We were lolling around in the house this Sunday morning when we heard the sounds of a live gospel group. Being curious souls, we went out the door and around the corner to find the source of the sound. And there on Hutt Street was a group of young people singing Christmas Gospel.
The doo wap sound was punctuated by hand clapping and moving to the a capella beat.
The day was brilliant sunshine. This gave a special effect to the one singer with Santa-red hair topping. Other singers wore sunglasses and red and gold sparkly tinsel boas. Kind of a Mediterranean Christmas pret a porter.
Diners seemed nonplussed by having a choir amid their lattes and eggs benedict ..like this happens every day. However, we unabashedly followed them from street corner to street corner as they sang and shimmied.
I am one of those people who always sings along, even if that is not the express intention of the performance. 
Here the rhythms were so complex and the music so original that was not really possible. Though enthusiastic yet surreptitious dancing was essential.
As you can see the singers were animated, engaged and absolutely charming.
That same Sunday evening, we walked around the corner to Saint John’s Anglican church for a Handel’s Messiah Sing-along. Yes, you read that correctly.
We arrived to a full church with song books (circa 1923) available to those who needed the score for the entire Messiah was to be sung with all solos and choruses.
I did not expect that the choir mistress would ask the church to sit in soprano, alto, tenor and bass sections. I did not expect that the Messiah would be sung from beginning to end with about 85 percent of the attendees participating. And I did not expect that the “audience” was brilliant.
When it came time for the Hallelujah Chorus, almost everyone stood and the church was filled with harmonic sound.
For me, Christmas is inextricably bound with music. Singing together was one of the things we did in my family. I remember one year we even tried the Hallelujah Chorus while doing the dishes from Christmas dinner and four-part harmony could be heard, at times. So for me this day of neighborhood music was a messenger heralding the Christmas spirit.
Wishing you all have a little music in your lives this Christmas
MedFlies 