Happy people

Some teachers and pupils from the local conservatoire de musique gave a free concert in our village this evening. It was very poorly attended, which was a shame -- they were very good and deserved better. We make an effort to go to a lot of local cultural events, but most people seem to prefer staying at home in front of the telly :(

The first part was the choir, about a dozen singers who performed a mixture of contemporary music, from Gainsbourg to U2. Not really to my taste, but I always appreciate a choir where the singers are clearly enjoying themselves and are comfortable with the music. Then there was a brief accordeon interlude, followed by the "big band" -- actually only eight musicians. Two of them were teenagers though, and they performed their solos with fierce concentration and commitment. Nice to see female instrumentalists too -- trombone and saxophone. They were all having a great time, and so did we. They ended on an excellent rendition of Happy People.

This isn't a very good photo, but I felt it was the most representative of the evening. After months of trying, I finally won an eBay auction of an electronic viewfinder for my little Olympus, so I was trying that out instead of using the big camera, which would have done better in the low light. Somehow I find the mere fact of using a viewfinder rather than a screen makes me more confident about taking photos.