Nova Scotia

'You could feel her presence': Halifax's Big Sing honours Ethiopian Airlines victim

A singing event in Halifax on Monday was dedicated to the memory of Danielle Moore, who was killed in the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.

Plane crash victim Danielle Moore was a regular participant at The Big Sing

Danielle Moore, 24, was headed to the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya when she died in an Ethiopian Airline crash that killed 157 people. (Danielle Moore/Facebook)

Friends of Danielle Moore gathered in Halifax this week for an event dedicated to a person being remembered as full of light. 

"She just beams light with her smile and her energy and her kindness, and when she was singing that just came out in full force," Big Sing facilitator George Woodhouse told CBC's Information Morning. 

When the Big Sing started hosting biweekly public singing events in Halifax in 2017, Moore was among the first people to get involved. She was a regular while attending Dalhousie University in Halifax. 

Moore was one of the 157 people killed when Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa on Sunday.

On Monday night, facilitators dedicated the performance of Sam Smith's Stay with Me to Moore's memory.

Participants at The Big Sing on Monday. (Tim Mombourquette/The Big Sing)

"It was something beautiful and powerful and I think really helpful for everyone just to be there and help each other just by singing from the heart," Woodhouse said.

Woodhouse said that members of the Big Sing team were unsure about whether they should go ahead with the week's event, given how news of Moore's death was affecting the team and the broader community. But they concluded it would be Danielle's wish that they proceed.

Participants are shown at the Big Sing on Monday. Moore often attended when she was a student at Dalhousie University. (Tim Mombourquette/The Big Sing)

Woodhouse said though the choice of song wasn't a deliberate attempt to mark the occasion "it really seemed to fit the energy of the evening" and that the act of singing rekindled, for an evening, some of Moore's light.  

"I think you could really feel her presence there, you know, in that loving way — the way it always would be when she would come."