Woodland Chamber Singers - Spring 2012 Concert

Saturady evening, it was off to Sally perform with the Woodland Chamber Singers.

Left: Woodland Chamber singers director Lenore Turner-Heinson wishes Woodland High School Choir Director John Abigana Godspeed as he retires from his position.

Some aspects about the show troubled me, as it edged closer to politics. Lenore Turner-Heinson is understandably preoccupied. Her son is due to return from Afghanistan later this month. She urged the audience to support "all our sons and daughters" in harm's way, and led an ovation for veterans, who were encouraged to stand. All reasonable enough.

One of the songs was called 'Anthem of Peace'. Reader Brad Van Sant explained that it was an Estonian song that celebrated the successful, non-violent endurance of the Estonian people, as the Soviets tried over generations to break apart their nation and its culture, particularly its musical culture; first with violence, then through dilution, by the settlement of Russians there. Clearly the Soviets were the villains here.

Then, Van Sant introduced the song 'Anthem' from the musical "Chess" (as ably sung by Ryan Gordon, whom I at first didn't recognize, because I haven't seen him in such a long time). 'Anthem', of course, is an assertion of embattled national pride: basically defensive in nature. In the musical "Chess", it is sung from a defensive Russian perspective, but it works very well today as sung from a defensive American perspective: an embattled America burdened with the 'Long War' against terrorism. Van Sant went on to mention the Soviet effort to bring Afghanistan into the Communist orbit, and the critical role of the U.S. in sheltering Afghan musicians and their culture from the depredations of both the Soviets and the Taliban.

It seemed to me that Van Sant was explaining America's role in Afghanistan by equating the Estonian resistance to the fight against the Taliban, and our support for both efforts to save culture.

There is so much mischief here! The two fights are quite distinct, of course. The Estonian nation has been in existence for a thousand years, but the Afghan nation has yet to coalesce, riven as it is by tribal differences. The analogy fails.

But perhaps Van Sant's efforts are to be expected. Americans remain perennially puzzled and baffled by our precise role in Afghanistan. None of the official explanations seem to make much sense, particularly after the killing of Osama bin Laden. Obama, Boehner, McCain, Petraeus, Biden, Franks: they have all tried to explain what we are doing, but their stories remain unsatisfying.

Well, someone has to explain what we are doing in Afghanistan! Why not Brad Van Sant? Why not Ryan Gordon? Nature abhors a vacuum, and since official explanations define the precise meaning of a complete void, others have to give it a try. In fact, as troubling as these analogies are, they are the first time I've heard anyone try to tell a coherent tale about our Afghan involvement. There will be other such efforts.

Not quite what I expected when I went to hear the Woodland Chamber Singers.