the continuation

Second day of the conductors' workshop was the most exciting for me. As indicated in the letter of Mr. Peter Maissan (our wonderful conductor, workshop facilitator and of course composer of the Poverty Requiem) we will not be conductors or singers but percussionists for that day.

I love percussion instruments. Most of the indigenous instruments I teach in school are percussion. So, seeing a variety of drums, shakers, wood blocks and bells in the rehearsal studio just made me want to play.

The different rhythmic patterns and changing meter of the Poverty Requiem are very tricky. As we go through all the percussion parts of the five movements, it gets quite complicated. Thanks to our talented and patient teacher Juri, we were able to understand how to go about it without blowing our heads off.

On the third day, we had a lovely morning session with the choreographers of the Poverty Requiem. They told us that we were going to do some of the movements. At first, I sensed some hesitation in the room but then everybody still participated. I had fun doing the warm-up and the basic movements of "Born to Suffer". Seeing my co-conductors doing the movements too made it even more interesting.

In the afternoon session, we had the opportunity to discuss the text of the Poverty Requiem with the librettist and Oxfam Novib's executive director Sylvia Borren. The session with Sylvia gave me a deeper understanding of the message and purpose of why the Poverty Requiem was written. It gave me a push as well to perform it and let our voices be heard.

The last two days of the workshop was very interesting. The rehearsal with a new conductor and the two performances in The Hague surely gave us, the conductors, a clear insight of what to do and what not to do in our own rehearsals and performance of the Requiem.

Saying goodbye to newfound friends is never an easy task. But as we go back to our own countries, we carry that inspiration (given by everyone in the group) and renewed energy to do our responsibility as chosen conductors of the Poverty Requiem, with the hope that the friendship we've experienced will not end as we leave Amsterdam.

Maraming Salamat Po, to the entire Oxfam Novib team for one unforgettable week.