It was 2:55 am and I heard a rooster crow from the cottage where I am staying on the grounds of All Saints Episcopal Church. “Welcome to Kauai,” my student had warned me earlier. If you don’t know it already, all the Hawaiian islands, but especially Kauai, have massive colonies of feral chickens.

Here is how one website described it:

Worldwide, chickens outnumber humans about three to one, but on the Garden Isle the number is twice that. Recent tracking suggests as many as 450,000 of these fowl are running amok on Kauai. That’s no paltry amount of poultry. Especially when you consider the population of the island is only around 73,000, meaning that for every local resident there are six chickens.

I’m here this weekend to play a concert with the Kauai Chorale, directed by Shane Morris Wise, but tonight’s concert is only one of three concerts the Chorale is singing. Last night’s concert at the Kauai Philippine Cultural Center was a fun, eclectic mix of holiday songs from many countries. As Morris said, he made the Chorale sing in a wide variety of languages, including indigenous Huron, Czech, Japanese, Swahili, and Catalan. The music was expertly accompanied by Ben Nause, pianist, and a variety of instruments including cello, bassoon, trumpet, and percussion.

The concert included young students from the Garden Island Dance Academy which added to the festivity of the night.

When I entered the building, I was pleasantly surprised to see musicologist Lynne Johnson from Honolulu at the ticket table! She has a sister who is singing in the Chorale.

I also enjoyed meeting Gerry, Morris’ mom, who calls him Shane, while everyone else calls him Morris!

I did spend about four hours practicing yesterday, but this morning there’s a funeral in the church and I meet the Chorale for our one and only rehearsal this afternoon at 2:00 pm.

Wish me luck!