The King's Singers

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19 / 04 / 2010 - David

I have to admit that life has been a bit strange over the last few days here in the UK. Last Thursday I went to the BBC in London to do some interviews for some of the BBC’s regional radio stations. Arriving at the studio I saw the headlines announcing the complete grounding of all commercial aircraft. It seemed so extraordinary that a volcano in Iceland could disrupt life so absolutely in Europe. Five days on, and we are all wondering when things will return to normality. I have a friend marooned on Cyprus, and my niece is due to fly back from Barbados tomorrow. On the plus side it has been rather lovely to see clear blue skies clear of all vapour trails. For The King’s Singers we start back at work this week after our Easter break, and are determined to fulfil our concert commitments. To this end, we have put in place alternative travel arrangements to travel to Denmark for our two concerts in Copenhagen and Odense this weekend. After that we will be back in the UK for three concerts in Manchester, London’s Cadogan Hall and Bromsgrove. I hope that beyond these dates, this matter will be long resolved, but for now we are resolved that the shows will go on.

This situation has reminded me of the fantastic madrigal Thule, the period of Cosmography by the sixteenth century composer Thomas Weelkes. The song talks of all the amazing natural phenomena of the then known world, making reference to the ferocious volcano of Hekla. The word Thule, which forms part of the title, refers to an island that represented the furthest known landmass north of Europe. The identity of this island changed as explorers discovered new lands, but for a while it was a name associated with Hekla’s own island, on what is now Iceland.