Breaking The Mold

I think it goes without saying that as a choir with the LGBT tag line we are indubitably proud of our lesbian, gay, bi and trans credentials. The dilemma is knowing how far our identity should be labelled as such when we are equally proud of our musical ability. When I was in college one of the freshers would introduce himself as, "My name is X and I am gay." Good on him, but at the same time the reality is that people do, inevitably, pigeonhole you which then means you are judged based on different criteria. The Pink Singers name does not lead to immediate conclusions about who we are necessarily, and I am much more an advocate of demonstrating how good you are before springing any categorization on outsiders.

So it was with our gig at the 7th Annual London Sangerstevne. I'm not sure how we were invited to the event, but it was a gathering of small, community choirs from around the U.K. and Europe. These types of festival are incredibly fun and the lack of a competitive element keeps things light and friendly. It helped that the whole event was organized in a laid back manner. "The Pink Singers" appeared in the programme without our tag-line: we opened with Gloria and Locus Iste, and I think we made a great initial impression with both. We then went on to sing April Is In My Mistress Face and our version of Sh-Boom. Part of the choreography in the latter involves Tom D and Chris Chi doing a sexy little dance duet, which is of course, a dead giveaway. Then Philip R gave a little introduction to us (and to flog our fab concert which is just a month away - get your tickets now by the way).

Interestingly, sitting in the audience there was a little tittering, partly because we were the only LGBT choir there, but this was then followed by incredible support, and by the time we came to the end of our performance of Does Your Mother Know the applause was thunderous. I still find the irony of "Does your mother know that you're out?" delicious! One guy was even waving his hoodie in the air, he was so enthusiastic. I do think it is events like this which help break down stereotypes.

Why I Take Photos

I am no Ansel Adams but I guess the one thing the Pink Insider is known for is the almost obsessive photography, and now videography, of all Pink Singers’ events. Over the years, I’ve had a couple of friendly gibes sent my way about it, and this week Joanna came round for dinner, and asked me why I’m so fastidious about capturing every event, so I thought I’d put my thoughts down on this subject. Why does the Pink Insider take so many photos?

I can tell you what precipitated it: about 4 years ago when the Pinkies’ website was being redesigned I remember looking for new photos to fill the pages. Sadly, at the time we were hamstrung my rather oppressive guidelines regarding photography and privacy, and that meant we had a grand total of a dozen photos which we could use. It also put people off taking any photos at all, and the ones which were taken weren’t really shared with others, so the choir didn’t really have any access to them anyway. It was then that I decided to fix the situation by at least taking some pics, principally for use on the website, but also as a memento of events we had organized or participated in.

Fast forward to today, and we live in a digital age where most phones have cameras, and sharing pics is as easy as pressing a button on Facebook. The choir itself has much clearer guidelines on the use of photography and are now striking a good balance between the privacy needs of individual members of the choir and the publicity needs of the choir as a whole. And we also have regular pro photographers taking our pictures, which helps in developing a good stock of photographs which can be used for the choir’s promotion.

On the face of it then, some of the pragmatic demands for photography have been satisfied. But at the same time, some of the more fundamental uses of photography must continue to be addressed. I hail from a former British colony, and as such, am very interested in issues to deal with culture and identity, and how they are represented in history. For that reason I love the field of post-colonialism, and am a fan of writers like Edward Said who question the foundation of historiography and its wealthy, white, straight, male bias. Certainly the views of the minority are often left out in the narrative of society, often because these views are not considered important.

In that context then, I particularly enjoy speaking to people like Philip R and Michael De because they have such fascinating stories about the Pink Singers in the early days. My fear is that unless we capture these tales, they will be lost to history. Liang has been working on a project to collate and archive all the material the Pink Singers produced in our first quarter century; being given such a window into our past is an amazing privilege. The sad thing, however, is that material from that time is both scanty and patchy, and so our early story is not a continuous one.

Recently Bill, one of our longest-standing members, decided he was going to retire from the choir. As a thank you for being such a dedicated member we created an album of his pictures over the last ten years. Thankfully when the request went out, members who had been in the choir as long as he were forthcoming about sharing their photos, but the reality is that this is only possible because these Pinkies were still in the choir. When members leave the choir they take their memories with them, and as a choir we lose a part of ourselves in the process.

So I take snaps, and I share photos, and I write about my experiences in the choir because I love the Pink Singers and I want to let people know about what my experience of being in London’s LGBT community choir is like. And it is not just the big events which are important, the small moments are as key in painting our picture. Not just for now, but for the future too.

Singing With Pride

It didn't start out well. Grey clouds rolled in at lunchtime and the few droplets of rain I felt going up Baker Street soon turned into a full-flegded downpour. Curse my leaving my umbrella at home in false optimism! I couldn't even find the Pinkies at first, my eye having been momentarily distracted by the Selfridges models wearing Calvin Klein. I did run into some of my twitter buddies from the LGMC though, and after walking along a bit I thought it prudent to perhaps loiter as the rest of the column walked past.

Call it fate, or a sign, but the sun came out at precisely the same moment I saw the Pink Singers, resplendent in our still-pretty-new T-shirts. The basses had baby pink eBay-derived wigs on and Jules went for the whole Dame Edna look. They looked absolutely fantastic! The Pinkies were also joined on the march by a number of WAGs, Lou being rather enterprising and buying a T-shirt for her other half which proclaimed as much.

This year's march has got to have been one of the best I've been on in terms of attendance. The pavements were packed from Baker Street all the way down Oxford Street, Regent Street, Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Sqaure and even down into White Hall. This time round we were between a group in front selling web hosting (everyone knows IT geeks are strong in the way of the gayness) and the London Frontrunners (hurrah!) and the LGBT football clubs behind. The good thing about the IT geeks was that they had brought their own trannie DJ who played club classics as we were following, and that gave us some music to sing along to. You just can't stop us once the music gets going. Hmmm... Idea for next year's march perhaps?

Another idea is to have someone run along with a mobile bar. By the time we had turned into Regent Street I had reapplied my sunblock twice and gone through my litre bottle of water. Emelda had already downed her bottle of bubbly a junction earlier! Others had been drinking their own version of "Lilt" which meant they were in a decidedly good mood throughout the parade. At the end of the march I was feeling particularly prune-like and all I needed was a bit of a snooze.

The best was to come though, because the Pink Singers were on stage later on that evening. The good weather meant that the crowds were out in force, and the organizers were trumpeting that one million people were on the march. They couldn't all fit into Trafalgar Sqaure of course, but it it sure felt like it. The atmosphere was great, and the setting sun really cast a golden glow on the event.

The ever amazing Paleday came on stage, opening with Eurotramp, then segueing into the Pink Singers' emergence. Despite having had very little rehearsal and not knowing what the stage looked like before climbing the stairs, the whole process looked really smooth. The Pinkies launched into California Dreamin' much to the adulation of the audience. What really made the difference this year (apart from the weather) was the repertoire - which was what people wanted to hear and sing along with - and Paleday with their band and brass section. Everyone felt the vibe: not just the audience, but also the Pinkies who looked like they were having the best party of all on stage.

California Dreamin' was followed in quick succession by 70s Dance Party, introduced as ever by Philip R. Philip was at the very first Pride London march in 1971, which means this was his 38th Pride London, and he has been at all 26 of the Pink Singers' Pride Londons too. There was awed respect and a hearty round of applause for that.

When we first started rehearsing 70s Dance Party way back in February I never really thought it could be that good. But on stage at Pride when everyone was singing along, it felt so perfect. At one point the music seems to end, after Dancing Queen, and you could hear the crowd getting ready to whoop and clap, but then we started singing You're The One That I Want and the crowd went wild! The very last piece we did was a joint song with Paleday singing YMCA. It was a sight seeing everyone in Trafalgar Square doing the movements.

There has been much debate in the press about the depoliticisation of Pride, and while I do think that that is important, for people coming out, being overly strident can be a turn off. The march is especially significant regardless of how overt its activist credentials are, because while there are press-friendly muscle-bound men dressed in underwear and bearded bears made up like Dorothy, there are also people who don't conform to those stereotypes. Pride is that one day when gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transexuals and everyone of all walks of life can emerge and wave their colours before merging with the rest of society for the rest of the year. The Pinkies are a microcosm of London LGBT life, and we are proud of it too!

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.

The Super-anos

Well, I was working late on Tuesday, but instead of my usual commute home followed by crashing out on the sofa, I decided to test my brain cell a little by going to the Pinkies quiz night at the Black Cap. It was expertly organized by the sopranos, and MCed expertly by Emelda, who mixed her dry wit with some of the fairly ludicrous questions to great acclaim.

Of course I arrived late, but by the time I got there it was already fairly busy. I was roped into Mel's team with Sally Ann, Liang, Philip R and a bunch of Mel's friends. They were actaully rather good, and despite my tardiness I think I acquitted my self nicely with my encyclopaedic knowledge of Star Wars, Star Trek and Nintendo video games. Er... perhaps I shouldn't be too proud of that! In the end my team actually won, oh novelty! Of course Gill P's team of just three people were neck and neck with us all the way, and probably should have won if it weren't for the fact that my team was nearly three times their numbers!

It was also great to see most of the Pink Singers out on a school night. I am presuming that most people either have a relaxed dress policy at work, or they had a chance to go home to get changed, because there were quite a number of people dressed in nothing but T-shirts and shorts in the hot weather. I love the summer, people look so much sexier and our choir is blessed with quite a few photogenic members. I'll name names if pressed!

The quiz itself was followed by the mandatory karaoke session. I love singing, and I love karaoke, but when it comes to performing on a stage in front of people I just chicken out. Thankfully there were people like the amazing Keri who took up the challenge. I already know Keri has an amazing voice - at least year's choir weekend away she dazzled us all with her range and repertoire - but it didn't stop me being impressed hearing her sing Bjork's It's So Quiet. Liang ang a song just before I left, but the sweetest moment of the night must have been when the Pink Singers got up behind Gwen, a more mature regular at the karaoke night, to sing Somewhere Over The Rainbow.

Fun was had by all - I can't wait until the altos' event!

A Countdown Of Blogs: On The Seventh Day

We did not rest! The tension and excitement really is building, and instead of a relaxing Saturday a couple of Pinkies have created a fitting conclusion to the Pink Singers MySpace Blog-A-Day challenge. Yes, it is another double bill and Liang and Philip have both written about what they're looking forward to in this concert.

Philip says:

[P]eople say what is the difference between a homosexual choir and a heterosexual choir and I always reply well, strictly speaking, there is no such thing as a heterosexual choir.

Witty as ever! And there is Liang's quote:

[T]he girls were putting the finishing touches to Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend.The girls moves were so good I wish we could join in!

It is still not too late to come along and watch both Equivox and the Pink Singers wow you with our performances. Get your tickets on the door tonight! It is only £12, £10 concessions!

Oh Paris!

In a first for me I am writing a blog post on the train on the way back from Paris. Now the weekend is over, I can look back on it with a mixture of relief and contentment but the feeling on Friday morning was quite different.

There was, first of all, the excitement of simply departing from the new Eurostar terminal at St. Pancras; and what a beauty it is. Having a coffee at the platform level and seeing the blue sky shining through the glass roof of the train shed, itself supported by sky blue ironwork was of itself an amazing experience, made better only by the wonderful and not so expensive bacon butties with tomato chutney of the Baby Betjamin café.

In contrast to the good weather in London, Paris couldn't have been damper. Clouds rolled in shortly after the tunnel crossing, and by the time we arrived at the Gare du Nord, a full storm was underway. As we arrived in the early afternoon and our host was still working, we had a couple of hours to kill. Liang, Simon and I spent it in a random brasserie: hamburgers seem to taste so much better when they are called steak haché!

Our hosts were a lovely couple called Stéphane, a long-serving tenor in Equivox, and Harald his partner (a.k.a. choir widow) originally from Vienna. Not having known anything about them before going, apart from their names, I was pleased to see that we were very similar in age and temperament. In fact, Simon and I could not have asked for more gracious hosts, and made better friends, over our time in Paris.

After settling in, we took them out to dinner at their local restaurant called La Domaine Léopold which specializes in simple rustic food from the area around Toulouse. Harald and Stéphane are obvious regulars because we were treated to free aperitifs and a wonderful starter of the most amazing warmed fois gras I have ever had. Just don't think about the duck. We were supposed to meet the other Pink Singers at the Open Café later, but as both the wine and conversation were flowing so well, we decided not to interrupt either.

The next morning was largely filled with preparations for the concert. We met Philip G and Michael for lunch at a bistro next to the town hall and were joined by Ben P, Sue, Liang and his host, also called Stéphane, so it became a rather impromptu party.

The Pinkies are very much like a large extended family, and gathering in one of the side chambers in the town hall for the warm-up was therefore akin to a family reunion. We have only been apart for six days, but you just couldn't avoid the "How've you been? What have you been up to? Where did you get that pink accessory?" type questions. To complete the picture, Liang's and Mike's cameras were out in force, as was Celso's, so I cannot be accused of being the only photo addict!

The first real contact with Equivox was when we watched them perform on stage for the first of the two concerts. Their musical director, Babette, has definitely put her mark on the choir, and their incredible stage presence, theatricality and enthusiasm reflects her own background in street performance. Watching Equivox perform is a real spectacle, and although their outfits are more restrained than previous years (their current theme being a summer party), their stage presence cannot be denied. This is as much their signature as (I hope) musical fidelity is for the Pink Singers.

A minor upset occurred after Equivox had finished their set. We were under the impression that there was to be an interval, but when the compere began doing our introduction we vacated the seats at the back of the hall and trooped on stage. It is not easy going from being unprepared to launching into Dies Irae! I was especially impressed at the comedy double act of Johanthon and Philip R who managed to get the audience laughing and applauding in their bilingual introduction, no mean feat!

The stage itself was very small and apparently has safety regulations limiting the number to a maximum of 42 at only one time on it. That explains why Equivox singers took it in turn to sing in either concert. Even with only 40 Pinkies (and Mladen) there was a bit of a squeeze and I was in the fourth of five rows when normally I am in the third of four. The cosiness meant that I was singing into Liang's right ear and Celso was singing into my left, and I have to say that it the tenors sounded pretty tight as a result. In fact, the whole choir sounded really polished, and if anything the second performance was even better than the first because we were more relaxed. The usual adrenaline rush after a concert wore off by the time I was on stage for the second time, so I must admit I also enjoyed it much more. The break between performances also gave Philip G, who was already showing off his long, toned, stockinged legs, a chance to experiment with novel decorative uses of a feather boa…

The Parisian audience really loved our attempt at the French songs Dirait'on and Hymne a l'amour and the applause and whoops were very reassuring. So I was slightly amused, and partly deflated, when Stéphane said we were very "charming with our English accents". Aww, I was trying so hard too to "parlez la Francais" [sic]. The audience were also very generous in their donations, and by the end of the night we had raised €1,500 for Sidaction, the organization fighting AIDS in France.

The after-party was a mad rush through the rain to a venue called Le Tango, Paris’ (and probably France’s) only gay and lesbian dance hall. There was something somewhat surreal about getting ready for a night out in your jeans and T-shirt finery, to arrive at the venue where couples are doing the Viennese waltz around the dance floor. Clearly it is really popular, but being timorous souls and having four left feet between us, Simon and I elected to spend most of the evening nursing our beers and watching from the side. This did not stop Stéphane for whom Le Tango is virtually a second home. Where does he get the energy! I did get a chance to chat with one of the new altos, Christine, who for some reason I kept introducing to other people by a completely different name most of the evening – sorry about that Christine! Later that evening the music turned to Eurotrash (eek!) and then to 80s English pop, so not much of an improvement then!

The next morning it was with some difficulty, entirely self-induced, that we made it to the venue where the group brunch was to be held. This is where Equivox normally rehearses, and is a primary school near to where we were staying. Ah the mem’ries of small, low, tightly-packed and rather stinky urinals… Stéphane took Simon and I on an abbreviated tour of some of the arcades in Paris, these elaborate and often sealed short-cuts through the buildings between streets; by the time we got there a spread had been laid out. What was better was the chance to chat with some of the members of Equivox like Florian (Stéphane's - Liang’s host’s - partner), Karim (who is the only bloke singing in the altos) and Marc, a rather studious-looking and musically knowledgeable chap.

It is always good to hear feedback from other choirs. I am very much a perfectionist, and I always go back over my own, and the choir’s, performance with a fine-tooth comb to pick out the mistakes made and identify areas for improvement. So I can be quite a downer sometimes, and it was a timely reminder that the Pink Singers really are very good, and we do have a clean, tight and very polished sound, and one that impresses other choirs! We had a chance to whip out that sound again in a spontaneous sing off between Equivox and us, and then reprised Let The Sunshine In which metamorphosed into a conga line snaking around the hall. What fun!

All too soon it was time to get back on the Eurostar to return to London. Unlike Paris, it wasn’t raining when we got back in, thank goodness for small mercies, but for dinner I defrosted a pizza; it certainly ain’t no fois gras! Sigh…