Song of Survival, Part 1

This is the story of 30 women who used music to maintain hope for survival while interned in a Japanese prison camp. This program is dedicated to those women who sang in the humming orchestra at the Palembang camp on the island of Sumatra during World War II. Their first concert was performed for fellow prisoners on December 27, 1943. On this program you will hear modern performances of remembered music. The arrangements of the music were made by Margaret Dryberg in the years 1943-1945. The recordings of these remarkable arrangements were made in 1985 by the Peninsula Women's Chorus of Palo Alto, California.

This program was performed by Margaret Dryberg on the island of Sumatra during World War II. This program was performed by Margaret Dryberg on the island of Sumatra during World War II. This program was performed by Margaret Dryberg on the island of Sumatra during World War II. This program was performed by Margaret Dryberg on the island of Sumatra during World War II. This program was performed by Margaret Dryberg on the island of Sumatra during World War II.

This program was performed by Margaret Dryberg on the island of Sumatra during World War II. This program was performed by Margaret Dryberg on the island of Sumatra during World War II. This program was performed by Margaret Dryberg on the island of Sumatra during World War II. This program was performed by Margaret Dryberg on the island of Sumatra during World War II. This program was performed by Margaret Dryberg on the island of Sumatra during World War II. This is your host, Roger Emmanuel's. My guests are Helen Colline, a survivor of the Palembang Camp on Sumatra, who now lives in California, and Patricia Hennings, Director of the Peninsula Women's Chorus. Helen begins her story with the year 1941, shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The Dutch East Indies, now known as Indonesia, and then a Dutch colony, were occupied by the Japanese Army. Helen was among thousands of Europeans who suddenly found themselves thrust into the chaos of World War II. Well, my sisters and I were living in Java and just before the capitulation we left Java with my father on a ship which was bombed and sunk. And after a week in a lifeboat we wound up somewhere where we had not intended to go to Sumatra, the island of Sumatra. And pretty soon we ran into the Japanese Army who captured us and took us to a place called Palembang, which is on the southeast coast. And there we gathered some 400 women and children from all parts of Sumatra, plus a whole group of people who had left in the same circumstances as my sisters and I left on a ship. And their ships were also bombed and sunk and they wound up in Sumatra.

So here you had 400 women and children and later others were added, so eventually we were 600. And for three and a half years all these women and the children lived together in various camps. And one was worse than they became successively worse. Living conditions became worse after a year and a half. Something beautiful happened, which is the story of this record and of this music. From very beginning women had had little choirs and sung songs they remembered, the British women and the Australians, the whole Australians too, the Army nurses. They sang popular songs and the Dutch sang their songs. They didn't speak each other's language. It wasn't too easy to have a combined choir. And after a while they ran out of songs and everyone thought about how boring we've heard Walsing Matilda not so many times, what else? Margaret Driver provided the else.

She was a Presbyterian missionary with a fabulous, absolutely marvelous musical memory. And she just started to write down orchestral music she remembered. Beethoven, Bach. And then with help of other women reorganize it for women's voices. And create it what she called a hamming orchestra or as we usually call it now a vocal orchestra. And then with help of other women. And then with help of other women.

And then with help of other women. And then with help of other women. And then with help of other women. And then with help of other women. And then with help of other women. And then with help of other women. And then with help of other women.

And then with help of other women. And then with help of other women. And this music was preserved by my sister who sang in this vocal orchestra. And after the war a few years ago came to light and was donated to Stanford University.

And then the archivist and the archive of recorded son in Stanford said, well, it would be wonderful to have this on tape. Well, how do you do that? So I made some inquiries and I heard there was a very fine women's chorus in the peninsula. And I sought contact with Patricia Petty. And she was quite intrigued. And I'm sure she'll tell you what her initial reaction was when she heard about this women singing Debussy and Chopin. And she discussed it with her chorus and in 1982 they gave a commemorative concert and sang a lot of the music. Maybe a third of the pieces. There were 30 pieces in all. And I think the chorus said, how many did you send Petty? I think about 15 pieces the first time. So Petty rehearsed with the chorus and we gave this concert last year, which was very well received in the community. We had three concerts. I gave the introduction as the survivor of this camp and Petty and her chorus presented the music.

They worked very hard. She too will tell you about that. And then this year the idea came about it. It would be marvelous if some of the survivors of this camp, the women who actually sang in this chorus in 1943 and 1944, would be able to hear it live. They'd heard the tapes, but that's not the same as hearing a chorus live, as we all know. And we were able to invite them over with funds. We collected for a documentary we were making. And seven of the people of the women came from Australia, Netherlands, Indonesia. And that is the second record is the song of Survival. That is the name of the documentary and the name of the music. Is the music that was sung on the reunion concert. The chorus was more prepared. I mean, they were getting better all the time. And it was a very emotional concert because we had these nine women, two from the USA, my sisters, and seven from abroad with us.

And they heard the music the way it was. They sang it 40 years ago, now sung by this California chorus, another generation, another country. It was a very, to me, and I think everyone else who was there, a very moving experience, a matter of sharing. And we were able to invite them over with funds.

And we were able to invite them over with funds. And we were able to invite them over with funds.

And we were able to invite them over with funds. And we were able to invite them over with funds. And we were able to invite them over with funds. And we were able to invite them over with funds.

And we were able to invite them over with funds. And we were able to invite them over with funds. Every time I hear the ending chords to this work, I can't help but think of what Nora Chambers told me about this music.

It's very serene, it's very quiet, and there's a positive emotional thread that goes through this entire piece. The melody itself, as you know, is based upon American folk tunes that Dvorak heard when he was in the United States. And I can't help but think that these main melody had the symbolism of hope, had the symbolism of freedom for the women singing it. And as each voice part takes on the melody, I feel that they can't help but get that message of hope and freedom coming through the music. Now Nora Chambers said in those last chords, and just listening to them, they end in such a bright sound. And Margaret Driver couldn't have scored it, arranged the notes better to get a brighter sound out of the chorus.

And Nora said, you have to crescendo at the end of that phrase until you feel victorious. Patricia Hennings met survivor Helen Colline in 1982. Helen came over one evening to show me the manuscripts. And on the telephone, I had thought, well, this sounds like a very intriguing idea. But as I waited for Helen for the appointment, I began to think, she's talking about the Dvorak New World Symphony and Chopin Preludes and mourning from the Pyrogint Suite. And she's also told me that this music was all remembered, completely arranged for memory without any musical aids, any piano, any recording, any books at all, and just reproduced on to a plain piece of paper. And I got to thinking about it and said, well, you know, this is a very interesting story, but it can't possibly be any good.

This was my honest first reaction to this music, it can't possibly be any good. And I was absolutely astounded to find a collection of 30 pieces that were so well-balanced, well-written, well-arranged. Not only did Margaret Dryberg know the pieces intimately and could remember harmonies, melodies, counter melodies, different baselines, different rhythms and inner rhythms. Not only could she do that, but she knew something about voices and could make the transition from what is basically an instrumental or piano idea, make the transition completely for women's voices and make it work. And so I thought, well, certainly, we've got to get these pieces in shape so that the chorus can read them, and that took many hours of copying over the old manuscripts. But I felt that it was really worth doing, worth for many, many reasons, primarily, that the music is really beautiful and it's well done. It has a lot of musical merit.

Not only could she do that, but she knew something about voices and could make the transition completely for women's voices and make it work. Not only could she do that, but she knew something about voices and could make the transition completely for women's voices and make it work.

Not only could she do that, but she knew something about voices and could make the transition completely for women's voices and make it work. Not only could she do that, but she knew something about voices and could make the transition completely for women's voices and make it work. Not only could she do that, but she knew something about voices and could make the transition completely for women's voices and make it work. Not only could she do that, but she knew something about voices and could make the transition completely for women's voices and make it work.

Not only could she do that, but she knew something about voices and could make the transition completely for women's voices and make it work. Not only could she do that, but she knew something about voices and make it work. Not only could she do that, but she knew something about voices and make it work.

Not only could she do that, but she knew something about voices and make it work. It's really phenomenal to think that this music was remembered. That's very difficult for a trained musician as some of us are to even imagine that possibility, especially under such harsh conditions that you must have been subjected to at the time. You say there were about 30 women who were members of the chorus and you mention the harsh conditions and indeed there were a harsh and this is not the place to give a long discount on concentration camps, but there are usually not very jolly places.

The music was, I mean the food was bad and lots of people were ill and they suffered from tropical diseases, malaria, dysentery and other things. And here were these 30 women all, this was after a year and a half in the camp so they were already, their health was running down. They were too tired to stand when they sang and every single one understand what that means that if you have to sing sitting down and there's not someone, anyone does by choice, but they did, they sat because they were too tired to stand. And here they produced, had to rehearse this music in between their camp chores which could be anything from working in the kitchen and stirring the rice in the drums or chopping wood or cleaning the septic tanks or the bathrooms to avoid a word septic tank and all of what goes with it. And there they were singing away and Marga driver had to, did not conduct a chorus.

There was an English woman who conducted the chorus who had had musical training in the Royal Academy of Music in London, but many of the women were not really good singers. And neither was anyone ever barred like a real orchestra or a real chorus for not being able to sing. If you wanted to sing you sang and Nora Chambers rehearsed with the group. Nora Chambers rehearsed with the group. Nora Chambers rehearsed with the group.

Nora Chambers rehearsed with the group. Nora Chambers rehearsed with the group. Nora Chambers rehearsed with the group.

Nora Chambers rehearsed with the group. Helen, that very first concert must have been quite an event to witness. I wish you would tell us something about that first concert that the women's chorus gave in the camp. This was almost a Christmas concert and we always think of it as a Christmas concert, although it was a few days later, it was December 27, 1943.

And as I mentioned, we had already been a year and a half in the camp and we had heard a lot of music but it was always the popular music and church music hymns. And no one knew what the program was going to be like. The chorus had tried very hard and succeeded. It's hard to believe because we were so crowded and living on top of each other but they'd found a little place behind a kitchen where it could rehearse. It was a nasty little suiti shed which was very hot. Sumatra was very tropical but they wanted this to be a surprise. They felt the impact of this music would be much greater if no one had heard little strains of it on little practice sessions. The voices, the four voices, practiced separately, which some of them thought were very boring, especially if you're in an alto and you have the accompaniment and you're just, well, petty, you sing what you do when you give the accompaniment. Well, basically you're just reading notes and rhythms and there aren't any words to follow so it's basically counting and reading intervals.

And if you can't hear the melody that it goes along with, you're just, it's maybe like practicing a basic instrument that said you have to make the notes, you know, in your mind. So the rehearsals were not always individual or rehearsals were not always very much enjoyed. However, once they started singing together, it was a great joy for the 30 women in the chorus. And of course, knowing that they were preparing this and that we didn't read the rest of us in the camp didn't know what was coming was part of the joy. And then we had our first concert and I have to quickly describe the camp way we lived in. It was a barracks camp built in a quadrangle and in the center was a compound. And in the center of the compound was a little sort of gazebo-type thing, a little music stand and covered with palm-front leaves, palm-fronts, like everything else was covered with the roofs of the barracks were too. And here everyone was gathered and everyone knew there was a concert, obviously, and no one knew what the program was going to be.

They thought, well, more of that popular stuff. They knew it was something different, but I couldn't imagine what. And I was in the audience and I was part of this tremendous feeling of excitement. Our life was so dreary and so dull when there was a concert. And particularly this one, people knew it was something special, so they dressed up for it. Now dressing up in our camp meant not much more than perhaps putting on lipstick or borrowing lipstick from a friend. People all had those dreadful clothes on, shorts and sun-halters or very much-mended dresses. And so they put the lipstick on. If they had a good dress, a liberation dress, or they're going away dress, which we saved, they put that on. And if they had a ribbon, they put it in their hair and some of the children, the parents going to boys' hair and dressed up the girls a little bit, there was this concert. And we were all sitting around together in the compound waiting for the chorus to come.

And comes the chorus, or 30 of them with their little stools to sit on. And they take place in the Pandoppo, in this Pandopposian Malay word for this little stand in the middle and sit down. The Nora Chambers, the conductor, lifts her hands and starts. And we hear the beginning of the laryngo. Well, this was something so unexpected to hear. And then, of course, it goes on. And finally, you got these marvelous crescendos, or by that time we were all not in tears. We didn't cry very easily, but we all felt shivers. Also, we had this wonderful experience. First, it was a dreadful experience with the God. The Gods didn't want gatherings. And we knew this, but we didn't pay any attention. And the God comes running from the God house when they just started the laryngo and starts with, you, you, you!

And this waving his bionette, which always had on their rifles. And Nora didn't pay any attention. She thought, well, he can't jab us all with that bionette, so we'll just go on. And then he heard what we were singing, and he was so impressed. And he sat down, and he listened through the entire concert. And so did we. Of course, with tremendous feelings of emotion, some cried anyway, in spite of not wanting to. And this was our first concert, and we had several more after that, and each time again, it seemed a miracle that among those cockroaches and rats, and the bed bugs, and the dysentery, the smells of the latrines, and the whole bit, there could be that much beauty that women's voices could actually do this. And bring this to this horrid camp. Woof woof woof woof woof woof woof woof.

Woof woof woof woof woof woof woof woof woof woof woof. Woof woo woof woof woof woof woof woof woof woof woof. Woof woo woof woof woof woof woof woof woof woof woof woof. Woof woo woof woof woof woof woof woof woof woof woof woof Baba na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama

wama na wama na wama na wama na wama na wama wama na wama na wama wama na wama na wama na wama na wama

wama na wama wama na wama a year and a half after that they stopped singing in the beginning of 1945 they had the first

concert as I mentioned the end of 1943 and they stopped singing in the beginning of 45 years by then about half the singers had died and it was not possible to find replacements or to work the weren't enough singers the first movement of Schubert's unfinished symphony is one of 30 arrangements of music which were written on scraps of paper completely from memory by a remarkable woman Margaret

Dryberg patty hennings director of the peninsula women's chorus would certainly have plenty of questions for Miss Dryberg where she alive today we should perhaps also say that Margaret Dryberg why can't Margaret answer them herself she was at the time of the camp already 50 years old and she died in the last camp which I think was a very dark day for that camp many days were dark but particularly she had brought so much to the camp in terms of poetry in terms of theater artwork and then music the musical aspect of her contribution was only a portion of the cultural types of things that she did for the camp that was one of my next questions was to ask about was to ask about this remarkable person Margaret Dryberg but now you mentioned theater and other things that she was involved in as well as I mean I realize that she had remembered somewhat

something like 30 musical compositions masterpieces of European symphonic and piano literature but she was even more artistic than that evidently well she was not about Margaret Dryberg in her background unfortunately we know very little and I've been doing some research I'm writing a book on the same subject also would you believe it called Song of Survival and I've been trying to find out about Margaret Dryberg I mean she was a missionary in China and for she went there in 1919 I think or shortly afterwards and it was there for a few years and they called her beautiful pearl the Chinese called a beautiful pearl and the only other thing I know is that she was called Daisy as a child but I do not know and I'm just hoping I can find out where she learned all that music I mean did she play the piano and did she go to a conservatory did she where did she get all this store and how did she preserve all this store I mean was she able to play in China

after a few years in China she went to Singapore and she and she worked for years in a mission in Singapore and in the camp she wasn't much to look at she was no one else was either but um because of those conditions we lived in but she had the glass she wore glasses with very thick lenses and her hair pulled back and a little burnt the back of her head but she had something going for her something very special she had a tremendous sense of humor and she was as many petty mentioned earlier a poet too she would write a verse I mean any if there was an occasion she would write someone had a birthday she'd write a very personal birthday poem if when a man were allowed to send us some food from a nearby camp she wrote a marvelous ode to the man in jail to thank them for this food this was in the first year when such nice things happened it didn't

keep up and they had variety shows and the theater that petty mentioned and there was Miss tribe writing down verse of putting together a music and words for a chorus I mean I'm one of these leg kicking things and a little skit she was always there she did for example a takeoff on Alice in Wonderland called Alice in internment camp and you know with all of the characters I guess coming from the camp itself but such creativity always finding I think a bright side in a way to make people laugh under the most dreadful conditions she must have been absolutely wonderful and when you look at the pieces many many musicians know about one type of music but not about another type of music and if you look at the whole collection you'll have for example your very serious compositions like the Devoire Jacques New World Symphony or Schubert's unfinished symphony

morning from the Perkins Suite W.C.'s reverie but then there are pieces that were sentimental favorites of the day like Yezu Joy of Man's Desiring that Myra Hess had made popular or the Pateresky Menuette Elantique or what else well the Country Gardens the the humorous well that's kind of in a different category the humorous by Devoire Jacques these were you know classical pieces that were kind of made into light classics because they were so popular popularized well by Pateresky himself or Fritz Chrysler popularized the humorous and then there was another category into which the Country Gardens or the London Dairy Air fall and those pieces are sentimental in a different way in that they reminded people of their homeland and here you are in this steamy hot Sumatra and you're singing London Dairy Air or Country Gardens and that's got to strike

very deep sometimes I wonder how the women actually made it through the pieces because of the memories they you know must have brought up for them and so you have someone like Margaret Driver who could remember all of these different types and styles of music and so perfectly write them down may I give you an example of short pieces like the Beethoven the Menuette in G is very standard the phrase structure is exactly as you would would have it on the piano score but take the Largo from the New World Symphony it's a fairly long piece and as you know without the difference in in texture and tambour of instruments it could be a very long and boring piece when only performed by women's voices so what she did is she condensed that Largo as we've

already heard tonight and although she condensed it she took a phrase from here a phrase from there and she balanced them so perfectly that when you hear them you hear oh that's the Largo from the Dvorak New World Symphony you don't feel oh well that kind of sounds like it in other words her ability not only to remember the music but then to condense it and to balance it so perfectly so that you come out with a little musical miniature that still makes a lot of sense it must it's an incredible gift the peninsula women's chorus has performed eight of the thirty arrangements remembered by Margaret

Dryberg during World War II our program included Yezu Joy of Man's Desiring by J.S. Bach the Pastoral from the Messiah by Hendel the Largo from Dvorak's New World Symphony and Dante Cantabulae by Chakowski Dvorak's Humoresque Beethoven's Minuet and G the first movement from Schubert's unfinished symphony and finally London their era I wish to thank our guests Helen Colline a survivor of the Palembon camp and Patricia Hennings director of the Peninsula women's chorus and thank you to the chorus for the recordings of this music a record in a documentary film have been released also under the title song of survival and the music has been published recently

in Holland the final selection on this program is the only one which uses a text it is the captives him written by Margaret Dryberg in Sumatra 1942 about four months of five months after we were interned in the summer of 1942 and it was sung first by a trio for the first time in a little garage where at that time 13 people lived this was our first camp and on Sundays the 13 people would all roll up the mattresses and put it outside or stack it up and then they would have a little English church surface and gradually it was sung by a church choir and gradually became our camp song even people who would never go to the English church service would know the hymn and and get a message from the hymn which I would like to read the words to you the very beautiful

words and I'm sure you'll be able to understand them when you hear them on the radio five verses and it starts father in captivity we would lift our prayer to thee keep us ever in thy love grant that daily we may prove those who placed their trust in thee more than conquerors may be give us patience to endure keep our hearts serene and pure grant us courage charity greater faith humility readiness to own thy will be we free or captive still for our country we would pray in this hour be thou her stay pride and selfishness forgive teach her by thy Lord to live by thy grace may all men see that true greatness comes from thee for our loved ones we would pray be their guardian night and day from all days to keep them free

banish all anxiety may they trust us to thy care know that thou our pains does share and then the last verse which is so marvelous when the chorus sings it may the day of freedom dawn peace and justice be reborn granted nations loving thee over the world may brothers be cleansed by suffering no rebirth see thy kingdom come on earth Father in captivity we would lift our prayer to thee keep us ever in thy love grant that daily we may prove those who placed their trust in thee more than conquerors may be give us patience to endure keep our hearts

serene and pure grant us courage charity greater faith humility readiness to own thy will be we free or captive still for our country we would pray in this hour be thou her stay pride and selfishness forgive teach her by thy Lord to live by thy grace may all men see that true greatness comes from thee

for our loved ones we would pray be their guardian night and day from all days to keep them free banish all anxiety may they trust us to thy care know that thou our pains does share may the day of freedom dawn peace and justice be reborn granted nations loving thee for the world may brothers be cleansed by suffering no rebirth see thy kingdom come on earth

this program was produced at k usp Santa Cruz California by Roger Emanuel's with technical assistance from Larry blood funding for this program was made possible in part by a grant from the Pew Memorial Trust through the American Public Radio program fund this is the American Public Radio Network