No star burns brighter than family - Moorings—The World of United Nations Peoples - music and dancing clubs at the United Nations - Brief Article

UN Chronicle, June-August, 2001 by Lawri Lala Moore

Everyone at the United Nations represents some cultural abode--a unique place of beginnings and the springboard of dreams. Like the prodigal son, restless to drink life, we venture beyond home to sculpture our ideal world. Sometimes the journey takes an odd twist.

In 1990, with heave-ho zest to become a jazz singer, I moved from laid-back Los Angeles to do-it-yesterday New York City. For months, I ate, slept and drank jazz. But the neon lights of Broadway eluded me. When my funds dwindled, I accepted a job at the United Nations Press Office. Unknowingly, I'd waltzed into a myriad of chances to perform.

I heard the UNSRC Singers--a chorus of staff members-at a lunchtime concert. Enchanted, I joined the club. Tri-weekly rehearsals conducted by Nelly Vuksic, local performances and annual Christmas programmes quenched my singer cravings.

Two years later, drummer Derrick Mbatha quipped, "If you like jazz, why don't you come jam with us?"

"Here at the UN?" I was unaware of a Jazz Society or the band.

"Yes, every Wednesday."

I quit the UN Singers. Every week, I met with Derrick, vocalist Debbie Goodridge, drummer Yuhei Sakurada, bassist Bruno Razafindrakoto and pianist Ellis "Nazarene" Pough in Room GA-37. We swung through Moon glow, plodded over Everything Happens to Me, and grooved on Street Life. At first, like a flower afraid to bloom, we only played for ourselves. But by UN Staff Day 1996, we were opening for Roy Hargrove's Quintet, and in 1997 for legendary trumpeter Freddie Hubbard.

I'd found the neon lights at the UN, but it wasn't the dazzling celebrities. The radiance illuminated from us, a family of kindred souls performing together.

On Friday, 22 June this year, the UNSRC Singers, the Jazz Society Workshop Band and the Ballroom Dance Club presented a concert at the Hitchcock-Rockefeller Auditorium at the YWCA. What a blast!

The effort to combine three stand-alone acts--jazz band, chorus, dancers-into one production required diplomacy. Sol Oca, the UN Singers programme director, worked tirelessly coordinating the groups. Missed. rehearsals, last-minute cancellations, differences in musical taste, and rigorous practice sessions took its toll. just before show time, tension erupted.

"What's all this?" a band member frowned at chairs onstage for the chorus, which crowded the space allotted for instruments. His agitation froze time. Moving the piano resolved the issue. During the concert, he played with intensity and wore an infectious grin. All was forgiven.

Emcee Marc Anthony welcomed the multicultural audience of 300 guests. The UN Singers opened the programme with Kyrie and & Sanctus, from a traditional Catholic mass, Estrella a Lua Nova and Rosa Amarela. Their colorful ethnic costumes added festivity to the event.

The ballroom dancers performed a rhumba, as well as Argentine and American tangos. The men wore dark suits and the ladies sultry, red dresses. I marvelled at their graceful confidence and kept my two left feet out of sight.

The Jazz Society band played standards: Bye Bye Blackbird, Autumn Leaves (sung by Hiroko Gunji) and But Beautiful. Miko and Bernie Adams swing-danced into the audience's hearts as I sang Mooonglow. The two dubs performing together ignited a magic spark. Later, the band and the UN Singers cozied up to one another on Amazing Grace and If I Had But One Dream, a Barry Harris composition.

The finale, the spiritual Great Day, featured all three clubs. The chorus' voices filled the stage, riding the rhythms played by the band. I marched down the aisles with the dancers and encouraged the audience to clap and sing. Performers and spectators merged into a massive glow of goodwill and cheer. With the last note played and all bows taken, the chorus, dancers and band members congratulated and kissed one another.

"The show was fantastic." Nelly embraced me.

"We did it." I laughed.

No star burns brighter than family. Join a club and see!