Every island had its own character and superlatives, but each was linked by unfailing friendliness, the gentle lilt of the Hawaiian ukulele, atropicalclimate that generally steadied between 80F and 88F, and a never-ending series of achingly beautiful sunsets.
Nothing can disguise the problems facing a new orchestra of foreigners playing to an unsophisticated audience in an 864-seat concert hall (a standard hall seats about 2, 500), at the mercy of a single corporate sponsor (the state oil company, Petronas), and in atropicalclimate that makes instruments come unglued.