Abigail Washburn made an emotional return to The Bookworm in Chengdu on Saturday evening for a special performance reuniting her with the children from Shuimo who performed on the fund-raising Afterquake EP.
As well as treating the packed room to a selection of her newest songs with Kai Welch, they also invited Chen Honglin, Luo Shuang, and the other children on stage to sing Little Birdie, Song for Mama, and sing-along-favourite Sala (which, after such an impressive earlier performance, was requested as an encore by the enthusiastic crowd).
As a special bonus for the children (and a number of excited audience members), Oscar-winner Richard Taylor and Weta Workshop wizard Greg Broadmore made a guest appearance, enjoying the show and posing for photos with the children.
A post-performance rush for Afterquake CDs, all proceeds of which raise money for SQR, made a welcome end to a wonderful evening’s entertainment.
Abigail and Kai entertain the children of Xiaoyudong on our CSA trip
The following day Abigail, Kai and their engineer/vocalist/instrumentalist James joined parents and staff from EtonHouse International School, students from the South-West University of Nationalities, and the SQR team, on a Chengdu Sports Aid trip to Xiaoyudong.
After an hour or two of football, frisbee, basketball and other warming activities, Abby and Kai wowed the children with four or five songs in English and Chinese, and got them going with a sing-a-long version of Little Birdie. EtonHouse kindly handed out gifts of toys, games and clothing to the gathered children.
The concert at the Bookworm was a treat musically and a very moving occasion, trite as that sounds. Seeing Abigail meet her ‘Afterquake CD’ collaborators and being in the audience as they made music again was lovely. Having the Oscars handed round by the guys who did Lord of the Rings, District 9 and many more and were heavily involved in Avatar, was also reasonably memorable for all concerned.