Last Sunday (17th) I preached at another ADC church, this time it was a ‘posh’ one, as it had a tiled floor and proper rafters holding up the roof.

Once again, the singing was great, with a fab Fon choir singing in the usual call and response way, with much dancing and great drumming. This time, though, there was an intriguing clapping rhythm which the folks managed effortlessly (but which I wouldn’t even thing of teaching to any church I may visit in the UK!!!) Here’s what the repeated clapping pattern looked and sounded like:

fon-church-clapping-rhythm.mp3
Imagine clapping that one along to the latest Matt Redman song!!!

But as well as the usual Fon choir, there was also a modern choir (otherwise known as an ethnomusicologists nightmare!!) They sung quite well, but for me their rendition of ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’ in English (!?) was a bit of a low point (this is sounding like a Ship of Fools write-up, eh???) What is most interesting is noticing the congregation’s faces as this ‘foreign’ music is performed. Rather than dancing and clapping joyfully, they are all still and almost look bored.

Thankfully, though, there’s no chance of nodding off for long in these churches, as there’s always a ‘prodder’ on duty with a stick to prod anyone who falls asleep. Mmmmm…wonder if that could catch on in the UK.

The only other interesting event in this service was that, whilst clapping along to the complex rhythm of one piece, I actually managed to squash a mosquito which happened (unfortunately for him/her) to be flying between my hands mid-clap!

Thanks for reading. More soon I hope!

Cheers,

Rob et al