Wanted: one organist for concert in remote Bolivian jungle accessible only by raft. Must be prepared to face rapids, alligators and 30C (86F) temperatures. Ability to swim a bonus.
Church organists are rarely an essential part of expeditions into the Amazonian rainforest, but a team of scientists about to embark on a journey to a far-flung meteorite impact site in Bolivia believe that one will be key to achieving their mission.
Colonel John Blashford-Snell, a professional adventurer who made headlines in 2000 when he took a grand piano 350 miles (560km) along the Amazon River as a present for the Wai Wai tribe in Guyana, intends to deliver a pedal organ to the isolated Ojaki community as a way of persuading its people to help his expedition.
The colonel’s team, which will also help to install a clean water supply and perform medical duties for the Ojaki people, are reliant on local expertise to build bridges to the impact site, which is five miles wide. The locals are religious and have asked the visitors to install an organ in their newly built church.
The organ — a pedal-powered Harmonium donated by St James’s church in Milton Abbas, Dorset — will be flown to La Paz and then transported by lorry 120 miles over the Andes to the Beni river. It will then be loaded on to a 59ft (18m) boat for a 430-mile journey over rapids and more dangerous, man-made hazards.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Church organist required for jungle meteorite hunt
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2 comments:
Ability to swim a bonus.
Just icing on the cake after facing rapids and alligators. And don't forget, at the end of it all, you get to power the organ yourself.
This is the best argument I've ever heard for guitars in church.
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