Sunday morning had breakfast with the animated Benoit, his sweet wife Carol, and Heather, PR person extraordinaire. Benoit (along with the fantastic Shelagh) was one of the MCs for the gala and it was great getting to know him and his wife better. Carol told us stories about their adventures with their four kids… I love the enthusiasm of this talented couple! You can tell that they really enjoy life. Also had breakfast with the witty Enoch Kent Saturday morning. Oh, this is someone who will make you laugh and laugh and laugh…he is a grand storyteller… I could listen to him for hours… he is a pretty great singer too.

I had prayed for sun, and God is so good… the sky was blue! I had been longing to see the harbour from the moment we had arrived in St. Johns, and today was the day! We had a small window of time before the awards gala… so I bundled up my child, and off we went downtown to see the ocean…met such friendly folks along the twisting roads leading us downward to the harbour… Water street was fun – like Commerical Drive… and the big fishing boats were in the harbour… the rugged mountains making a way for the ocean… I remembered learning about Newfoundland in Social Studies class when I was a little girl at school… there is so much history here!! Imagine the explorers finding this part of the world as they made their way over from Europe? Incredible. We had just enough time downtown and then made it back to the hotel in time to get ready for the evening…

And the gala was magical. Some great performers had flown in to showcase their talents for the evening – I was so honoured to be part of the programme for the night. I enjoyed my backstage seat, as I’d sneak out with my little one listen to the others, and then race back inside whenever she started to sing along with whomever was on stage… we caught a good portion of the show this way…and then it was my turn to sing… I loved sharing my heart with this wonderful audience… I told them a bit about Narineh and then sang this song for them… the room got so quiet as I began… it was a pretty intense moment…I could feel everyone really listening intently to me and Gord… it is quite something when the audience is with you in this way…

We didn’t win the awards for which we were nominated, oh, but it didn’t matter…my heart was full of joy to be there, to be able to sing at the gala, to share the stage with some amazing performers… to be part of the vision of the Canadian Folk Music Awards… and the finale was awesome… Figgy Duff is playing and we are all dancing backstage to the infectious music… all of a sudden, Benoit pulls me and Enoch on stage, along with Shelagh, and we are dancing there for the audience… in a circle, twirling and swirling around… Enoch already had his coat on (he was getting ready for the after party)… and hadn’t time to take it off, before getting pulled on stage by Benoit… so there he is, in his puffy winter coat, twirling me about to the Celtic melodies accompanying us!

I can’t tell you how amazing it is to be a part of all this… some of you know how the journey with the music first began… out of what was an utterly confusing time, the opportunity to sing professionally sprung forth… I remember how devastated I was at first when door after door kept closing on me after I first got back from Armenia… little did I know that the Master was at work and was orchestrating something very beautiful… and we are living it now… singing, dancing, laughing with joy… carried away by the music…

Tags: Armenian, Canadian folk music awards, concert, folk songs, music