Halleluia! (Shhh!)

December 23, 2010 9:17 PM

SLYT: Awesome Silent Monks singing the Halleluia chorus! Did this really not make it here yet? Totally awesome, but delete with prejudice if it's lame or a double. If not, Happy Holidays to everyone!
posted by trip and a half (24 comments total)

That's good stuff
posted by zombieApoc at 9:35 PM on December 23, 2010

my husband: how are they flipping the signs at their feet?
me: with their MONKey toes!
posted by flex at 9:39 PM on December 23, 2010 [4 favorites]

A skit from yon Eisenhower administration, I think, but nonetheless appealing. And, even as a non-Christian, I'm always moved by Handel's ditty. So Merry Christmas, say I.
posted by adgnyc at 9:58 PM on December 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

my husband: how are they flipping the signs at their feet?
There are two students lying on the floor behind the curtain flipping the signs. You can see their hands.
posted by typewriter at 10:00 PM on December 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

What it lacks in DPRK-style precision it more than makes up for in personality.
posted by Burhanistan at 10:06 PM on December 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

I really like the version done by the 5th grade class in Quinhagak, Alaska.
posted by vespabelle at 10:07 PM on December 23, 2010 [18 favorites]

Holy cow, vespabelle! Your link should have been the FPP! (I had no idea this was a 'thing'!)
posted by trip and a half at 10:21 PM on December 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

At first I was gonna snark about the gratuitous apostrophes in the Alaska video, but then I watched all the way through and man, I am finally ready for Christmas. Beyond being really cute, that video is pretty good as a slice of life.
posted by estlin at 10:32 PM on December 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

Seriously, that Alaska video should have been the post, though I agree about the apostrophes. I still like the high school stage performance, though. Clever, and almost flawlessly executed.
posted by trip and a half at 10:52 PM on December 23, 2010

that alaska video was just great.

also, i'm relieved that this post was not about carthusians singing leonard cohen, as i had feared.
posted by facetious at 11:19 PM on December 23, 2010 [5 favorites]

I LOVE the way they do volume with energy of sign flipping, and pitch with height of sign placement. So clever!
posted by lollusc at 12:49 AM on December 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

I'd totally hit that monk in the middle.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 1:20 AM on December 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

i'll admit to being a bit Hallelujah-ed out at this point but this silent version from 2007 looks like it might be "the original" (plus it's pretty well-done).
posted by DavidandConquer at 3:27 AM on December 24, 2010 [3 favorites]

Thanks for this. I'll admit to a 'meh' when I hit the first link, but this was worth watching. (I almost clapped at the end of the Alaska kids' video.)
posted by msconduct at 4:55 AM on December 24, 2010

Wow.....I finally feel ready for Christmas.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 5:05 AM on December 24, 2010

Great post - not lame - Merry Christmas to all :)
posted by rodmandirect at 5:14 AM on December 24, 2010

Funny when I first saw it a couple of years back. Still fun.
posted by Decani at 6:01 AM on December 24, 2010

Like the Alaska video surprisingly much. Unfortunately, I'm now totally ready for, uh, Easter.
posted by TheShadowKnows at 6:42 AM on December 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

If only they had done this in a food court.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:10 AM on December 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

I was smiling until they went for the high line, and the second-to-last monk having to jump to reach the rest of them finally got me to laugh.
posted by Evilspork at 7:22 AM on December 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

Watching this I felt a sudden need to bring out my dead.
posted by tommasz at 7:58 AM on December 24, 2010 [2 favorites]

DavidandConquer: "i'll admit to being a bit Hallelujah-ed out at this point but this silent version from 2007 looks like it might be "the original" (plus it's pretty well-done)."

Nope - created by Turtle Creek Chorus, with men dressed in drag as nuns doing the signage. The full chorus's last bit is my favorite.
posted by tzikeh at 4:40 PM on December 24, 2010 [2 favorites]

I totally love this, which has singlehandedly redeemed every SLYT I've ever sneered at here. Thanks!
posted by nevercalm at 6:47 PM on December 24, 2010

turtle creek non-nuns for the win :D
posted by liza at 8:59 AM on December 25, 2010