The Tour
by Tseitel

Dear Friends and Family,

Europe was great.  It was a luxury, but without you life was  not perfect.  The pizza was different.  The ham was good.  I had my first Pepsi float in Europe.

I thank all who helped me get there.  I loved the music I sang.  After every concert I was so pooped that I fell asleep very quickly.

 It makes me happy that we walked for a change.  There are a lot of pedestrians in Europe.

I learned that things can get very expensive.

On the tour I made lots of friends.  I had three very special friends.  One is old and two are young.  One of the young ones is female and her name is Bita.  The other is her brother Bobby.  The older one is male and his name, or at least what I called him, is Uncle Wes.

The Tour
by Jamie

    I don't really know where to begin talking about this tour.  I knew I was thoroughly enjoying it while we were there, but now, the more I reflect on it the more I realize what a  powerful experience it was.

    Tseitel and I traveled on  frequent flyer miles.  Due to their restrictions, we arrived in Vienna one day ahead of the U.S. contingent.  That turned out to be a good thing, affording a little extra time to recover from our jet lag. 

    When we went back to the Vienna airport (VIE) to meet the choir the next day, it finally occurred to me that I didn't know one single person on the flight.  I had a brief moment of panic wondering how I would know them, and then figured that spotting a large group of Baha'is like that would be a cake walk.  It was.    In spite of their long journey and their lack of sleep, the members of the Voices of Baha filled VIE with an exuberance that would come to be their trademark.

    From VIE we got on busses  to Bratislava, Slovakia.  The choir was given one day to rest up before rehearsals and other obligations.  Little did we know that that would be the last such day for three weeks!

    Bratislava was a charming town.  The people there were exceptionally warm, albeit a little unsure of themselves as a nation.  Decades of communism has left a deep scar on the national psyche of the Slovakian people, yet they remain very spiritual and very warm.

    In Bratislava we joined up with the members of the Slovakian Symphony Orchestra, all of whom were excellent musicians, full of warmth and charm.  The Slovakian people were wonderful as an audience, and were very receptive to the beautiful, beautiful music.   The night of the first performance, those of us who were non-singers sat and waited for the concert  to begin.  The Hall was packed.  A few even  had to stand.  The VOB opened with an incredibly powerful rendition of Rejoice, and they held the audience in the palms of their hands for the rest of the evening.  There was a lot of talk and mingling afterwards, as we truly enjoyed each other's company.

    We sadly departed Bratislava and flew to Madrid.  From this point on, much of the trip seems to be a blur.  In Madrid we were to perform in a hall that seated 2200.  We arrived to find that the local Baha'is hired a professional ticket selling organization, but only149 tickets had been sold.  Members of the VOB and local youth hit the streets with flyers, inviting anyone we could find to attend.  In the end, I think the hall was about half filled.

    From Madrid it was on to Barcelona where the hall we performed in has been compared to Carnegie Hall.  It was, indeed, beautiful.  The audience  loved the powerful music and the VOB received a standing ovation.  There was an incredible amount of beauty, history, and warmth here.  Unfortunately, there was also a lot of crime.  Sadly, many of the singers were pick-pocketed on the streets.

    From Barcelona it was on to Thonon-les-Baines, France.  This beautiful city was the first city in the west to be visited by 'Abdu'l-Baha.  We were even able to see the building in which he stayed.  Of course, when he was there it was a hotel.  Now it is an apartment building, so we couldn't go inside.  This beautiful building sits in front of thermal springs and right on the shore of Lake Geneva, so his view surely was spectacular and his visit must have been refreshing.

    There are only two Baha'is in this town, yet they put together a sold out performance.  In fact, the mayor sent invitations to every household in the city!  This was also the one place we encountered opposition in the form of a negative news article.  Tom Price told us that that was good; it was progress.  I know in theory that he is correct, but I tend to be thin-skinned and so did not find it comforting.  I'm told that shortly after our visit, that the newspaper went bankrupt and went out of business.  That, though, is entirely hearsay at this time.

   Next was Paris.  Being the country mouse that I am, I wasn't real impressed with Paris.  This particular rehearsal was grueling, the weather was hot, and the hall was very small.  I  got the impression that the audience was predominantly Baha'i.  We  always enjoyed the company of the local Friends, no matter where we were.  However, the purpose of the trip was to share the good news of Baha'u'llah, so we really hoped to sing to lots and lots of folks just hearing the name of the Blessed Beauty for the first time.  Still, you can never be with the Friends too much, and any opportunity to hear the VOB is a good one for me.

     After  Paris we parted ways with the orchestra and head on to Wernigerode, Germany.  Our official tour was over.  Now we were preparing to enter into the Johannes Brahms International Choral Competition.  Here, as everywhere else, no one could believe that the VOB had only been singing together some three weeks.  We have learned, after the fact, that the organizers were impressed by the VOB; not just by their music, but also by their behavior and demeanor.  Although not necessarily a goal, we came away with a gold medal in the Folk category (Van Gilmer and his awesome gospel choir), and a silver in the combined sacred and secular categories. 

   We were able to make a quick trip to the Frankfurt area to perform in the House of Worship there.  The Baha'is there received us warmly and with good food.  It was a great stop!

   After Frankfurt we went on to our hotels in Vienna where some then went on home, and some of us were fortunate enough to go on to visit the Holy Land.   I am still not able to truly articulate my feelings about that portion of the trip, it was so powerful.  So we'll make that the topic for another writing. As for the touring portion,  I felt that the power of this group was incredible.  

Tom used to say at each concert, "We once sang a song in France that moved the French people to tears.  That was because we tried to sing it in French!" 

 Well, there were many times on this trip that  the music of the Voices of Baha moved me to tears, but in a very positive way. 

As I said in the beginning, this was a powerful experience for both Tseitel and myself.  We will both be forever changed from this experience.  We are eternally grateful to the Assemblies who helped us make this happen.  We are grateful for the extraordinary efforts of Tom and Barbara and Kami.  And we are especially grateful to all of the members of the Voices of Baha for lifting up so many hearts with such beautiful music.