For 10 years I was the choirmaster of my local choir, Vestbygda Blandakor. And as such, I had the pleasurable duty of preparing the annual Advent Concert. I had to ensure that when the lights in Onsøy Church were turned down and the audience relaxed in their pews, lit only by the hundred flickering flames of the candelabra, then they would snuggle closer together, feel the warmth of community again. And most of all, the emotional pull of Christmas music. I love those Advent and Christmas songs that are intended to resound in a building devoted to the continuity of generations. Those old songs put you in contact with humans as they have been at midwinter: struggling with daunting temperatures, with the need for fuel and sustenance – but coping thanks to the bonds of community and family.

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