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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 />
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