The Asia Pacific Youth Choir experience
26 Jul 2024
Earlier in the year, we chatted to Ameera Woods and Tim Evans, the two young Kiwi singers selected for this year's Asia Pacific Youth Choir. The choir met, rehearsed, and performed in Daegu in July, and after their return, Ameera and Tim (pictured above on the left) have shared with us their reflections on the experience. Read on to hear about Filipino and Korean choral repertoire, a last-minute soloist call-up, cultural exchanges and grape-flavoured lollies...
"An unforgettable experience"
Ameera Woods's APYC highlights
After 36 hours worth of travel, 3 flights and 2 trains (both of which were missed after a delayed flight), Tim and I finally made it to Daegu to participate in the Asia Pacific Youth Choir. My time with APYC was an unforgettable experience, and I made memories that will last a lifetime.
Our repertoire included sacred works, spirituals and folk songs sourced from participating countries and conducted by Jacob Youngmok Chang and Mark Anthony Carpio. A special memory was seeing the audience's faces light up when we sang Pōkarekare Ana in both concerts, as this song also happens to be popular in Korea. It was amazing to see that a song from our small country was enjoyed and well-known on the other side of the world. We performed two concerts, one at the Daegu Concert House, and another at Dalseo-gu Senior Welfare Center. One of my favourite pieces of repertoire was the Korean folksong Senoya, which I sang a small solo in.
The choir really got to know each other during the cultural exchange, held in the middle of the week. Participants each presented something from their country. We learnt Malaysian and Japanese dances, engaged with Indonesian and Fillipino party games and watched participants perform from Taiwan, China, India, Singapore, Hong Kong and Korea. Tim and I performed Kua Rongo by the Wehi Whānau, as we had both learnt this as members of the Aotearoa Academy Choir and New Zealand Youth Choir. After rehearsals finished for the day, we were treated to tteokbokki (a traditional Korean dish made with rice cakes), Korean fried chicken and other cultural foods that participants brought from home. On our final day, we got to visit the Donghwasa temple, were treated to bulgogi (a Korean meat dish) and explored the city.
What I learnt during the APYC week is that there will be times in my musical career when I will have to fill in at a moment's notice. For our second concert, the Korean singer who was supposed to perform the solo for the popular Korean folk song Arirang Fantasy was unavailable, so half an hour before the concert, I was told that I'd have to sing it instead. I only had one run-through with the orchestra and the solo was in Korean, a language I wasn't familiar with prior to my time with APYC, so I was completely unprepared and very nervous! After a lot of help and support from my fellow choristers, I sang the solo with only a few small mistakes. While this was a nerve-wracking experience, it taught me how to compose myself like a professional and prepare something quickly. (I also received a beautiful bouquet of flowers at the end!)
Other takeaways were learning to sing in three languages that were new to me (Tagalog, Korean and Japanese) and learning a wealth of knowledge about different cultures. I also enjoyed getting to know, and being taught by, conductors Mark Anthony Carpio and Jacob Youngmok Chang.
"An honour to share Aotearoa..."
Tim Evans reflects on the APYC experience
We spent a total of 6 days in Korea and 4 days travelling overall, but really it felt like it went by in the blink of an eye. It was such a whirlwind of new experiences and memories, it’s hard to really understand it — everything felt a bit surreal.
Our first few days were spent rehearsing our repertoire and getting comfortable as a choir, spearheaded with confidence and speed by our conductor, Mark Anthony Carpio (known as Sir Mark by his Filipino students — which quickly spread to all 32 of us). Sir Mark was a wonder to work with. He brought his unique flair to the choir and helped us all master the art of the tongue twister. One of our songs, Leron Sinta, was especially challenging with changing time signatures and the quick repetition of the world "Leron", which really feels like a tongue twister using only the tip of your tongue to articulate the consonants.
I definitely made use of as many convenience stores as I could in my downtime. I spent a lot of time trying out lollies and drinks I might otherwise never find at home, like the bags of “grape ade” which I managed to bring home with me. Koreans seem to know how to make sweets better. The savoury food was sometimes a bit too experimental for me, but a good sweet was always welcome.
Overall, it was such a cool experience to get to meet people from all across the Asian region. As the sole representatives from the Pacific proper, it was such an honour to share as much of Aotearoa as we could conjure up. Everyone was amazed by the photos of the New Zealand Youth Choir in front of snowy Queenstown mountains, especially those that had never seen snow in real life, and singing Kua Rongo with Ameera for everyone was such a privilege. I’m so proud of us both, and I hope to see more people repping the Pacific in the choir the next time around.
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