You can start with “impressive,” as the Everett Norwegian Male Chorus hosts a concert of Scandinavian and American music.
By Theresa Goffredo
Herald Writer
Maybe you get wistful when you hear the song “King of the Road.” Or you get to feeling patriotic during “America the Beautiful.” Or your heart breaks just a little listening to the absolutely gorgeous “It Is Well With My Soul,” about a father who lost his daughters at sea.
Now imagine all those songs and then a dozen more song by a well-rehearsed chorus of 170 men and you’ve got “Sangerfest 2008.”
This is a concert of Norwegian and American music presented by the Pacific Coast Norwegian Singers Association and hosted this year by the Everett Norwegian Male Chorus. The concert is tonight at Everett Civic Auditorium.
“It’s really amazing when they open the curtains and the audience sees 170 guys. You hear this collective gasp,” said Allen Feris, president of the Everett chorus, of the audience’s reaction.
Feris said newcomers to Sangerfest are welcome and easily assimilated into the Norwegian culture with a program that explains the origins of the songs and translations.
And during the middle of the program, the chorus teaches at least three Norwegian classics to the audience, such as “Den Fyrste” about a man who remembers his mother singing a song when he was in his cradle and then hears it for the last time at his death.
Other songs throughout the program include “The Star-Spangled Banner,” “Built Like a Rock,” and the Norwegian “Landkjenning.”
Feris said the majority of the Norwegian music was written in the 1500s to 1800s and it talks about the history of Norway and the Scandinavian area and their love of the land. Sangerfest is like a cultural phenomenon with a backup orchestra.
“To see the fact that there is a Norwegian culture, or any kind of culture, that bands together just for the enjoyment of singing, and you don’t have to be Norwegian to sing with the chorus,” Feris said. “As a matter of fact, I’m not.”
Sangerfest is performed annually by the Pacific Coast Norwegian Singers Association and features 12 Norwegian choruses ranging from Bellingham to San Diego. Sangerfest was most recently in Everett in 2002.
Everett’s chorus is 106 years old and was founded to promote Norwegian music and culture. The chorus rehearses every Wednesday, preparing music for their many performances, and they work all year long on the 15 songs for the annual Sangerfest.
The chorus also performs concerts around the Everett area, for community events such as morning services at local churches, and at nursing homes and senior centers.
Reporter Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424 or goffredo@heraldnet.com.
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