The rest of Windhoek...

Our last two shows in Windhoek went really well. The audience had way more people in it than Friday (apparently no one goes out on Friday nights in Africa!)
Sunday was an excited day... the rest of Mascato left to go back home except for the jazz choir. We did a workshop with the Maranatha Singers in the morning (They did my arrangement of Prayer of St.Francis last year and now they’re doing my arrangement of Mary, Did You Know?)
We taught them 5 pieces – Sweet Spirit (which went really fast because everyone in the jazz choir knows it), Kapalongo, Hold Me Rock Me, Mary, Did You Know?, and Betelehemu. (sp?) It was really fun – they are a fantastic choir!
That evening was the big Afro Shine show at the Warehouse. This show is going to be broadcast on NBC in 3 weeks! It was so much fun! There were a bunch of Namibian artists, some of who are considered living legends and have been singing since the apartheid! The jazz choir sang two songs, Sweet Spirit and Even the Pain. At first it was hard to tell if the audience liked us because they were so quiet. (We were VERY different than the rest of the acts) But they loved it! They started clapping and cheering before we even finished the song!!
Then Afro Shine was up! They are so friggin’ huge here – it’s like always walking around with celebrities! They only did 4 songs; Hope, Lightening Girl, Ti Mama and Everyone. The jazz choir backed them up on the last two. People kept calling for an encore but we didn’t really have anything prepared and also because it’s on TV I don’t really think we were able to do one!
It was really fun playing with them though!! I had a great time.
Scott left that evening with the high school kids that needed to get back to Swakop. The rest of us stayed one more night and took a combi back the next day.
It was pretty uneventful except for the flat tire we got about 50 minutes from home! Boo!! At least it wasn’t as bad as Scott’s! He got one on the way home (about an hour outside of Windhoek) and it didn’t get fixed until 3 in the morning! And then they still had to drive about another 3 hours home!!
We're back in chilly Swakopmund now. We get a few days off before our first rehearsal (which will be on thursday night). Should be interesting - the space that we'll perform at here is WAY different/smaller than in Windhoek! Hopefully it goes smoothly though!
See you all in a week! (and 18 days till the wedding!!!)