La Chorale

Rose and I joined the church choir. It kind of happened by accident…not that I didn’t want to…I’d been planning on joining sooner rather than later. But I was sitting in the yard one day and heard my mom and sister talking about going to church later that evening. I’ve figured out over the past few weeks that I usually will not be told about things that are happening…until right before they happen. The week before I had missed out on attending a Saturday evening church service with my family because I was in my room for a few minutes and they didn’t want to disturb me…needless to say I’ve learned to ask. So, when I heard my mom and sister talking about going to church I made a point to find out what was going on….Mama informed me…

«C’est la préparation pour la Culte…et Annie va a la chorale. Est-ce que tu veux aller a la chorale avec Annie? »

La Chorale!! Yes of course I want to go to choir practice with Annie! So naturally I called up Rose, told her that we were going to choir practice, and at seize heure Rose and I hopped on the back of Motos with my host mom and sister Annie to go to choir.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to sing right away. We had to be visitors first…but in the process of visiting we got all the details from Annie about the choir and she presented Rose and I, told them we wanted to sing, and told them that in order to sing we needed les notes musique (I had made a comment to her about how none of the hymnals have music in them.) The next Tuesday we showed up at rehearsal, were quickly welcomed, and provided with a hymnal with actual written music in it…not just words…the first one I’d seen since I’ve been in Chad. The following Sunday we sang in church.

Some things about la Chorale…

1. Traditional Chadian singing does not have harmony. There is one melody and everyone kind of sings around it…or whatever they want…especially the older women. The choir we joined is made up of mainly young adults and sings in four parts. We are never on key. At least the “belt it out” strategy covers up my mispronounced French words.

2. One of our choir directors looks a whole lot like Barak Obama. One day we’ll have to tell him. It would probably be a huge compliment since everyone in Chad is obsessed with Barak…as evidenced by the fact that there are always at least three or four girls at church every Sunday wearing Obama Girl tee-shirts

3. The songs we practice at choir practice are not the only songs we will be singing at church on Sunday. I found this out while standing in front of the church, blindsided by a song that I had never heard before that we were leading the congregation in singing…and dancing. First things first: we already stick out…enough said. Second: it is difficult in any circumstance to mouth the words and pretend to sing a song you don’t know. Third: it’s even harder in a foreign language. Fourth: Add dancing to the mix and it is a recipe for disaster. Somehow I kept my cool and I don’t think anyone really noticed that I had no idea what I was doing

4. I immediately regretted the decision to join the choir when I realized that long sleeved choir robes are hot. Church is hot to begin with…pack enough people into a building in Chad and it is going to be stifling. On the plus side, the choir has its own supply of small plastic fans for each member…but I don’t think plastic fans will suffice in March and April when it’s 120 degrees and we’re wearing hot robes. Maybe we’ll have to take “heat days” from choir.

5. The robes may be hot…but they’re legit…and have a sweet looking graduation style cap to match, complete with tassle.