Parklife Choir - Our Page - News (listen to us)

Parklife 2010 - a summary by musical director Roger Bara.........

Year two of Parklife has seen another extraordinary journey, with many successful gigs and both knowledge of, and respect for the work of the boys and girls involved increasing all the time.

I have been continuously amazed at the standard of performances throughout the year, which has only come about because of the sheer hard work and concentration during the weekly rehearsals. The increasing technical difficulty of some of the songs which Parklife now has in its repertoire is a reflection of how this ensemble is simply getting better and better.

If the first year, 2009, saw "Bridge over Troubled Water" as one of the highlights, then surely the performances of the song commissioned for Parklife to sing by the 2010 Branchage Film Festival organizers, "Perfect Day", must rank as quite brilliant. Remember, this was requested by a hugely respected organisation, and performed by Parklife at one of the islands' top venues, the Arts Centre. Even though they were not at full strength that night, it was still a superb achievement. And it included a first performance of a song specially written for them - with the composer of the lyrics in the audience - more about that later.....

Let's consider the other highlights of 2010 - Zena and Eddie's wedding at St. Paul's in March was a very special occasion, as was singing for the Kids of Mongolia in May, which again produced so many wonderful comments and tributes from the audience.

Communicare at St. Brelades in September saw Parklife premiere their complex but highly entertaining Film themes and songs, again to great effect.

The Grace Trust Fashion Show in November saw Parklife sing no fewer than twelve songs, and they contributed to a quite sensational evening which will be long remembered by those who were there.

The year ended with 3 performances in 7 days in December, with Parklife yet again demonstrating it is both popular and important in the social calendar.

So what will 2011 bring? Once again, that is up to the boys and girls themselves - they have proved they can do whatever they want to if they work at it. But do they want to go further, do more, even start a recording career?

It's all possible - and yes, the recording of the "Parklife Song", specially written for them and initially performed at the Arts Centre at the film festival, is a definite possibilty - also, the La Ronde Concert Band have suggested making a combined CD - it seems the sky is the limit - but if the boys and girls just want to keep doing the various gigs we are offered, and meeting once a week as we do now, than that is fine by me as well.

Thank you guys and gals, for giving me so many incredibly moving and uplifting moments during 2010. It's been a fantastic journey....so far........