by Jeehi Kwak, MA in music

Gitameit staged an impressive concert, "Good to Go," in Yangon on February 16, raising US $500 for two Hlaingthaya monastery schools that the music centre has adopted and entertaining a 100-plus crowd. More than just raising money for charity, the concert really demonstrated how far the Gitameit Music Centre has come in its three years. Gitameit’s staple choir, Gitapella, put on a rousing show, although its bass section at times let it down. People forget how important the bass is. It is really the root, or starting point. A tree cannot grow without a stable root, just as a choir can’t soar without a stable bass part. Gitapella’s bass singer at times had trouble reaching some of the low and high notes. The choir has a pleasing middle-range (mezzo-alto) section though, with a warm and innocent sound that is untrained but fresh. However, one of the sopranos needs to watch her scooping, which means letting the centre of a note slide in pitch. Scooping is fine for pop tunes, but it does not fit with the ensemble’s classical repertoire which includes works like Mass and Requiem. It is a challenging job to sing a capella and given that this choir has only bee around for three years - not long by classical choir standards - they are doing an excellent job.

The Gitameit Voices group sounded tight and had nice volume. You could tell they had rehearsed long and hard. While pop tunes such as Beatles’ classic, Yesterday, will always be crowd pleasers, it would be nice to hear what this group can do with classical pieces. Well known pop singer Zaw Win Htut was supposed to join the group for this performance but did not show up, leaving one of the members of the group to fill in at the last moment as the soloist.

Sense and Soul’s performance of two original numbers was a real highlight of the evening. Eleven year old violinist Pon Pon, who is currently studying in China, melted everyone’s hearts when he joined Sense and Soul’s six older musicians for their first piece, Egoistic. The little violinist was brilliant on the stage not just in his playing but also in his attitude; he looked no less a professional than the other musicians and seemed very at ease on stage.

The group showed off a nice mix of guitars and violins, and their first piece showed what they could also do as composers, featuring strong passages in unison with the different instruments expressing the power and energy of the music. The audience could hear the effort the players had put into this piece of music, and it was stronly appreciated. The second piece, Inside a Prism, sounded a lot like circa-1940s southern blues. The two guitarists, who already showed their talent at a previous Gitameit concert, played tightly. It really was Good to Go.

The jazz band Vincent Bullen and Los Guapos put in a good effort too. As students with only three years experience, they did an impressive job. Jazz is hard to learn if you are not in the right environment, such as a place where you do not have access to a lot of different musicians and do not have the opportunity to play with people with a variety of ideas about music. As musicians they could use more confidence. This is especially eveident in the rhythm section. Rhythm can make music sound exciting and tasteful or boring and even dead.

Overall, the concert offered an uplifting evening for the audience and priceless experience for the musicians involved, leaving both groups asking for more.