Don’t be surprised to hear carols about inviting a goblin
home for Christmas, or a song about enjoying the holidays in a
tropical climate replacing the usual white Christmas fantasies this
Saturday.
Strongly influenced by Grimm’s Fairy tales, the collection
of eight songs in composer Roger Bourland’s and lyricist
William MacDuff’s “The Crocodile’s Christmas Ball
and Other Odd Tales,” are not the typical Christmas carols.
The UCLA Chorale and Wind Ensemble will premiere the works Saturday
night in its holiday concert under the direction of Donald Neuen.
The concert will also showcase the University Chorus and the
Angeles Chorale.
“We just wanted to write a different, new point of view of
Christmas,” Bourland said. “My dad is a minister and I
grew up singing all the (traditional) Christmas hymns “¦ so I
decided to write some of my own.”
The title song, “The Crocodile’s Christmas
Tale” is the story of a crocodile who invites all of his
friends in the African jungle to come to a Christmas Ball. The song
describes the animals making the journey across Africa to attend
the dance, and the misfortune that occurs to them as the crocodile
begins to eat his guests. The song is meant to be in the tradition
of Grimm’s fairy tales where things often become strange and
animals are eaten.
Similarly, most of the songs are about non-traditional Christmas
characters such as cats, Southerners colonizing Mars, and Halloween
ghouls. The eighth song, titled “A Fly on the Wall in a
Stable in Bethlehem,” looks at Jesus’ birth from the
viewpoint of a fly. The fly, who in its thirty days on Earth has
never seen anything as miraculous as birth and has no understanding
of who Mary, Joseph and Jesus are, perceives the miracle of
Christmas at face value ““ a human being born.
“It’s funny. There’s humor. It’s
friendly music ““ it’s not wild and dissonant,”
Bourland said, “It’s meant for the family, not highly
educated musicians.”
The composition is not religious, which is a sharp contrast to
Bourland and MacDuff’s first major composition,
“Rosarium,” which premiered in Royce Hall in 1999.
A Calypso Christmas song among other surprises adds variety to
the traditional Christmas carols that will be sung in
Saturday’s concert.
“My favorite song is “˜Mary had a Baby’ because
it has a dark sound. It’s a Negro spiritual so it has a color
to it unlike the other songs,” said Michelle Jackson, a
third-year study of religion student and University Chorus member.
“I also think that (the conductors) are doing a good job of
getting the best out of us, especially for the Negro spiritual.
Each song has a different style to it and they can get that sound
out of us.”
Among the more original and non-traditional material, however,
students have a chance to give the traditional carols an added
dimension, with a little help from the audience.
“”˜Oh, Holy Night’ is one of my favorite
songs,” said Nathan Waxer, a third-year student and
University Chorus member. “There are three hundred plus
people singing it and you can feel the shivers down your spine.
It’s really magical.”
“The Crocodile’s Christmas Ball and Other
Tales” will be held Saturday 8:00 p.m. at Royce Hall. Tickets
are $10 general admission, $7 for students and seniors.