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U SINGERS TEAM UP<br />

WITH MCl's CHOIR<br />

On February 15, the University of Manitoba<br />

Singers joined the Chamber Choir of<br />

the Mennonite Collegiate Institute for an<br />

afternoon workshop and a delightful evening<br />

performance. The choirs joined<br />

forces for a full afternoon of rehearsals<br />

under the batons of Henry Engbrecht and<br />

Robert Wiebe.<br />

Henry Engbrecht has led the U of M<br />

Singers through an impressive schedule<br />

of appearances, iricluding a recent tour to<br />

Europe, and a performance at the America<br />

n Choral Director's Ass ociation.<br />

Engbrecht's personal credits are no less<br />

noteworth y ; h e directs the Winnipeg<br />

Philharmonic Choir as well as choirs at<br />

First Mennonite Church in Winnipeg.<br />

Robert Wiebe, presently the choral<br />

director at the MCr, initiated the event in<br />

consultation with Engbrecht and Henry<br />

Peters, choral director at W. C. Miller Collegiate<br />

in Altona. Inclement weather and<br />

public school closures prevented the W. C.<br />

Miller Chamber Choir from joining the<br />

afternoon workshop, as originally<br />

intended. However, fortunately the group<br />

was able to contribute at the evening<br />

concert.<br />

Here they performed several numbers<br />

individua lly, including a challenging<br />

eight-part arrangement of "Singet dem<br />

Herrn ein N eues Lied." The MCI Chamber<br />

Choir's presentation included a humorous<br />

selection entitled "Cousins" - a musical<br />

tribute to the joyful chaos often experienced<br />

at family reunions. The MCI and U<br />

of M choirs again joined forces to present<br />

the fruit of their afternoon's labor, singing<br />

"Come Let Us Sing a Song of Joy," a<br />

composition for double chorus.<br />

The evening's feature was the varied<br />

performance of the U of M Singers. Their<br />

selections included gypsy, folk tunes,<br />

sacred motets, negro spirituals, and<br />

madrigals. Especially entertaining was<br />

the musical offering of a male sextet,<br />

claiming the title "Half a Dozen of the<br />

Other"!<br />

All choirs were well received, with a<br />

particularly warm reception for Henry<br />

Engbrecht, whose early teaching years<br />

included time spent at the MCr. The event<br />

also represented a "homecoming" of<br />

sorts for at least one U of M Singer, Karis<br />

Wiebe, an alumnus of the school. Another<br />

MCI alumnus who sings with the U of M<br />

Singers, Cheri Wiens, was unable to<br />

attend because of family commitments.<br />

The evening's concert was also a homecoming<br />

for another MCI alumnus, Mr.<br />

Henry Peters, and for a former MCI choir<br />

director, C. P. Zacharias.<br />

NEW OVERSEAS SERVICES<br />

STAFF JOIN MCC CANADA<br />

Marvin and Ardith Frey, formerly MCC<br />

co-country representatives in Lesotho<br />

and Somalia, joined the MCC Canada<br />

Overseas Services department in January.<br />

They w ill work in a shared-job<br />

arrangement at MCC Canada. Ardith will<br />

serve as associate secretary for Africa for<br />

MCC bi-national, with specific responsibilities<br />

for Sudan and Ethiopia, while<br />

Marvin will be responsible for refugee<br />

resettlement and development education.<br />

YOUR WORD<br />

RELATIVE CONNECTIONS<br />

In his article, Frintschauft Nofaedme, Jack<br />

Thiessen demonstrates convincingly that<br />

he and the other Thiessens from the<br />

Steinbach suburb of Grunthal are related<br />

to the boxer Mike Tyson. The slight differences<br />

in color and in the last name are<br />

explained adequately by the missionary<br />

sojourn in Africa. Overwhelming, of<br />

course, are the pugilistic similarities.<br />

I am aware, however, that after such an<br />

amazing discovery even the best scholars,<br />

backed by the most solid evidence, are<br />

sometimes inclined to doubt their success.<br />

It seems too good to be true. I would like<br />

to reassure Thiessen by providing<br />

another bit of evidence, this time not from<br />

a secret fil e in the bottom of Harry<br />

Loewen's desk but from the nationally<br />

known magazine, The Marketplace, published<br />

by MEDA. The text is found in the<br />

September/October 1986 edition, p. 16<br />

where we find a picture and article on a<br />

Mennonite minister in Jamaica with the<br />

name Ritchie Tyson. He is the pastor of<br />

the Bethel Mennonite Church, one of ten<br />

congregations in the Jamaican Mennonite<br />

Conference. This man doesn't look<br />

much like any of the Thiessens of Manitoba<br />

but since he is definitely a Mennonite,<br />

and linguist Thiessen has shown<br />

that the name Tyson ste ms from<br />

Thiessen, racial differences are really<br />

unimportant. A trip to Jamaica would<br />

undoubtedly confirm that Ritchie Tyson<br />

speaks Low German, shells sunflower<br />

seeds in his mouth, and spits watermelon<br />

seeds more than thirty metres. A travel<br />

grant from the Canada Council would<br />

seem to be in order.<br />

Sincerely, in the interests of science,<br />

Roy Vogt (alias Spinks, alias Sphinx,<br />

because the Vogts were known in Russia<br />

as "the inscrutable ones. ")<br />

MIRROR<br />

MIX-UP<br />

MENA<br />

"{DUll. c.OLOR<br />

\lO'TE!<br />

CVoh on clfj27.d 26 !<br />

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