African Children's Choir on Idol Gives Back

We were blessed again this past week to watch, listen, enjoy and remember our girls from the African Children's Choir as they performed with Josh Groban on Idol Gives Back. I haven't got caught up in the whole American Idol "thing" or "phenomena" and we typically don't watch it. However, this night was different as two nights of performances and videos were shown to raise awareness and money for impoverished children in the US and Africa. I have again been amazed at how God is able to use seemingly improbable venues and people to bring glory to Him. As of April 26, which is now three days ago, over $60 million has been raised. Simply amazing.

Michelle posted Silent Night on her blog back on December 23rd when the choir appeared on The Tonight Show, to which I added the video I recorded onto VHS tape. Editing her entry, I added a remark that I wish I had a High Definition version of the show. Well, I haven't found that particular show in HD yet, but the American Idol show was in HD and I did record it. So my prayer has been answered.

[Geek speak: Lucky for me, Idol (Fox) is not encrypted (the 5c bit set to "Copy Freely") which means I can stream it to my Mac over Firewire from my DVR, capture it with AVCVideoCap which is part of the freely available Apple FireWire SDK, and transcode it from MPEG2-TS to AVI or QuickTime with MPEG Streamclip]

I haven't been able to add nametags to our girls in the video, but here are still pictures of them from the video:

Dora

Esther

Stella

If you didn't watch the show, I think it would be worth the time to download one of the files below. While these High Definition files are large, the quality is stunning. And, if you have a high-powered PC, the AVI file below is full 720p including 5.1 surround sound. If you have trouble with the AVI file, you may need AC3Filter for audio or DivX for video.

Right-click and download:
Download QuickTime 720p version [100.7MB, 1280x720, 29.97fps, stereo]
Download DivX AVI 5.1 version [104.5MB, 1280x720, 59.94fps, 5.1 surround] (May require VLC for OSX.)

If you don't have a need (or desire) to watch this in HD or surround sound, you can also download relatively small version which weighs in at a meager 23.8MB.

Dora, Esther and Stella, "Our girls," look beautiful .... just like they did when they were here. I've watched the video several times and even though they only singing background for Josh, I get emotional watching and listening to their small yet strong voices. I remember so well hearing them in person the two times we were blessed to be able to, and I long to see them and hug them again. May God continue to enrich their lives, and to give them strength as they continue on their journey. I pray He keeps their faith strong when they return to their homeland to further their education, that they share their friend Jesus with everyone they meet and have the courage to listen and obey God throughout their lives.