Village Harmony sang traditional songs from around the world in harmony with the audience at the Monadnock Summer Lyceum on Sunday.
The audience traveled from Bulgaria to Hungary and back to New England through a mix of a cappella songs and instruments played by the ensemble.
Village Harmony is a Vermont nonprofit that promotes the performance and study of traditional songs found across the globe.
For more than 30 years, the group has formed ensembles of teens and young adults to foster learning of traditional music and travel to different countries. The ensemble performing at the Monadnock Lyceum was led by Lysander Jaffe, Liam Kantor and Lexi Ugelow.
Before each grouping of songs, the leaders introduced the history and story of the music. Whether the songs were in English or another language, such as Yiddish or Irish, the leaders made sure the audience understood their significance.
“One really cool thing about a lot of the styles we’re singing in this concert is that they’re organized around harmony, and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” Jaffe said.
Ugelow shared music the group sings from Hungary that she learned in childhood or from her own family.
“Songs that I love personally that I want to pass along, and hopefully some of these folks love it as much as I do,” she said.
The performers urged anyone considering attending camp with Village Harmony to “do it.”
To view the full discussion, go to the Monadnock Lyceum website at monadnocklyceum.org/speaker/village-harmony.
The next Monadnock Summer Lyceum speaker is Michael Brownstein, on Sunday, July 26, at 11 a.m. at the Peterborough Unitarian Universalist Church. Brownstein is a professor and chair of philosophy at John Jay College in New York City and will address how to overcome feeling powerless to create social change.
The event will be moderated by Dr. Kiki Berk, with a music performance by Eric Blackmer and the Grove Street Band. As always, the discussion will end with a question-and-answer session and reception.