| Battle of Atlantic Musical Gala respectful, Not solemn |
Battle of Atlantic Musical Gala respectful, not solemnBy STEPHEN PEDERSEN / Arts Reporter / Concert ReviewThe Navy and the public turned out in force Friday night to fill Pier 21's Heritage Hall in homage to the veterans of the longest battle of the Second World War. They came to commemorate the 62nd anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic, which lasted the entire six years of the war and involved the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Merchant Navy and the Royal Canadian Air Force in keeping the submarine-infested sea lanes open for a steady flow of supplies to Canada's British and European allies. It was dangerous work in horrific conditions. Yet survivors are able to joke about it. One of the oldest, 87- year-old retired vice admiral Ralph Hennessy was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his role in the sinking of German submarine U-210 Aug. 6, 1942, while he was captain of HMCS Assiniboine. Hennessy unveiled a Tom Forrestall mural of the Assiniboine ramming U-210, in the new wardroom at CFB Halifax on Thursday night. "I was anxious to see it," he told the crowd at Pier 21. "At the time I was down below fighting a fire." The annual Battle of the Atlantic Musical Gala combined military music, songs from the Second World War, entertaining duos and trios from the superb Stadacona Band as well as Irish dancing (The Greene School of Irish Dancing), Nova Voce Men's Choir, singer Lori Proulx, and the 12 Wing Shearwater Pipes and Drums. Under the direction of Lt.-Cmdr. Gaetan Bouchard, the Stadacona Band played music from La Boheme and Phantom of the Opera as well a fiery, full-out big-band jazz arrangement by Scott Macmillan of Don Ellis's Open Wide featuring the elegant flugelhorn jazz of PO1 John Cuming and a brilliant drum solo by PO2 Tom Roach. PO2s Sue Kulik and her twin sister Ginette Gibeault played Piccs Ahoy, a lively arrangement by PO1 Ruth Blackie of traditional tunes on piccolos, full of sparkle and high spirits. The Greene School's Irish dancers, mostly young women and girls with one nimble-footed young boy, expertly displayed colourful traditional costumes and the high-kicking, knee-twisting, ankle-and-foot- fluttering characteristic of the style. Nova Voce contributed robust arrangements of war time tunes and a medley of Scottish airs, PO1 Joe Bonvie and PO2 Roach played Kenneth Alford's The Two Imps on xylophone, and resisted trumpeters PO2 Tim Elson and PO2 Guillaume Damour from literally horning in on the act. PO1 Julie Cuming, PO2 Michelle Melanson and PO2 Krisanne Crowell sang the perennially popular requests Billy-a-Dick (by Hoagy Carmichael) and the Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. Crowell also sang a fine version of the jazz standard Night and Day. Proulx led the audience in a singalong of Now is The Hour and Til We Meet Again, as well as the finale, Amazing Grace, with the band, and the Pipes and Drums. The concert was more than three hours long, but the variety of the music, the continuous videos of navy, army and air force training activity, particularly the naval vessels, helicopters and remote-controlled surveillance aircraft, and the general feeling, not of sentimentality and nostalgia, but of a light-hearted sense of occasion and respect for the veterans, several of them in wheel-chairs or walkers, kept it fresh and enjoyable. PO2 Raef Wilson's spirited singing of Stompin' Tom's Hockey Song while he stick-handled around the stage in a Toronto Maple Leaf's sweater and bemoaned the loss of the season past, was typical of the efforts to keep the occasion from becoming too solemn. But it had its solemn moments in memory of fallen comrades. Just before intermission, Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada conducted a ceremonial unveiling of a plaque commemorating the Battle of the Atlantic. The gala was a fundraiser for the Camp Hill Veterans Memorial Garden. |
