KERESIMESI CONCERT - WHY I DIDN'T PERFORM?
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Keresimesi is Abeokuta's largest Christmas concert, and I happen to be the main guitarist (but not the only guitarist) for the church that hosts the programme that day. The event took place yesterday, December 18th, at Muda Lawal Stadium. It was a large open event with a large number of people attending the programme.
People who knew I played for the church and noticed I didn't play the guitar all asked me why. and it all seemed like a long story to explain why I didn't play the guitar but was still there for the show. In fact, I wore the clothes that were assigned to musicians that day, but I still didn't play the guitar.
In this post, I would be sharing why I showed up for the event and yet didn't play the guitar....
If you assumed that the reason I didn't play the guitar was due to my absence from rehearsals, I would say you are both wrong and slightly correct. In fact, I attended 80% of the program's rehearsals from the start and played all of the songs sung yesterday in those rehearsals. So, I suppose you're wondering, what's the problem now?
The reason for this is pride and disagreement. How? This is how it's done. It all started with a Friday night rehearsal that lasted all night, followed by another Saturday rehearsal that lasted all day. I was surprised to learn that we had to rehearse again on Sunday after service, which I chose not to attend due to my stress from the series of rehearsals.
I left the church without telling anyone, but the music director saw me and was furious. I had to return to tell him and apologise for leaving, as well as properly inform him that I would be unable to attend because I had somewhere I needed to be before leaving the second time.
The next day, I saw in our WhatsApp group a message from the 2nd Music Director stating that I had been removed from the programme for failing to attend the Sunday rehearsal. I immediately entered his DM and pleaded, but there was no response from him. He simply snubbed my messages.
Then it occurred to me that I was not being compensated for all of the stress they were putting me through, and I had other people pleading with me to attend the programme during their scheduled rehearsal dates. As a result, I left for those programmes and stopped attending rehearsals because I felt unappreciated.
I chose not to play for Keresimesi again on purpose. The music director was surprised to learn that I had left the team and told a friend that I should message him again about why I was leaving. I was enraged when I received the message and he had not responded to my previous message or bothered to call me and ask why. But, in any case, I had @olujay cover for me because I had dropped my roles for the big event. You can read the keresimesi post here.
However, I had a good time on the day. I had time for myself, time to take pictures and feel included even when I wasn't performing. It was the perfect break for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Here are some photos from the concert.
These are photographs of some of the church's drummers. This does not include all of them, as some are not present. Because drums are so common, there are a lot of people who play them, and they are always in large numbers when drummers are summoned.
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Here are some photos I took with @olujay. I don't know why, but I dislike this one because it makes us look so short. The man with the camera was tall and stood quite a distance away from us.
One of the most vexing aspects of this was that they did not reserve seats for musicians (instrumentalists) and instead forced us to stand aimlessly in the field. This made me feel like they don't value us musicians enough because they don't always keep us in mind when making plans or making arrangements.
Transportation for musicians after the programme was not arranged for the same reason that the instrumentalists are not valued. Because the programme ended late, we had to arrange for commercial vehicles to transport us home. Yesterday wasn't easy for @olujay and me...
The most important thing was they shared food with the musicians, and I got to eat to bed.
NB: This post was written yesterday... Too busy to click publish...
WHO IS STARSTRINGS01
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Starstrings01, also known as Giftedhands, attends the Federal University of Agriculture in Abeokuta to study Mechatronics Engineering. He is a lover of the hive, a guitarist from Nigeria, and a student.
His ambition on Hive is to be more than just an ordinary blogger; he wants to be someone with a purpose. That's why he started the newbies initiative @newbies-hive to help guide and support newbies. Please follow the @newbies-hive curation trail by clicking here.
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I support you. Disdain things you cannot have, ignoring them is the best revenge.
Beautiful outfits, by the way, crushyy π₯°
Thanks bae! I appreciate your support!
I just read about this on olujayβs blog a few minutes ago. The music was amazing, man.
Iβm sorry about the stress you were put through because of this man. The music director shouldβve handled things differently.
On the other hand, Iβm glad to hear you enjoyed your break. The church was lucky to have @olujay to cover. Iβm not sure things wouldβve gone well without two key guitarists.
The church definitely needs to do better in terms of showing appreciation. How they treat you guys goes a long way to show how much they value you.
Man thank you! The stress was a lot back then and dropping my roles was like dropping a huge burden on me.
Imagine if the was no one else, won't they have called me themselves. I am glad olujay was around, I was able to rest well.
Maybe you guys could come together and demand better treatment for next yearβs performance? Hell, give them ultimatums if they wonβt listen!
I noticed the height too..π
The music director didn't do a good job directing. Back to back rehearsals will surely have effects on the body (as the human body isn't a machine) and kicking you out was totally uncalled for.
Y'all didn't even get treated properly at the concert.
It's all good though.
Thank you! We arenβt machines. Yet we would not treated with value.
Nice outfit you have here. As for the music director, he didn't do well. I don't know if anybody has actually notices that there is often clashes between music directors and instrumentalists. I guess this is one of those. For me there is no wrong in you. I think he ended up even helping u enjoy yourself. Weldone baba
Oh It's so sad to hear this story. That music director didn't value the effort you give for many rehearsals and in just one absent he exclude you in the group. It is heart breaking. If I was you, might be I really cried a lot that time and won't show up in the concert.
I showed up for the concert to let them know I was not moved for being removed from the team.
Oh you are so strong and thats a good attitude too. You were there not for your music instructor but for your team.
Well, one thing I hate the most is staying in a place where I am not appreciated so I understand your pain but in all, you had a really good day despite that from your pictures that I am seeing.
I really wish you well brother
Hmm, I can imagine how frustrating it must have been having series of rehearsals but then like you said, I think pride was part of the reasons why you left in the first place, you should have just asked for permission from your director than leaving without saying anything. You might not be proud but then that was the picture that you painted to your director at least.
The fact that you attended the program shows that you don't really have a bad pride, you just felt unappreciated and you thought you and your team deserved more compensation than you guys were given.
But then, we know we are humans and these things are always expected, so sorry it hurt your feelings and you didn't get to play for the program after putting so much effort to rehearsing for those days with your team.
Keresimesi, the sound of this makes me laugh sha, hehe. I know it means Christmas abi? By the way, the outfit is nice and it suits you and also that girl in the midst of the boys, hehe, fine people π₯°.
Yeah.. but I put down my pride, came back to beg him. Even after dropping me on WhatsApp, I still begged him but yet no reply. He did not reply my messages and he was online. It pained me and I decided not to waste my time again.
Although we settle disagreements on the day of the program.
The thing just get as e be sha, I think he was hurt that you did such a thing but it's not so fair that he did not reply your messages, I hate it when people snob me sha, it hurts especially when you know they are online π.
It's a good thing you both settled your disagreement that day, you did a great job ππ.
Now this is a side to the story many would not see. I'm glad you shared your thoughts and feelings, but most importantly, that we settled it all eventually.
As you know, I most likely wouldn't play any longer for church as I am in my final year in school, so the church would need you so much. Besides, you're the much better guitarist.
You're a busy man too, but I trust you could find your way around something. The church values you, it's just bad leadership that ruined things.
Oh I can imagine how frustrated it would have been. From the moment you where remove d up on to when transportation was not provided.
But look on the bright side. There was food and you had time to properly enjoy the program.
Yeah... The food was the importanter for me.
Some people tend to take some actions without thinking of possible consequences, I see no reason why the music director should have gone to those length after you apologized for your absence. I guess his reasons are best understood by him.
But that WhatsApp message delayed reply, is an attribute that both you and your music director have in common πππ, I am speaking from experience.
Well I'm glad at the end you were able to have fun because that is all that matters.
Thanks for sharing.