On Friday night I was walking by the National Cathedral along Beach Road with a few friends. It was raining. We we on our way to dinner at one of the local hotels. Instead we ducked into the cathedral where the National Youth Choir of Great Britain was performing.

Tickets were going for 50 tala (about 18 USD), but I knew someone at the door and we got in for 10.

The National Youth Choir (105 members strong) is well regarded, generally acknowledged to be one of the finest choirs of any kind in the world. This is blessing for the western-culture starved island of Samoa. This is the choir's first trip to Samoa on a world tour that also includes New Zealand, Australia, and Singapore.

The choir’s repertoire is vast, containing masterpieces from the past for massed voices and contemporary music from around the world including songs from Africa, from the Pacific rim and from all parts of Europe, as well as gospel and popular arrangements.

I couldn't get into the the first half of the performance. I was hungry and uncomfortable in the wooden pews of the cathedral. Then during the intermission, we stuffed our faces with egg and tuna salad sandwiches, mini meat pies and ginger mufffins. I felt great.

The second half of the concert was amazing. There were three pieces that I really enjoyed. The first was an arrangement of Billy Joel's "And so it goes". The second was something called "The Seagull" by Irishman John Hearne. For this song, the female members of the choir spread themselves around the perimeter of the church. The song was this man's impression of the flight of a seagull. Each woman sang a slightly different part of this rolling, mystical arrangement. It was haunting and gave me goose bumps. The last song I liked was a Zulu song called "Hamba Lulu" which was just pure fun.

It was a great night in Apia.