A soulful performance by Bjarni and Thomas

Islamabad

Bjarni Frimann Bjarnason from Iceland and Thomas Stimmer from Germany flew down from Europe to this part of the world for the first time to entertain a small group of guests invited by German Ambassador Ina Lepel with their extraordinary (for Pakistanis) performance.

Having miserably failed to understand even a single word of what Thomas was singing, yet the scribe grudgingly concedes that it was a very inspiring and touching performance by the duo, Thomas leading with his deep, rich voice, touching the lowest chords and yet so clearly audible, and Bjarni, with his fingers floating on Piano keys.

According to the information provided by the German Embassy on a leaflet, the duo presented ‘Liederkreis’ lyrics by J. v. Eichendorff and ‘Wilhelm Meister’ lyrics by J.W. v. Goethe composed by Robert Schumann; ‘Let us garlands bring,’, lyrics by Shakespeare, composed by Gerald Finzi and ‘Sea Fever’, lyrics by John Masefield, composed by John Ireland in the first half of the performance.

In the second half they sang ‘Vier ernste Gesange’, lyrics from the Old Testament, composed by Johannes Brahms and ‘Ruckert Lieder,’ composed by Gustav Mahler.

There seemed to be a message of hope and strength in the conditions of despair and hopelessness, a desire to overcome pain and grief and look towards the joys and pleasures of life ahead. Life is full of sorrows but there are moments of happiness too. One suffers, cries and turns to the Devine powers for help. And it is after sufferings and pains that relief and happiness comes. There seemed to be messages of drawing strength from pain to rise and be strong in the songs they sung, conveying deep emotions and strong feelings.

It indeed was a very strong performance by the two, thoroughly enjoyed by the audience, comprising mostly of expats residing in Islamabad because such opportunities are few and far between.

For a moment, the performance reminded me of our folk and mystic singers, who also sang accompanied by a solo musical instrument, played by themselves like Iqbal Baho while reciting ‘Heer-Ranjha’ or ‘kalam’ of Baba Bulhay Shah, or Sain Zahoor with his ‘Ik-tara’.

Speaking after the performance, Thomas, sharing his words with Bjarni, the Pianist, said that they were very pleased to have to Pakistan. “This is our first visit to Pakistan and we must say that we have found the people and environments here very warm and pleasant,” Thomas said.

“We are deeply saddened by the tragedy in Lahore Park where so many precious lives have been lost in an insane act of terrorism. We were scheduled to perform in Lahore as well during our visit. However, to pay respects to the victims of Lahore tragedy we have cancelled that one,” Thomas said with Bjarni nodding affirmatively.

Earlier in the day, while talking to the journalists over a luncheon hosted by Dr Dan Tidten, the Frist Secretary and the Head of Press and Cultural Section, Thomas spoke about his thrilling experience of performing in Cairo, Egypt, just days before the ‘Arab Spring’ started.

Bjarni was enthusiastic about narrating a very unusual performance the duo gave in a small town in Icland with a population of hardly 800 people or may be even less.

“It was a thrilling experience because there was a very heavy snowstorm descending upon that area just ahead of the performance. The performance was in a small church in the town. And the snowstorm was so strong that people were unable to walk even 200 meters to come to the Church to attend the performance. Still there were some 50 or so people who managed to turn up and we performed for them and that was a great experience,” Bjarni Frimann Bjarnason said.