Both San Mateo's acclaimed Ragazzi (Italian for “guy” or friend) Chorus and chorus alumni Ragazzi Continuo will be busy this weekend. On May 30, the boys present a concert that's both the season finale and a sendoff for their summer tour in South Africa and to Oregon’s PICFest. Continuo's "The Joy of Song" will be heard May 30 in San Francisco, and May 31 in Redwood City.
The boys chorus, under the direction of Joyce Keil, will sing pieces they will also perform on the tour and songs having to do with games; examples: “Baba Yetu,” the Grammy Award-winning theme of the video game <em>Civilization IV</em> with Swahili text, and the freedom song “Tshotsholoza,” taught to the chorus by the renowned Drakensberg Boys Choir, who will host Ragazzi at their home in South Africa’s Drakensberg Mountains.
Other items on the program are “Totoyo,” a South American folk song about a little boy who won't come in for dinner; a barbershop arrangement of the Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows,” as recorded for the popular video game <em>Bioshock Infinite</em>; and “Contrapunto Bestiale alla Mente,” an Italian musical game that incorporates different animal vocalizations into each singer’s solo.
Continuo Music Director Ravi Raval says the men will present a program that best exemplifies joy: "Our guys each suggested one personal favorite, and we've gone from there. We will also sing a few of our childhood favorites."
Raval says one song in particular, “I Have Had Singing,” written by Steven Sametz and suggested by tenor Zander MacQuitty, encapsulates the theme of the evening. The source is an interview with an 80-year-old horseman in England, who said of his bleak life: “But there was always singing; the boys in the field, the chapels were full of singing. I have had pleasure enough; I have had singing.”
Russian works on the Continuo program include Rachmaninoff’s majestic “Bogoroditse Devo” and the playful “Kalinka,” by Ivan Larionov. Among the Renaissance fare: Jacques Arcadelt's “Il bianco e dolce cigno” and King Henry VIII's “Pastime with Good Company.”
The boys' theme of games includes some playful "game of love" songs as well, such as Justin Timberlake's "Suit & Tie," which, Keil says, "is a fun chance for the boys to try something a little different than our usual fare."
Founded in 1987, Ragazzi provides education and performance opportunities for boys, ages 7–18. Over 200 singers, from some 100 schools and over 30 coastside and valley communities, participate in the program.
Continuo was formed in 2010 and now consists of 16 choristers, all of whom sang in Ragazzi Boys Chorus during their formative years.