Thanks 'Dough. That was great.

Here's a little experience I had once.

I was booked to entertain a group of Finnish "export import something" folks, on the Toronto Island (sort of a big park).T'was fun. Naturally I didn't know any Finnish songs, but they were having a good time. Midway through the evening about 10 guys wandered over to where we had a campfire going. I said "Hi, join the group", but they stayed on the periphery.

The agent who booked the gig immediately came over to me and whispered "no, no, those men are from the RUSSIAN trade delegation. Their convention isn't being held on the Island. They took the ferry on their own over here. Finns and Russians HATE each other. Leave them be, or you'll offend the Finns.

Hmmmm, I thought. If those guys wanna hear the music, then I'm NOT going to ignore them, despite what the agent says (see why I've never gotten rich?) I started singing "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" and tried to teach it by rote to the folks. Many actually KNEW it. Got the Russians to sing "Swing low", then a quick response "Swing low" from the Finns, and I supplied the "Sweet Chariot". Worked great. Bottom line was that within a few minutes the Russians were in the midst of the Finns, singin 'bout Jesus (and drinking the free beer!) Both groups loved the Gospel songs....and they seemed to be chatting to each other with smiles on their faces, whether in Finnish or Russian, I don't know.

I'm not religious, but I know the power of those songs.

Rick