My wife and I were able to attend a wonderful concert last night in Canada, by an artist I had never even heard of until Tuesday, when I was listening to some music by a Quebecois group on YouTube. Another artist came up as a suggestion, and I listened to a couple of her songs--they were wonderful. So I made up my mind to look up some more of her music when I could, and went on doing other things. Then we went to Magog, where we try to spend a weekend or two every year that we're near enough to do so, and as we were walking downtown we passed a concert venue. I looked at the schedule and saw a picture of Ingrid St. Pierre, the singer I had heard. I said to my wife, "Wow, it's too bad we're going to miss her," and then I looked at the date--she was playing there the following night, our second night in town. Even though my French is quite poor and my wife speaks none, we decided to go see her--after all, what are the odds of "discovering" a singer on Tuesday and getting a chance to see her on Saturday? We went, and we were treated to almost 90 minutes of wonderful music--she's a great pianist and singer, and her lyrics are not your standard pop fare--she sings with depth and with feeling, and it was easily one of the best concerts I've ever seen. And since the show last night, I have to wonder at life--how did it allow me to hear her music for the very first time on Tuesday, when I was going to be staying in a bed and breakfast less than two blocks away from her next concert, in a completely different country, just a few days later? Life fascinates me when it does things like that, but I know that I also have to give to it--I have to explore new music, I have to put myself in situations in which things like this can happen, and I have to be willing to spend the money to see a show in a language I understand poorly if I'm to get the benefit of life pushing me in this particular direction.
And if you ever get the chance to see Ingrid St. Pierre (if you're in Quebec), don't worry about any language barriers--she's a wonderful performer!
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