Back home, Thijs Hannen is a chief archivist for the government, first in the Netherlands to introduce digitalized archiving. In his spare time he makes music.
Thijs and his partner, Antoinette, sponsored a university student from Nepal a few years ago. The young woman often encouraged them to visit her country. They promised to do so if and when she got married.
The three day event took place a month ago. Since then, Thijs and Antoinette have explored, ending up in Kathmandu and Swagat Home Stay.
Thijs is classically trained and performs on a number of instruments. During COVID he fell in love with opera. Now it’s his first love, so much so that he’s composing a mini-opera on Mozart’s life.
When Sugat learned of Thijs’ passion, the two put together an evening of music at Sugat’s new restaurant, the Jacaranda.
Pa and I were invited.
Despite the rain, and the power outage, it was a wonderful evening. Dinner was first. I ordered deep fried momos,
a kind of dumpling at the top of the list of Nepalese favorites.
Wonderful.
Then the concert began.
Thijs started with a few favorites, Hallelujah included.
Antoinette was enamored
and nearly everyone sang along.
A traditional Nepalese song was next,
followed by opera - Mozart, Wagner, Pavarotti.
Near the end, Thijs changed into local attire and played the Nepalese anthem.
At my request, he closed with Andrea Bocelli’s Time To Say Goodbye, in Italian.
It was a hit.
After everyone else had left, Pa and I visited with Thijs, Antoinette, Sugat, Roshani, and Giovanni, a young man from France.
It was the best evening Pa and I have had since leaving home.
This morning Thijs had another engagement. The Trevini Public School is a block from Swagat,
attended by 200 students,
and supported by several individuals and organizations. Thijs had previously met with the principal, offering to teach a class. Today was the day.
The choir master and his choir started with a traditional Dutch tune,
followed by a Japanese children’s song:
The finale was Nepal’s national anthem supported by three older students on traditional drums:
Afterwards, Thijs spoke with the principal, Roshani, and two teachers,
while Pa and I talked with a few of the students about what they liked best about school.
It was the best morning we’ve had since leaving home.
I got a bit behind on your blog this week with everything going on, but I'm getting caught up this morning. Glad to hear you had such a wonderful evening.
Hi, Fred, finaly at home and time to read your blog. Also saw your fitting photos. Nice report of my my activities in Kathmandu. Thanks! Keep on blogging. Hope to see you someday in Roermond, the netherlands. Greetings, Thijs and Antoinette. 0
Oh, what a night! And morning! Music is truly the universal language and the best part of the journey are the people you meet along the way.
Please extend to Thijs and Antoinette our invitation to begin their inaugural American tour here at the Farm. We have the perfect stage (the porch) and I can provide accompaniment on the piano. John, of course, will want to join in on guitar. We can probably get our fiddle playing friends to join us, too. Mason County Dutch Jamboree!