Harmony, and that Stephen Taberner live magic.

Singing as well as you can, with a goodly number of other non-professional singers who were almost all strangers until the previous morning; singing a simple but powerful little song in the mighty caverns of Liverpool Cathedral; now that's a mindful activity. 

Life-enhancing, nothing to do with the trappings of funerals - it was a lovely change and maybe even a wee bit transformational. 

Harmony seems to me to have the power to carry the beauties and pains of life, to accommodate both being alive and acknowledging life's transience.  Perhaps that's why it fills people up. (Well, me, anyway!)

Your cursor over the title will take you to a YouTube clip of "Soyewela," a South African (Xhosa) freedom song.  Four other songs from the same performance are also on YouTube. The most ambitious is Stephen's arrangement of an Australian rock anthem "Throw Your Arms Around Me,"  by Hunters and Collectors. It's not perfect, but it sure is live. Before we went on, Stephen advised not to worry about ourselves, just to let the song be. It's hard to describe that feeling, but it is very presentmoment, very communal, deeply refeshing.

The man is a magician, no question.