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Kew Band

To: brass-band list <brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Kew Band
From: Denise & Graham <gradenunited@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1999 20:08:40 +1300
Organization: Graden United Limited
Priority: low
Reply-to: brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

To Glen McGowan and the Kew Band,

As a former member of the Wellington Citadel SA Band (NZ) who toured
Japan 20 years ago in April 1979, a few months before Black Dyke first
went there, I want to wish the Kew Band all the best for your upcoming
tour to Japan. If our experience is anything to go by you'll have a
ball. We started with a televised concert in NHK concert hall Tokyo (did
4 encores here) and spent 12 days touring down to Osaka and back. Every
night played to audiences of 3000-4000+ as well as numerous lunch time
recitals. Swamped at most venues with autograph seekers - a real high
(who needs drugs!!!).

I don't know what it's like now but when we were in Japan the band had
to be promoted as either a "classical" group or a "pop" group. Our
Japanese organisers decided that we would naturally be a classical
group. Unfortunately that meant that some of the more upbeat pieces we
had planned to do and the slide shows on a "This is NZ" theme were not
to be permitted.

However after protracted negotiation we managed, against their wishes,
to convince the promoters to let us do a jazzed up version of "Joshua
fought the battle of Jerico" at the end of the first half of the NHK
concert. Well it went down a hoot. Standing ovation and all in a packed
3500 seat NHK concert hall. Unfortunately for the TV crew they mucked up
the camera work so at half time the message came down to us. Could we
pleeeeeeaaase do it again!! Future negotiations went a bit smother after
that although we never did get to do the "This is NZ" slide show!

Anyway all the best for your tour. Hope it goes as well as ours did.

Graham
Euphonium
Waikato Times Hamilton Brass


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