The 2018-19 Westgate Mennonite Collegiate Concert Choir has something to help get you into a playful Halloween spirit.
Last June, the choir filmed a video for its rendition of “Hall of Snarky Ghosts,” a song written and arranged by Westgate alumnus Dan Wiebe. The school uploaded the video to YouTube last month.
Filmed and edited by Darryl Neustaedter Barg, the video was shot in and around Westgate. One of the key locations was the Ralph Connor House, an 11,000 square-foot Jacobethan-style mansion just a few doors down from the Winnipeg school.
It was built in 1913 for Charles W. Gordon, who wrote novels under the pseudonym Ralph Connor. Gordon was a Presbyterian minister and one of the founders of the United Church of Canada.
“It’s a stately old manor and there are tales of it being haunted, so I thought it would be the perfect place to film ‘Hall of Snarky Ghosts,’” says Vic Pankratz, the choral conductor at Westgate.
“I chose this song because an alumnus wrote it," he adds. "That was important to me.”
Whether the song is about literal or figurative ghosts is up to you to decide. You can read the lyrics below, and you can read a serious reflection on the season titled "Keeping Christ in Halloween" here.
You take it all for granted
Saying that every soul is fed
But do you really know?
And my ghost will walk this hall
And say, “How do you do?”
This is how we hear
Say it in my golden ear
All is clearly well as you can tell
And your ghost will walk this hall
And say, “How do you do?”
Will you come again?
To the righteous or to the willing damned?
We’ll be on the lookout
And my ghosts will walk this hall
And say, “How do you do?”
Disclosure: The author of this article sits on Westgate Mennonite Collegiate's board of directors.
Do you have a video we should see? Email submit@canadianmennonite.org.
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The 2018-19 Westgate Concert Choir inside the Ralph Connor House. (Photo courtesy of YouTube)
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