Various Voices - What's It All About?

This Pink Insider has been busy as a member of Team London working on Various Voices London 2009 for a while now, and from its inception there has been so much to worry about, from getting venues, to organizing the performances, to sorting out hosting, to planning a programme. The most recent development is the preliminary launch of the VVL public website as opposed to the long-standing delegate website. So it is with some pride that we are seeing how it is all coming together and looking so professional it us too. There is still so much work to be done, but at the end of the day I know it is all worth it. Here's my shortlist (entirely arbitrarily and in no particular order) why!

1. It is a gay and lesbian festival.
In case you missed it somehow, Various Voices is a gay and lesbian festival. There will be about 2,000 LGBT delegates taking over the Southbank Centre and the city for a long weekend. What's not to like? More importantly though, it is a chance for people to be proud of who they are, and perform in a very public space. And this is not a one off performance, it is one in a series. I went to my first Various Voices in Paris four years ago, but there have been many before that. Philip R puts is best in his brief history of the Pink Singers when he says:

The Pinkies have forged close links with other European lesbian and gay choirs, taking part in the third European Lesbian and Gay Festival of Song in Stockholm (1987), and the fourth in Berlin (1988). In May 1989 we hosted 14 European choirs in London for the 5th European Festival of Song (now known as Various Voices) at the Hackney Empire.

This concluded with a big benefit concert for the Terrence Higgins Trust at Sadler's Wells at which Michael Cashman first announced the formation of a gay lobbying group called Stonewall - whatever happened to them? My favourite memories of that night are the massed choir of 500 voices singing We'll Meet Again and special guest Sheila Steafel singing Send in the Clones! Also appearing that night was Barry Cryer (of Radio 4's "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue") and Gordon Kaye of TV's "'Allo 'Allo" making his first public appearance after being outed by the Sunday newspapers.

We have since sung at the Various Voices festivals in Hamburg (1991), Zurich (1993), Groningen (1995), Munich (1997), Berlin again (2001) and a very successful appearance in Paris in 2005 (where we received a standing ovation). This was our second appearance in Paris.

2. It is a festival which appeals to everyone.
One of the wonders of Various Voices is that it is a singing festival, and song is something which touches everyone. This time round we are making a deliberate effort to get as many members of the public, straight and gay, involved. The Pink Singers' recent success at Voicelab really drove home the point to me that singing moves many people at a fundamental level. Now just scale that experience up from one choir performing two songs to sixty choirs performing four hundred songs, and you will have an idea of how exciting it will be.

3. You make loads of overseas friends.
Anyone who has been on an overseas trip with the Pink Singers knows that one of the real pleasures is getting to know our host choir: sharing their food, sharing their city and sharing a song or two. This time we are the hosts, and not just of one choir, but sixty! It is a real opportunity to make friends and build bridges, and who knows? We may be invited to sing with a couple of choirs from Germany, or Switzerland, or Sweden, or even further afield next year.

4. It's not just about the concert.
This kinda goes with the above point, but it is almost traditional that visiting choirs organize parties of their own over the course of the festival. They usually take over a pub, preferably with a piano or karaoke system, and invite everyone else to come along for an informal drink and sing song.

5. It's a chance to strut your stuff.
Although choral singing isn't really about competition, it is a chance for us to really "show off our wares". We don't usually see many other choirs for a long time, even the ones in our own country, and this is a great chance to catch them all in action at once. Of course it works both ways too, and the Pink Singers are working on a repertoire to really glitter.

6. The singing doesn't stop when the curtains come down.
My one abiding memory or Various Voices Paris is finishing out choir block and streaming into the foyer of the Trianon theatre. All the other choirs were there as were most of the audience. Then one of the choirs started singing, and this was followed by another, and another, and the Pink Singers! The bar was open, the sun had set but the large french windows were open, and it turned into a merry evening of carousing. Memories truly are made of this.