The Fredösphere

Dang!  If only I could impose this kind of discipline on my church choir:

A nun must participate in all choir duties and in the execution of divine rites. Should a nun shirk her religious duties, she would have to declare her fault publicly in the refectory. A second infraction would entail rations of bread and water. A third would trigger corporal discipline. Should these measures fail, her veil would be removed, and the offending nun would not be allowed to approach the altar (unable to practice her religious faith in the house of God), the parlor (unable to see visitors), the service entrances (prohibiting the nun from the only physical contact she could have with the outside world), or the kitchens (where scraps of delicious pastries were sometimes handed out), until she changed her ways.

Someone calls it one of the best songs you didn't hear in 2005.  Another calls it "Serge Gainsbourg conducting the Langley Schools Music Project through a rendition of the Mikado."  Or maybe "epic, exotic, metronomic and dare I say it 'proto-psychedelic-hip-hop that defies categorisation'" gets at the heart of it.  Dare I say it -- it's the first song I've ever downloaded via iTunes.  A Japanese children's choir sings Yama Yama, and Fat City has an excerpt.

Speaking of children's choirs, 60 teenage girls from Belgium have recorded an album covering pop tunes like... heavens to Murgatroid!  What was their director thinking?!!

A gig so easy, and yet so unsatisfying:  Helen Radice tunes someone else's harp.

Look out, church:  the worship critic may visit you this Sunday.

"Anti-rock-star rock star" Mike Patton plans to collaborate with composer Eyvind Kang on a classical choir piece.

Composing an opera requires many skills.  Musical literacy is not one of them.