Day 7 - All Good Things...

As I sit here in the chaperone hotel, I reflect back, not only on the last full day in Brazil, but on the tour in general. Our day began innocently enough by meeting the boys at Luigi’s for pizza. The home stays, as usual, encompassed a cross-section of the Brazilian populous. Many boys stayed at homes with considerable affluence, others had to take public transportation or walk to the restaurant because of lack of transportation. This boys choir has about 50 boys, the youngest look like they are 7 or 8. The sound they produce is reminiscent of the Vienna boys’ choir, a very pure sound of unchanged voices. The boys really enjoyed the interaction with them and even used the universal language, Nintendo. After our pizza buffet, we headed to the village square and the boys had a chance to unwind. They played soccer, Frisbee, shopped and bought snacks from the various vendors in the square. There was a German festival in the middle of town and we ran into the revelers who played soccer with our boys. Broken English and fractured Portuguese make a strange combination. It was a nice relaxing afternoon.

We then had a glitch in the scheduling. At the time we were supposed to practice, a baptism had been scheduled. Thus we ended up waiting on the steps of the cathedral. The boys showed tremendous patience. Eventually we were able to enter the cathedral at dusk. The sunlight streaming through the stained glass windows and the heavenly voices of the boys made for a dramatic effect. After the practice, we ate at our last Churroscoeria and Mr. Ross gave Dorothy a special wooden sound maker decorated with extinct bird feathers. We then bussed to our last concert. The last concert for the seniors is a poignant time. The crowd was robust and the concert was well received. The acoustics were such that when the boys came out into the aisles and sang, “The Lord Bless You and Keep You” the sound surrounded us and seemed to hang in the air for several seconds. I don’t think that the Brazilians understood the words, but many of them sensed what the song was about. The tears in the eyes of the crowd as well as the boys was a moving sight. The seniors always seem to be irreplaceable, but somehow the line keeps moving. I guess that is the true message of Kantorei; there always are boys to move up into the leadership roles. We head home tomorrow, so I hope you enjoyed reading the blog as much as I enjoyed writing it. So long from Brazil.