One of the four touring choirs came to Slovenia. "We came from the seven-week tour in America and Canada. We had some time to rest, and now we are very pleased to be here in Slovenia, in Ljubljana," conductor Oliver Stech explained.
The little men filled the large Gallus hall with their voices. They even managed to encourage the audience to sing. "You should not be afraid, you just need to be proud," the conductor explained while trying to teach the audience a short section of yodelling from the Austrian folk song Singa is unsre Freud. "If you are wondering about the meaning of that … it has no meaning whatsoever," the conductor joked. In the end, they managed to sing the song with common effort.
At first their voices took the audience into the period of the most beautiful classic songs from all over Europe. The second part started with a Bulgarian love song, then moved to Latin America with the well-known song Cielito lindo, and then flew all the way to South African Republic with Hlonolofatsa.
Helena Blagne as guest star
During the first part of the concert Helena Blagne appeared on stage and sang two songs with the choir; they performed the songs which had made impact on film culture: Singin' in the Rain from the film with the same title, and Hail, Holy Queen from Sister Act with Whoopi Goldberg. The Bare Necessities from the Jungle Book should be next in this part dedicated film music, but it came at the end of the concert, along with an apology for the slight mix-up caused by a communication error.
During the pause before the second part of the concert of Vienna Boys' Choir, Blagne came onstage and accompanied by a pianist rendered a more intimate version of her songs Reci mi (Tell me), Naj nihče me ne zbudi (Let nobody wake me) and Moj dom (My home). The latter was also sung partly in German with the help of the boys, while the boys sang a couple of verses in Slovenian.
As the end of the concert was approaching, the boys' youthful wit became more and more obvious. And they proved that their repertoire was so rich that they had no real need of guests. For the Austrian folk song Und wanns amal schen aper wird six of the boys changed into traditional Austrian costumes, dispersing the rigidity of the choir uniformed costumes.
The Bare Necessities were accompanied with choreography including one-handed cartwheels. The rhythm of two African drums played by two members of the choir the boys relaxed with Hlonolofatsa song, and the evening ended with the performance of four solo singers singing the adaptation of Michael Jackson's hit We Are the Children, when Helena Blagne again joined them on stage.
Klavdija Kopina, MMC; translated by G. K.