I just spent two days singing when I could have been sleeping. Why? The reason is quite simple: because I love it! And I always have. My mother has this video with me singing the songs from the Danish television Christmas calender called "Nissebanden i Grønland" when I was about 3 years old while trying to play the melody on a toy guitar. So yeah, that's me. The girl who loves to sing. I'm not really a natural at it, so I have to work hard to be good. Thanks to my fantastic teacher Liza I have learned so much! Sadly, now that I've moved from Falster to Copenhagen, I can't have song lessons with her anymore. But I'll keep on working on the things she taught me! Liza, I really thank you!

But what I actually wanted to write about was this weekend. You see, I was at a Christmas Gospel Workshop at the music school Vocal Action in Horbelev. We had two fantastic intructors, Solomon Facey (who traveled all the way from London) and Liza Littau (she has this gospel choir called Breathe - they're fantastic! If you ever get the chance to listen to them, by all means, do it!). They, together with all the people also attending the workshop, made my weekend absolutely fantastic!

I can't even begin to describe the mood, but in need of a better word I'm gonna grab a term from a well-known gospel song: Joyful! Because that's what gospel is - joyful singing!

I'm not really a religious person. What I believe in is that there is something up there, but no one really knows what it is. So I don't sing gospel because I'm a really fanatic Christian. And you really don't have to be. The reason I love gospel is because of the energy there is in the songs, and because of the happiness it brings. I think pretty much everyone who's tried singing gospel, or even listening to it, will agree with me that you can't go home not feeling all bubbly and optimistic afterwards. And all the gospel people I know are so very themselves and so very open. It really moves me, I love all of them!

So there you have it. That's why I love gospel, and that's also why I definitely will not mind giving up a weekend of sleep from time to time to go sing with all those wonderful people. I'll see you all again at next year's Sydhavsgospel!