Our guest today: Sir James Galway

Helen, member of our Eating is Believing Club invited Sir James Galway to eat with us tonight. I of course had to look him up, and the more I looked him up, the more I wanted to write about 

talent and

choice

and siblings...

Come Eat and Believe with us! 

Sir James Galway

Helen's extra special love for Galway started in a blue Alfa Romeo when she was in High School, some forty odd years ago. She knew of Galway back then, admired him a bit and thought of him when she spent hours practicing her own flute. But that day, the one in the blue Alfa Romeo changed things for her. Not only in the way she saw Galway, but also in the way she saw her own sibling. 

The Irish Beer&Cheese soup is almost like a fondu...

Before our dinner, I became a little obsessed with Galway. He features everywhere. I've listened to interviews, and I listened to him playing the flute from almost every city in the world. I've watched him teach masterclasses. I've read dozens of articles, listened to him speak, inspire and of course play more flute. Talent shines from him like a headlamp. And he chose to stick with it. He gave things up, loads of things, I'm sure. But today he is known. Seen. Recognised. He still plays the flute in his eighties

Helen has been my friend for a few years now, but I never really knew that she had her own headlamp that guided her. She played for the Pretoria State Theatre Orchestra while she was still studying music, in her very early 20's. She then moved to the SABC National Symphony Orchestra and also played with an orchestra in Finland. Loving it, being guided by talent and light and music and people who came upon her path. She's done so much with her flute, there's almost not enough space to write about it.

Helen and Becs, having fun on flute and piano

But before all this we have to go back to the little blue car, the built in speakers, the tape deck and the Galway in a small dorp with two siblings sitting side by side.  Helen and André. He held the Galway tape out to his sister and then pushed it into the recorder, and played it for this laatlam sister, the one who always walked with a flute under her arm. Helen was taken aback. Her much, much older brother, played her Galway? Here! In the middle of nowhere. André was doing holiday work in a butchery for goodness sake. And he played her this? Why? She looked at him with awe, and he looked at her. Change.  

Irish Beer&Cheese soup with crispy bacon! 

While we were having our Irish beer&cheese soup André, who was of course invited, with his wife Salome, kind of answered this. He admired his sister. She was the one who got what she wanted. She was the one who was sent to Art School. He wanted to maybe also show her, that he understood her more than she thought he understood her.  

All of us had to re-look at André, because he handed out presents. Hand made, crafted, with such gentleness that it almost makes you weep: ladles. André shows wood the respect Helen shows the flute when she plays. André's hands can see, so says Helen. And Helen's hands can hear. And all I could think of while I touched the ladles was that Sir James Galway had a brother. One who played a few instruments, but one who is hard to find.

André's most exquisite handwork

André showed us more pictures of his work in wood, and it took my breath away. He is an artist in his own right. His talent shines brightly in him. Is that what he wanted to show Helen that day in the car? 

A table of friends, and sibling

As we worked our way through the Irish Beer stew, we poured more wine and Helen told us about her career as a flautist. When she came back from Finland, she chose a different path... a new life. She chose to give back what she had had. 

Helen was still playing as a professional, with a little baby, and her husband Hannes by her side, when she stumbled upon the Keiskamma Art Trust in Hamburg. They visited the little hamlet in the Eastern Cape, and Helen, being transfixed by the art, decided to use what had been established with the arts, to start a music academy. I've watched so many videos about this, and I can't help but feel that the hope that shines from this project is maybe stronger than the brightest head lamp. 

More of André's art...

André chose to use his talent to make gifts... mostly. To know that everything he ever gives to anyone is made with love. It is important to him that every item he makes is unique, and carries meaning. When André finds a piece of wood, it speaks to him. He creates around it. He listens to it, respects it... André has been an engineer all his life, but this, his hobby that he has been passionate about since the 1970's is his headlamp. I find that these paths are beautiful and clean and full of potential for even more seeds to grow. I think of Galway's brother... there is a little clip of him on Facebook playing with his mates in front of a pub. And it's chilling. The path he has chosen that is. 

These days Galway still plays the flute. Helen has become a fundraiser, a skill that was almost forced upon her through the Keiskamma trust. One that she is thankful for now. A skill that has transitioned her talents from flute to the gift of raising funds for those who need it. André is a grandfather. He still makes gifts. 

We had our dessert, lovingly made by Zenobia. We marvelled as Helen rose a last glass to André and saluted him and his ability to make her see him in a different light: an artist, in his own right. 

exras: 

* Zenobia's recipe for Irish Shortbread Toffee Bars can be found here. To die for! (Sorry Zenobia, for not having a pic!)  

* Feeling like a warming winter soup? Mauritz used this recipe for Beer&Cheese Soup. 

* Soon after our dinner, another musical genius sadly passed away. William Bennett, another of Helen's mentor's.... Read about him...