Happy Bi Visibility Day!

For this year’s Bi Visibility Day – on 23 September – we’ve asked soprano Abigail and alto Alicia to tell us a little bit about why today is so important to them.

Bi Visibility Day

Abigail:

Abigail KayYou could say that today is my fourth Bi Visibility Day, having come out just over three years ago, but that feels a little over-generous. I can’t remember clearly, but I don’t think I even knew about Bi Visibility Day the first time it rolled around after I came out. Given that I grew up not ever really hearing about bisexuality (and then, when I did, hearing only the slurs) and not realising I was bi until I was 21, it doesn’t surprise me all that much that the specific day for our community wasn’t on my radar!

It’s interesting how my feelings have evolved around the day over the last couple of years. When I first came across it, Bi Visibility Day was a cute little novelty to me – something along the lines of ‘awww, ain’t that sweet, we have our own day!’. I’ve started to become much more active in the bi community recently, though, and this year, it feels almost like a mini-Pride for bi people. I’ve been looking forward to it and posting about bi identities and bi-phobia more on Facebook over the last few days (it’s even given me an excuse to relaunch my blog!), and I’m excited to be part of something which is gradually helping more and more people like Teenage-Me to see and hear themselves represented across society. Happy Bi Visibility Day, everyone!

Alicia:

AliciaAs a woman in a long-term relationship with a man, I was initially worried about mentioning him to fellow Pinkies in case they thought I wasn’t ‘LGBT+ enough’ to be in an LGBT+ choir. This of course was a completely unfounded concern, as I have had nothing but positive reactions when talking about my partner. The Pink Singers in their very nature are a very open and accepting group – no matter what your life-choices are, they won’t bat an eyelid. (I think I could tell them I was dating a giant orange spotted dinosaur and they’d just ask, ‘How’s Rex been lately?’).

My bisexual ‘awakening’ came a lot later in life than a lot of people who realise they have same-sex attractions. I thought ‘Everyone thinks girls are really pretty, don’t they?’ So I never really spent much time agonising over it until I was 18, when I finally realised that not everyone thinks girls are really pretty (shocking, I know). I had a momentary panic until my now-boyfriend told me to stop freaking out and that sexuality is fluid and it doesn’t really matter anyway. I’ve gone through a few other realisations about myself in the years since, but still feel that ‘bisexual’ sums me up in simple terms.

Happy Bi Visibility Day to everyone, with love from the Pinkies! Watch our video which proudly raises the BiPride flag. 🙂

Harmonics from Hong Kong

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This summer, the Pink Singers hosted Hong Kong based choir, Harmonics. One of its members, Alex, describes the opportunities the global LGBT+ choir community have opened up for him – and how his Pinkie experiences in London and Dublin have made him feel part of the family! 

August marked the Harmonics choir’s first birthday. My choir and the LGBT choir culture here in Hong Kong is very young, and of course, I am very new to the choir scene. I am not trained in music and I joined the Harmonics just for fun.

Our first gig was a fundraising event for a local charity, AIDS Concern. The song we performed was Truly Brave, a mash-up of Cindi Lauper’s True Colours and Sara Bareilles’ Brave. I had only few rehearsals before the performance as I joined late. Boy, I was so nervous that night! Our music director Matthew Gillespie encouraged us by reminding us that the song had a message and it was up to us to share the importance of being true, heard and seen. I imagined the message being delivered to someone who really needed to hear it in the audience. So I gathered my courage and sang. The message was indeed delivered, and it turned out that the person who needed to hear that message was me. From that night on, I felt that our choir is about more than just singing.

Soon after the gig, I got more involved with the Harmonics and started to manage the choir, but it was not until Hsien from the Pink Singers in London reached out to us on social media, and Richard from the Portland Gay Men’s Chorus visited us, that I realised that there was a huge international LGBT choral community out there. They showed us what we could become.

It was exciting to be invited to visit Dublin and London. I had always wanted to see Ireland and had always loved London. I couldn’t wait to finally meet Hsien, a self-proclaimed choir geek with a collection of weird yet fashionable glasses and his short-shorts and heels-wearing, rather handsome, “dance-y” friends from the Barberfellas. I was also excited to say “hello” to the well-dressed, charming theatrical trio from Dublin’s the Homonics, but, I knew that I was on a mission. I was to meet with the choirs and to learn how they were run.

In order to stick with the oldest LGBT choir in Europe, the Pink Singers, during the trip to Dublin, I had to make myself useful. I was given the nerve-wracking job of page turner, images of me messing up the pages and accidentally elbowing the accompanist flashing in and out my brain. John, who later bonded with me over wine after a stage malfunction, is an experienced pianist. He is pale, calm and always has a subtle friendly smile on his face. He spotted the anxiety in my sweat at the rehearsal and said, “The worst thing a page turner can do is to hold the bottom right corner when they turn. I will nod when the page needs turning. You will be okay.”

It was a lovely evening with the Pinkies. They practiced about a dozen songs and sounded beautiful. John continued to calm and reassure me. Things got a little odd when they sang a song called Hand in Hand. People started to hold hands and some people began to tear up. “Oh my, these people are strange”, I thought. Later I found out that the Pinkies learned the song from the Orlando Gay Chorus 20 years ago. The Pinkies’ thoughts were with those who lost their lives in the recent shooting in Orlando. It was the most emotional rehearsal that I have ever been in.

My trip to Dublin was too short to say anything more than that the people were very proud and friendly, and the city gave a genuine vibe. They had the chattiest and friendliest taxi drivers in the world. I would love to go back to see Dublin and Ireland more.

The award winning Gloria is Dublin’s lesbian and gay choir and has about 60 singers. As I was listening to their chairman Richard telling the story of the choir, I learned that that homosexuality was decriminalised in Ireland in 1993, which was actually two years after Hong Kong. Gloria was founded in 1995, which was 20 years before us. On the verge of exploding with choir envy, I heard that the Irish President had invited Gloria to perform at a banquet he was hosting. Hong Kong has a long way to go for equality compared to Ireland: Ireland has a marriage equality bill while in contrast Hong Kong does not even have an anti-discrimination law to protect LGBT people. I wondered, “Is the success of an LGBT choir the cause or the product of equality? Let’s grow the Harmonics to find out!”

I was pretty good at memorising people’s names until the London Gay Men’s Chorus presented me with an impossible challenge. The LGMC is an entirely different beast from the other choirs. With over 200 men, it is raging on testosterone! They are unapologetically powerful when it comes to protest or marching songs and have a ridiculously long waiting list for new singers. It takes three years of waiting time for a baritone like me to join the chorus. This popular choir was featured at the Natural History Museum, one of my favourite places in London, on the historic day when the United Kingdom announced it was to leave the European Union. It was a sad day for many, but the LGMC left me rather positive. They sang Mister Blue Sky facing my favourite exhibit, the iconic Dippy, inside a magnificent building where nature was recorded and homosexuality was celebrated.

The highlight of my trip was getting to march with the Pink Singers at Pride in London. It was a beautiful sunny day. The Pinkies were in their pink or black t-shirts. Balloons, banners and happy faces painted with rainbows filled our parade. We sang as we marched and the crowd on both sides cheered and sang along, as though we were a group of marathon runners at the finishing line, the difference being that the ovation lasted for almost an hour. It was such an emotional experience and it was the first time I felt publicly celebrated for who I am. All I wished was that my choir could have been there with me to share that moment.

I was even given the chance to sing with the Pink Singers on the stage in Trafalgar Square after the march. The song was Together, the theme song of Pride in London this year.  It was about being true and about our community spirit, an echo of the experience of the night of my first performance in Hong Kong. Again, I felt nervous about singing after only few practices, but again I was empowered and nurtured. “We are a community choir, so while musicality is important, we just value inclusiveness a bit more”, Hsien once told me. The Pinkies do practice what they preach.

In the end, I learned what I anticipated I would learn, and then some. I went from being very eager to become like other established choirs to realising that each choir has its own unique stories and challenges, strengths and charms. I am extremely thankful for what my choir has given me and I am very proud of the community that we build and the passions that we share. Our music director always emphasises how music bridges the gaps. It is so true. Music has brought us all together and now I have a group of friends in Hong Kong, London and Dublin that I call family.

Timeline datestamp: 20 September 2016

Queer India Today: Identity, Intersectionality, Illegality: The Q&A

India seminarA big thank you from the Pink Singers to all our speakers at yesterday’s Queer India Today seminar.

Unfortunately, we ran out of time for a proper question and answer session, however all our speakers have kindly agreed to address your questions over on the discussion on the event page.

If you would prefer to post anonymously, please feel free to email hsien.chew@pinksingers.co.uk and he will gladly post the question on your behalf. Head on over and let’s talk! Click here to join the discussion.

A reminder of the speakers and subjects:

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J Daniel Luther
Being Gay in the times of Section 377: India and the de/re-criminalisation of Same-sex desire’ – This talk will trace the recent developments in the legal struggle against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, highlighting the key issues facing men who identify as Gay in contemporary India in the context of the recent re-criminalisation.
J Daniel Luther is a Doctoral Researcher at the Department of South Asia in SOAS, University of London. Their Ph.D research focuses on tracing the History of Normativity in India through Indian literature and popular film. They are one of the co-organisers of the recently concluded Queer Asia 2016 Conference held at SOAS.
jacquelyn-streyJacquelyn Strey
‘Women’s Pride? Women’s voices and experiences’ This talk will cover the particular issues faced by lesbian and other queer women in contemporary India followed by a brief discussion of the Queer Azaadi Mumbai Pride parade in Mumbai.

Jacquelyn is a PhD candidate in the Centre for Gender Studies at SOAS in London. Her work focuses on the everyday lives of queer women in India and uses queer theory as her main lens of analysis. Jacquelyn lives in London with her partner, Darren, and their dog Hugo.
jennifer-ung-lohJennifer Ung Loh
‘Negotiating the “T” in LGBT: positioning “transgender” identity in contemporary India’ This talk will consider hijra, kinnar, and transgender identity,particularly investigating male-to-female ‘transgender’ identity in modern India by looking at identities and roles among the hijra community and current legal judgments concerning ‘transgender’ identity.
Jennifer Ung Loh is currently a Research Associate at the South Asia Institute, SOAS, University of London. Awarded her PhD in May 2014, Jennifer’s research is on constructions of gender and sexuality in contemporary South Asia, specifically investigating hijra and kinnar (‘transgender’) identity.
vinodh-philipVinodh Philip
‘Rainbow Voices Mumbai: making music in 377 India’Rainbow Voices Mumbai is India’s first LGBT choir. This talk will explain how the choir was formed (as part of his personal coming out story), and why, in the context of the fight against 377,prejudices and stereotypes in India, it tries to exist and make a statement. It will also focus on how Rainbow Voices Mumbai provides a safe space for its choristers.
Vinodh Philip is a founder member of Rainbow Voices Mumbai, India’s first LGBT choir. Vinodh has recently moved to Paris from Mumbai and is making it his home. He now works in Corporate Communications for a French multi-national company. He loves to sing, feels passionate about the environment, equal rights and breaking stereotypes about the LGBTI community.

We're looking for new sopranos and altos!

Zoe, Membership and Social Secretary
Zoe, Membership and Social Secretary

Calling all sopranos and altos!

Do you love to sing? Would you like to be part of the Europe’s longest-running LGBT choir? Then consider joining the Pink Singers!

The audition list is now open for our new season starting in September. Fill in the form to sign up for an audition or email joining@pinksingers.co.uk to find out more.

Unfortunately auditions for tenors and basses are closed for the winter season, but check back later this year to apply to audition for next season, which begins in February 2017.

AmaSing Festival

Daniel Craig

The Pink Singers were delighted to perform at the presigious Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam as part of the Europride Amasing Choir Festival earlier this month. Massive thanks to our wonderful hosts Manoeuvre – Gay Men’s Chorus Amsterdam and Galakoor. Here’s the low-down from bass, Daniel…

According to the Oxford dictionary (and thesaurus) there are 2,730 positive adjectives beginning with A and honestly I could use pretty much every one to describe the Pinkies latest jaunt to Amsterdam for the AmaSing festival.

As an Aussie, it is very exciting to travel interstate to perform. Travelling internationally to do so is always a dream, and – as a part of the Pinkies – I’ve been fortunate enough to do that twice now. Firstly, Dublin and more recently, to Amsterdam – not just to sing anywhere but in one of the best concert halls in the world, the Concertgebouw.

The trip officially started off with registration at Het Scheepvaartmuseum (National Maritime Museum) where a few pinkies started to congregate. I don’t think you really appreciate your friends until you haven’t seen them in a while, so there were lots of hugs all round. The organisers then put us on a great canal cruise which allowed us to see Amsterdam from the water and helped get our bearings in this horseshoe city.

Amsterdam 2016

The cruise dropped us off at Het Amsterdam Museum for our official meet-and-greet which really gave us a great feeling for what was to come. With all the recent hate crime in the world, it was incredible to get together with 600 of our LGBT+ family to chat and to sing.

After a great afternoon, most of the Pinkies retired early to prepare for our big day of performances (which turned out to be of epic proportions).

Amasing festival, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam

Friday saw the first of our performances: a 15 minute outdoor set and a beautiful set inside the Conservatorium Hotel. Both were greatly received with a request for more from the patrons of the hotel; however, these gigs were just the warm up for the night to come. Later that day, we had a quick sound check inside the Concertgebouw, which reduced a chorister from another choir to tears. He said, “Our opening of ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody’ gave him shivers and made his eyes well up”. (Wow, we only sang 16 bars)!

Amsterdam 2016

The pinnacle of the festival was the main concert in the spectacular Concertgebouw. The acoustics of this hall are world renowned (it has a reverberation time of 2.2 seconds, for those playing at home) and was certainly a spectacle to behold – for a full 6.5 hours (!!), as the concert inevitably over-ran… It’s definitely the first time I have finished a concert the day after it started.

The organisers of AmaSing had hired a park on the banks of the canal where all the choirs could leisurely watch the parade from. They even provided lunch (!) and we all sat around chatting with our new choral friends and enjoyed the stunning day that celebrated everything we believe in (and of course there were impromptu performances from various choirs as well…).

Amsterdam is synonymous with taking mind altering substances 😉 and the Pinkies’ excursion to this wonderful city certainly left us on a high.

Amsterdam 20116

A huge thanks must go to the AmaSing team for a brilliant Europride event and to basses Gary and Paul for organising the trip from our end!

Timeline datestamp: 04 August 2016