2006 performance on YouTube at another AIC show if you want to search it, but it the video is blurry and the audio not balanced well.
We have moments like that in our lives, if we are lucky. I'm sure I have not adequately described the electricity inside the Saddledome that day, but when the medium of the experience is music, it is hard to have only words at your disposal. As I write this, I feel I have still under-described the electricity there.
I've got to get you that recording.
Copyright 2018 by Robert Sutton
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