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World On Your Street: The Global Music Challenge
Aldona Caldicott
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Describe the atmosphere and live music at a local pub, restaurant, festival, church or temple, club night.... inspire other people to check it out!


Musician: Aldona Caldicott

Location: Leicester

Instruments: voice, conductor

Music: Polish


ÌýÌý to Aldona Caldicott talk about her music

ÌýÌý to Aldona Caldicott perform the song 'You Are Just Here By Me'

'I don't think I can imagine life without singing. It's great fun, great pleasure.'

How I came to this music:

Polish churchI am the conductor of the Polish Choir. I'm not a conductor by profession. It's the love of music which makes you do unexpected things. This happened when our official conductor had a baby and someone had to step in.

I don't think I can imagine life without singing. It's great fun, great pleasure. It's something that I really look forward to at each weekly session. We're celebrating our 50th anniversary. Some of our singers have been in the choir almost as long which tells you something about the commitment.

Where I play:

We regularly play at country weddings which are typically very large affairs with a lot of guests. After a while everybody gets very merry and happy once they've had a few drinks. Then there'll be a singing competition going.

Singing is still a huge Polish tradition especially in rural areas. You can almost guarantee that if you go to a wedding, there will be singing.

A favourite song:

Aldona Caldicott and the Polish Choir'You Are Just By Me' is quite typical of what you might hear at a wedding. It's a church song about the Virgin Mary. In the song, we're talking to Virgin Mary who is one of the most prominent figures of religious life. She has been officially crowned Queen of Poland and is revered in many songs. There's vast literature devoted to the Virgin Mary as a mother and Queen of Poland. This song is celebrating the diversity of her presence in our life.

It's saying "You are here with us all the time, day and night. You are here in the sunshine and the dawn when the dew appears, when we go to sleep. You are always supporting us. You are always by me and I can always turn to you in all the good and bad moments."

That's a song for a variety of occasions, most particularly at a wedding. Here a couple embarking on a new life think about all the support they have and how they'd like to thank somebody for all the great things that are happening.

Click here for Hande Domac's storyClick here for Mosi Conde's storyClick here for Rachel McLeod's story


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