Philip, a longtime member of the Pinkies, looks back on a concert of some of our most special arrangements…
Our winter concert in 2016 showcased the diversity and talent of our members through their very own choral arrangements and compositions. Most pieces were specially arranged for the Pinkies by choir members, along with some iconic classical commissions. Well, we needed an excuse to sing Handel’s Zadok the Priest! Also included was a piece specially commissioned for our 30th Anniversary in 2013 from composer Richard Thomas: I, Choir.
The concert opened with an arrangement of the Electric Light Orchestra’s Mr Blue Sky by Michael Derrick, who joined the choir in 1987 and has been arranging songs for us ever since. Kate Bush has many fans in the choir and two of her songs were featured: Running Up That Hill (arranged by Simon Pearson) and This Woman’s Work (arranged by Andy Mitchinson).
One of our most prolific arrangers is Chris from the basses, who joined the choir in 2008. We sang his first ever arrangement for the Pinkies, Bob Dylan’s Make You Feel My Love, as well as Chris’s arrangements of Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Relax and a new version of epic pop hit Chandelier by Sia. Soprano Naomi came up with a fabulous arrangement of Video Killed The Radio Star, while ex-Pinkie Fran composed some beautiful music to the poem Lake Isle of Innisfree by the Irish poet W.B.Yeats.
The concert also featured two talented home-grown small groups comprised of current and ex-Pinkies– the bubbly Barberfellas (www.barberfellas.com) and the high-spirited Gin and Harmonics (www.ginandharmonics.com). For those of you who missed the concert most of these pieces were recorded for our latest CD appropriately entitled By Special Arrangement.
The Pinkies performing Video Killed the Radio Star
On the 30th of October 2015, some of the Pink Singers travelled to Taipei, Taiwan, for Asia’s first ever LGBT choral festival. Here, our chair Simon explains more.
32 years ago when The Pink Singers was started, I wonder if our founders Mark Bunyan and Brian Kennedy would have dared to imagine that in three decades’ time, we’d be singing on stage with a host of new and established Asian LGBT choirs, 6,000 miles away in Taipei?
The Pink Singers go East
Four weeks ago, ten intrepid pinkies crossed the globe to beautiful Taiwan, having been invited by the wonderful G-Major chorus to the inaugural LGBT choir festival in Asia, Hand in Hand. But how did this come about?
Proud Voices choir at Various Voices 2014, Dublin
Well, last year the Pink Singers attended Various Voices 2014 – Europe’s LGBT choral festival, then in its 13th iteration. We wrote about that trip really rather a lot. Present that year at the festival were delegates from two asian choirs – the Beijing Queer Chorus and G-Major, Taipei – who joined forces into a scratch choir organised by Proud Voices.
So inspired were our Asian visitors by their experience of Various Voices in Ireland (and with a little nudging from our very own Hsien Chew…), they decided to start a festival of their own, and Hand in Hand Asia was born.
Getting the party started with the British Council
Pink Singers and G-Major chorus at the British Council in Taipei
Fast forward 15 months, and a gaggle of jet-lagged, starry-eyed pinkies were 26 floors up, singing some songs ourselves and alongside the G-Major chorus, in the British Council’s offices in downtown Taipei, kicking off the pride festivities.
A very warm welcome
Dancing at the welcome party (Photo: Hsien Chew)
A few hours later, we arrived at the Hand in Hand welcome party in a restaurant downtown. On arrival we are greeted by beaming faces of the G-Major, the hosts, as well as G-Voice & Unnie from Korea, Singapore Men’s Chorus, GAPA from California, choirs from Beijing, Chengdu and Shanghai.
We were all treated to plate after plate of delicious Taiwanese food and tasty local beer. And of course there was lots of getting to know each other. And some rather energetic dancing. Later, we crossed town to a club where we danced the night away – with each choir spontaneously in succession teaching others their dance moves…
Sharing the moves at Funky nightclub (Photo: Hsien Chew)
Music and dance – an international language, indeed.
Standing together with pride
Pink Singers and friends in central Taipei on the march
The following day, through some canny scheduling, all the choirs were able to march in Taipei pride together – which was a real treat.
The rain held off and a humid, electric atmosphere ensued, with tens of thousands marching and more looking on. I think us Pinkies were taken back by the scale of the march, Asia’s largest, and how welcome we were made to feel as some of the only westerners around. After posing for lots of silly photos we were treated to yet more delicious food.
Jerome shows off his heels with the fabulous Unnie choir from Korea
Hand in Hand – the festival
G-Voice from Seoul
And then to the main event itself – Hand in Hand. Held at the beautiful concert hall in Taipei University of the Arts, it was very humbling to have the chance to see so many varied and talented choirs perform. First up was Men’s Voice Kansai from Japan, whose outfits revealed more than a little leg, who opened the afternoon concert with a wonderfully rich-sounding set of Japanese folk songs.
In quick succession this was followed by three more choirs from China, performing separately and combined, whose delicate sounds lifted the whole audience. I particularly enjoyed the soloist’s performance of ‘Can you feel the love tonight’.
Other stand-out performances came from Korean choir G-Voice – whose hip gyrations made most of the audience more than a little hot under the collar. Their set featured a lot of hilarious wordplay including ‘Gays are a girl’s best friend”.
Unnie choir
And I can’t forget the sultry Unnie who made us all want their ‘Rainbow Feminist’ t-shirts by the time they finished their set which featured on-stage kissing and a wonderful arrangement of ‘Royals’ by Lorde.
We Pinkies took to the stage to perform a couple of our favourite songs, as did one of our subgroups the Barberfellas, before being joined by a few friends from Seattle, Paris, Vancouver and Dublin to form the Proud Voices scratch choir.
Together we sang a variety of songs including a local song, ‘Yi ren yi ban’, in Taiwanese dialect, hokkien. We did all this under the careful eye of our conductor, Frances Bowen, who did a marvellous job of getting us performance-ready in about three short rehearsals – one of which featured a pint-size keyboard for accompaniment!
Proud Voices choir (Photo by 터울)
And then to the main performance – G-Major chorus’ annual concert, and what a treat it was. The choir performed flawlessly and seamlessly switched genres effortlessly – led by the skilled Weylin Gabriel.
Their performance of ‘L’amour est un oiseau rebelle’ from Bizet’s Carmen was a real stand-out – with everyone on stage engaged to the full. But the performance of Labi Sire’s ‘Something inside so strong’ was the number that actually brought me to tears – such a solid sound, such passion and belief in the lyrics briefly overwhelmed me. It was stunning.
G-Major chorus dancing in rehearsal
G-Major: if I could come to every concert of yours, I absolutely would.
And suddenly – it was all over! So many new friends, so many goodbyes. But pinkies being pinkies, we needed a nightcap, so we decamped to the trusty Goldfish bar in Zhongzheng – where we did a quick Skype call to our pinkie friends rehearsing back in London. Many other choir members joined us and celebrated into the small hours.
And what a way to visit Taiwan for the first time. Such a beautiful country with rich history and culture – with such brilliant local hosts we had the best time hiking, eating, adventuring across the country. I’d go back in a heartbeat.
Wen Wu temple at Sun Moon Lake
Watch the video
You can see Hsien’s video montage of the festival for Proud Voices below.
And what a way to round off a fabulous 2015 for the Pink Singers – having attended not one, but two brand new LGBT choral festivals in Spain and Taiwan. I look forward to more!
The Pink Singers have just returned from Spain’s first gay chorus festival in Mallorca and what a time we had! Get the low-down on parties, pride, palm trees and performances from soprano Louise and newbie tenor Keith as they relive their favourite Mallorca moments…
Louise’s Mallorca Moments:
Wow! Such fun! Where do I start? There are quite simply TOO MANY stories to tell! I’m getting a little stressed just thinking about telling all you avid readers of the Pink Singers blog just how amazing it is to go on a foreign trip with the Pinkies. How can I condense the entire experience into a few short paragraphs? Waaah! What’s that I hear you say? Relax? PINK SINGERS SAY RELAX? OK. Relax. Because I can now, after a hectic, inspiring, exhausting, humbling, exciting, sun kissed weekend on the beautiful island of Mallorca.
This was my first trip abroad with the Pink Singers and the more I get to know the members of the choir, the more I feel that I am a member of the wide and much loved Pink Family. I felt extremely privileged as a teacher to have been granted some unpaid leave by my very supportive head teacher and to be topping up my tan during term time….oops, I mean singing with three other wonderful choirs at Spain’s first gay singing festival – the Mallorca Gay Chorus Festival!
At the first sound check I felt daunted that we would be performing three times in three days. I really wasn’t sure of the choreography and I was anxious that my claps, steps, swishes and step digs would be out of synch and I’d come at the wrong time. Aarrghhh! But when you get into the swing of it, it all falls into place, all the hard work pays off and you just want to put on a tip top show for the audience and the other choirs.
Wow! The other choirs! We loved meeting them and hearing them sing – the incredible Barcelona Rainbow Singers, the mesmeric Equivox from Paris and the inimitable Mallorca Gay Men’s Chorus. We felt such great support, love and passion from and for the other choirs and I love knowing that I am part of a dynamic and vibrant international LBGT community. And what a treat to sing in three different venues in Mallorca – the first being a castle surrounded by mountains basking in the setting Mediterranean sun! And all of this live on Mallorcan TV!
This was the start of a rollercoaster of performances, parties, raspy sex noises, strange fluorescent green drinks, forgotten shoes, forgotten trousers, standing ovations, sleepless nights, legendary dancing (you know who you are), Pride (In The Name of Love) on repeat, cava on the beach, wishing we had one more day…..
Alas, we couldn’t have done it without the hard work and dedication of two much loved choir members Charly and Albert who organised, reorganised, negotiated, waited, telephoned, translated and smiled patiently to ensure that the Pink Singers had a successful and thoroughly enjoyable trip. So thank you from the bottom of our Pink hearts for making it all happen!
Keith’s Mallorca Moments:
Being picked up at the airport and driven straight to the venue to perform is probably the closest I’ll get to knowing what it’s like to be Beyonce. Having just landed for the Mallorca Gay Chorus Festival, the evening would be my initiation into life as a fully-fledged Pink Singer.
The superstar treatment didn’t stop at the airport pick up though. The Festival’s first evening was to be an open air concert held in a castle set amongst stunning scenery. On arrival, it was straight to a sound check in the warm breeze, between rows of palm trees, as the sun set around us.
The starry evening allowed no time for me to feel any nerves about popping my cherry as a Pinkie. The Mallorcans had rolled out a real red carpet experience and we were presented to Spain’s media before a reception with the officials of Andratx, the town where we were performing first.
The Pink Singers had jetted out to Mallorca at the invitation of the Mallorca Gay Men’s Chorus. Taking part in three performances over three nights, we were joined by choirs from other European cities. There were the tres chic Frenchies, in the form of Paris’s Equivox, with their energetic conductress, sexy sounds and tight performance.
Then there was the Barcelona Rainbow Singers, with traditional ‘coplas’ which had me wishing I could speak more Spanish. With each flick of their fans, they sang wonderful tales of love and drama, the meanings of which I could only imagine. Of course there was the Mallorca Gay Men’s Chorus too – a gorgeous bunch of guys who know how to party as much as they know how to get the audience going. Their version of Bad Romance will always be the most memorable for me.
The festival culminated in an evening of electrical atmosphere at the Trui Theatre in Palma. The turn-out, support and energy of the audience made it hard to believe that it’s been just two years since the Mallorca Gay Men’s Chorus formed.
The final performance hit home for me what an amazing event I was taking part in. It wasn’t only a chance for a bunch of people who love to sing to get together, it was an opportunity to raise the positive profile of the gay choir on their island. It clearly meant a lot to our hosts, and did to me too.
Having nervously stepped up to audition for the Pinkies just ten short weeks before the Mallorca Gay Chorus Festival, it was a surreal experience to be performing with the choir. My most recent steps onto a stage were probably 23 years ago before I’d even hit my teens, so I’m sure there were bum notes, missed cues and lyrical slip-ups throughout.
Despite any performance mishaps, the Pink Singers really made me feel part of the Pinkie family in Mallorca. While the superstar experience was pure fantasy, what was very real was the chance to feel part of a group of such wonderful people and amazing performers, as well as the opportunity to celebrate with other gay choirs from around the world.
So how was that as my initiation into choir life? Pink Singers, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I’m glad you were the one to pop my cherry!
Another season is over and we’re almost in the throes of starting our new season in February. In the meantime, our ‘no-longer-a-newbie’ bass Paul reflects on his first performance as a Pinkie following our sell-out Legends concert…
It’s almost easy to forget that the weekly social event where there’s some singing, some dancing and a few beers with amazing people, that I have been blessed to be a part of for the last four months is all actually in preparation for one of the biggest nights in the London LGBT entertainment calendar.
One minute it’s late September and I’m immersing myself in a wad of new sheet music and wondering how the hell I’m ever going to pronounce anything in Latin. Next minute I’m donning a pink rose and stepping out in front of a crowded Cadogan hall, wondering quite how I ended up part of such an amazing family of wonderful people, and putting on a performance that gave me chills.
A small part of me actually doubted whether I could master the repertoire, but looking back, it shows what some excellent direction, a little dedication and lots and lots and lots and lots of repetition can do. And as soon as the nerves settled, and I got into the swing of the performance, including a fabulously flamboyant interlude from the Mallorcan Gay Men’s Chorus, the devastating realisation occurred that it was about to be all over.
My highlights were certainly the palpable ‘pin drop’ atmosphere at the end of ‘Both Sides Now’, the ‘thumbs up’ of acknowledgement from John to the choir after conducting the moving performance of ‘Blackbird’ and the audience’s laughter during ‘Gay versus Straight Composers’. it’s these moments that create a high, a bit like a drug and almost certainly as addictive, so bring on season two, I’m ready for my next fix!
Newbie soprano Louise reflects on her first concert as a Pink Singer at Notes from a Small Island last Saturday at Hackney Empire.
I have performed in smaller, more informal concerts before, and as a teacher every day is a performance for me, but nothing compares to standing under those bright and burning lights in front of over 600 people at the beautiful Hackney Empire. This was something very special.
Louise with Charly in rehearsal
I had felt anxious in the weeks running up to the concert, spending every spare moment listening to tracks, learning words and attempting to multi-task with the addition of choreography. But after a gruelling (and sweltering) technical rehearsal, 7pm somehow crept up on me and I can honestly say I was excited as the performance started. My concert cherry was about to pop as they say.
But would I go to death and go to slaughter? Would I panic part way through? It helped not being able to see anyone in the audience. In fact it required a leap of faith to even believe there was anyone out there until the first burst of rapturous applause after Under Pressure. Pressure off. I subsequently enjoyed every second of the entire concert, including our most challenging piece Peter Grimes. (I should add here that there was a 14 year old in the audience who loved it too but wondered why on earth we were singing so aggressively about peas and rice. Hmmm.)
Pink rose (Photograph by Suzanne Mitchell Photography)
The various emails and text messages I have received since the concert from friends and family put words to feelings much more succinctly than I can at the moment. I truly cannot find the words that adequately encapsulate what it meant to me. They tell me the Pink Singers are a choir to be proud of. They describe the performance as SENSATIONAL. They say we demonstrate diversity, humour and passion. They say that they feel that whenever we sing it feels like EVERY person they fix on is totally committed to singing, and to them individually. All true.
Pinkies during our tech rehearsal at Hackney Empire (Photograph by Suzanne Mitchell)
I feel both empowered and humbled by my first Pinkie concert. What an amazing thing to be part of! I am, alas, experiencing the PPBs – the Post Pinkie Blues. What am I going to do on my Sundays now? Everything now seems an insubstantial pageant in comparison. Although I have filled my summer with plans already, I will be counting down the weeks until the next season starts. And you really should come to our next concert. You may even be kissed on the nose by a gay…
