The 'Parade of Nations' a sumptuous success
The diplomatic community exceeded all expectations this year with a highly successful charity event that outdid the previous year's effort, not only in the amount of money raised but also in entertainment value.
Last week's Parade of Nations lasted for the better part of four hours on a typically perfect spring day.
What took months to prepare, and many exhausting hours of personal time and energy, resulted in a memorable evening that was thoroughly enjoyed by participants and the audience.
Starting at 6 p.m., guests were greeted with a variety of wines from around the world and foods prepared by ambassadors' wives and staff members.
Portuguese Ambassador Carlos Frota and EU Ambassador Dorian Prince perform "Lira" for almost 700 guests at this year`s Parade of Nations charity event. [Yoav Cerralbo/The Korea Herald]Walking around the tempting feast, one could start with empanadas from various Latin American countries and work around the world tasting foods that would otherwise be almost impossible to find in Korea. Then the bell rang and it was time for everyone to head into the Hyatt's giant ballroom - for dinner. Yes, the food that was laid out for all to enjoy outside was just the appetizer.
During the four-course meal, the 700 guests were entertained with music and dance from Russia, Lebanon, Argentina, China, Uzbekistan and Nigeria.
Once the dinner was over the lights were turned down for a rockin' performance by Korean pop diva In Sooni. From there the night took off with performances from the diplomatic community.
First on the list was the renaissance man and Spanish Ambassador Delfin Colome on the piano playing the French timeless hit "C'est Si Bon" (It's So Good) by Henri Betti and then Herman Hupfeld's "As Time goes by" which is probably better known as the "Play it again Sam" song that appeared in Hollywood's golden era film "Casablanca." As soon as Colome started playing, photographers from various Korean news agencies were falling over themselves trying the capture the ambassador for their local dailies.
The diplomatic community sings a heartfelt "Arirang" with Spanish Ambassador Delfin Colome conducting the choir and EU Ambassador Dorian Prince on piano. [Yoav Cerralbo/The Korea Herald]Next on the musical menu was a duet with Naomi Al-Midhadi, the Qatar ambassador's wife. The famed painter and new age musician was on the piano with Jazz singer Tim Strong, husband of the New Zealand ambassador, playing a light opera Broadway piece titled "Brother Can You Spare a Dime" from the depression era of the United States. During April's press conference to announce this year's Parade of Nations, Strong joked that he really had to practice to get his operatic voice somewhere in the neighborhood of functioning again. Well, he did it. The crowd loved it and Strong once again pulled off a strong performance.
Naomi then treated us with a touch of her own style of music which combines many genres into one soothing symphony. Like the variety of appetizers that was offered before the main course, Naomi's music is best described as heavy on the new age with a lot of classical, a touch of opera; the music is improvisational and meditative, with plenty of ambience and adult contemporary sounds.
The song she chose to play that evening was "Greetings Korea" which she wrote after arriving here. The traditional Korean flute, the daegeum, accompanied her soothing voice and piano playing.
Next was some good ol' fashioned rock 'n' roll with U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow and the MOFAT band (for lack of a better name).
He discarded his suit but not the tie and got the house dancing with three immortal rock classics: Chuck Berry's "Johnny B Good," The Beatles' "Back in the USSR," and The Rolling Stones' "(I can't get no) Satisfaction."
Before playing "Back in the USSR," Vershbow joked that U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney suggested The Beatles' hit for the evening.
The interesting thing that is perhaps worthy of mention is most of the local photographers who had been behaving like a troupe of Keystone Cops, falling over themselves snapping pictures, had suddenly disappeared. It seems that the Korean vernacular dailies were more interested in the U.S. ambassador's performance instead of an event that collects money for children's charities - to quote Metallica that's "sad but true."
What they missed was the MOFAT band's rendition of "Mo Better Blues" minus Vershbow. Jazz aficionados in the room where highly impressed by the saxophonist who works fulltime at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. One diplomat in the audience remarked that his performance would have made Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and Lester Young very proud.
After the jazz performance, guests were treated to Indian music by Geeta Parthasarathi, wife of the Indian ambassador, playing one of her country's oldest instruments, the veena, "which is very soft in melody and rhythm, and very spiritual," she said.
But that was not all, because Portuguese Ambassador Carlos Frota and European Union Ambassador Dorian Prince were next with a beautiful and soothing rendition of "Lira" that captivated the guests.
The show finale was a performance by all the ambassadors and their wives singing the traditional Korean song "Arirang." This brought tears to the eyes of many Koreans in the audience. Even after four hours, people were still in the mood to enjoy more music from around the world.
One thing the event organizers learned from last year's Parade of Nations was instead of waiting to hand out the raffle prizes at the end of the evening, they awarded them during the night after every performance. The tickets numbers of the unclaimed prizes were shown on a giant screen.
Proceeds of the event will go the 100 won-a-day Association, Planting Love Association and the Korean Association for Children with Leukemia and Cancer.
Early estimates say the total amount will be well above last year's figure of 35 million won.
(yoav@heraldm.com)
By Yoav Cerralbo
The Korea Herald
